Cleaning My Chemical Free Home – Part 2

Dr. StrangeRebmann, or how I learned to stop worrying and love cleaning my chemical free home – Part 2

I used to hate cleaning the bathrooms, but now I think of this as giving myself a present.  Cleaning my bathrooms with my personal, homemade products gives me a great feeling of helping my home’s air quality, my family’s health, and the environment.  Plus, doing it to a hot, Latin rhythm is fun!

There are a ton of resources out there regarding making your own cleaning products.  I have simply decided to share what works for me.  I encourage you to research and come up with even better solutions.  Please share them with me too – I love to hear about cool things like this.

Make your own all-purpose, biodegradable, environmentally and budget friendly bathroom cleaner.

1. Procure one clean, empty spray bottle – best to spend $0.80 and get a new one.
2. Fill half full with vinegar.
3. Fill almost to top with water.
4. Optional – Add 20-30 drops of your favorite essential oil.  I like to rotate with Lemon and Peppermint – but it’s a personal preference here.
5. Shake Well

Here is my typical bathroom cleaning routine.  It takes about eight minutes.

1. Play Latin Dance Music…very important.
2. Spray vinegar mixture all over tub/shower.
3. Spray outside and inside of toilet.
4. Spray mirror, sink and countertop.
5. Wipe mirror with soft cotton rag. (If you have used any glass cleaner on your mirror before…it will get streaky when you wipe with the vinegar mix.  Just continue spraying and wiping several times and that will go away and you will have sparkly, clean mirrors.  You will not need to do this again as long as you stay away from commercial glass cleaners.)
6. Scrub sink with nylon scrubber…rinse.
7. Wipe counter with same soft cotton rag.  I like to use old cloth diapers.
8. Scrub tub/shower with nylon scrubber. Rinse.  Wipe edges with same cloth.
9. Wipe outside of toilet, under the lid, top of the seat, and under the seat..in that order.  Throw rag into laundry…it is done.
10.  Scrub inside of toilet with toilet brush.  Flush.
11. You are probably done now.  Dance.  Sometimes the throne needs a little more…shall we say…love.  In that case, I reach for my Ecover toilet bowl cleaner.  It is a little more expensive than Lysol or Clorox- but not too much.  I pay $4.70 for 25 ounces at my health food store.  Since I do not use it very much and it is so much better for the environment, this product fits well into my chemical free, budget minded home.  (I do not receive anything from Ecover for promoting them – and I encourage experimentation freely.  I use it because I like how it works.)

A footnote about vinegar: I was really excited the first time I used vinegar to clean my whole bathroom.  I could not believe how well it worked and how cheap it was at my local grocery store.  Unfortunately, I found out that the big jugs of vinegar for $1.47 or so may be made out of petroleum.  Can you believe that?  Apparently, you can make anything out of oil.  So, being of sound, healthy home, and renewable resources mind…I switched to Heinz.  It is about $1.47 for about half as much, but is derived from corn.  Plus, even half as much usually lasts me about six weeks or so.  So $1.47 isn’t so bad for that much cleaning.  There is a $7 bottle of vinegar at my health food store that is probably much better – but mom’s on a budget for now.

Next Week – The Kitchen

© Elise Rebmann, 2008. All rights reserved.

Tags: bathroom cleaner, Cleaning, cleaning products, cleaning routine, Healthy Home