The Green Guide has some amazing tips on how to clean your home or office with ingredients and items you already have. Make your own household cleaners that are healthy and non-toxic with these quick easy recipes:

Baking soda: provides grit for scrubbing and reacts with water, vinegar or lemon by fizzing, which speeds up cleaning times
Borax: disinfects, bleaches and deodorizes; very handy in laundry mixes
Distilled white vinegar: disinfects and breaks up dirt; choose white vinegar over apple cider or red vinegars, as these might stain surfaces

Hydrogen Peroxide: disinfects and bleaches
Lemons: cut grease; bottled lemon juice also works well, although you might need to use bit more to get the same results
Olive oil: picks up dirt and polishes wood; cheaper grades work well
Vegetable based (liquid castile) soap: non-petroleum all-purpose cleaners
Washing soda: stain remover, general cleaner, helps unblock pipes; should be handled with gloves due to its caustic nature. Washing soda is usually found in the laundry aisle of grocery and drug stores.

Recipes:

All-Purpose Cleaner
1/2 cup borax
1 gallon hot water

• Mix in pail (or use smaller amounts in a spray bottle: 1/8 cup borax to 1 quart of hot water) dissolving the borax completely; wipe clean with rag.

Floors
Wood
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 gallon warm water

Linoleum
1 cup white vinegar
2 gallons warm water

• Mix in mop bucket, rinse afterwards.

Furniture Polish
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil

• Mix and apply with a clean rag to dust and polish. Reduce the olive oil if wood looks too oily.

If for some reason none of these ingredients are available, Virginia Tech has found that spraying hydrogen peroxide and vinegar on surfaces is just as effective as chlorine bleach. So, with a few new ways to go about your Saturday chores, you are sure to protect yourself, friends and family with these tips brought to you by thegreenguide.com

Click here and here for more DIY cleaning guidelines and tips.