Simple Green Cleaning

I have a confession, I am no Suzy Homemaker here.I don’t actually like to cook that much and I hate cleaning.  I clean my bathroom way less than it should be (nothing like having visitors to get me motivated to actually clean the bathrooms). And if I am going to be really honest about my cleaning habits I would tell you that when I was pregnant I didn’t clean our bathroom for a good 2.5 months (gross I know, but the chemicals made me very nauseous). When things started to get pretty bad, I had to come up with a new solution so I explored home-made-cleaning solutions. I now mostly clean our bathroom with homemade cleaners and am hoping to explore some new solutions in the near future for the kitchen as well.

So why did I switch to green cleaning?

1. I feel better about the air we breathe when I know exactly what chemicals are going into it when I clean (vinegar, lemon, baking soda and water a much better to breath in than most store bought cleaning solutions).

2. It is much cheaper and we are all about cutting the budget around here!

Oh and also because I hate the smell of most of the store bought ‘green cleaning’ products. Seriously they smell like bug spray or something.

I do sometimes still do a good bleach cleaning of the bathroom and I haven’t moved away from using store bought toilet bowl cleaner, but would be interested in looking into some options.

So  here is what I have tried so far (click on the links to find out where I got these ideas, I am not genius here)

Tub Scrub: tsp Liquid Soap, a few drops of tea-tree oil and 1 cup baking soda. Makes a paste that is great for scrubbing the toilet.

Scrub with dryer sheets: We have lots and lots of beautiful molding around our house, but it gathers dust like no body’s business! So I run over them with dryer sheets (learned this from Apartment Therapy) and it takes care of the dust. Easy breezy.

All Purpose Cleaner: 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup baking soda, a few drops of tea tree oil and/or lemon. I use this for our bathroom sinks, kitchen counters and toilet seat and cover cleaning. I also use it for the tub when it just needs a wipe down (actually I often do this while I am taking a shower! It is great because it isn’t toxic so it is okay to be in there breathing in these chemicals while I shower).

I have thought about making my own laundry detergent but this seems like a bigger undertaking. Anyone do this and have some suggestions?

What are your simple-green cleaning tips?

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