Try Cleaning "Green"...You'll Like it!

Here's a quick run down on how 5 natural and simple products are easy to use for cleaning green!

1. White Vinegar: For basic household cleaning, distilled white vinegar has been proven to work just as well as chlorine, which kills everything living—the good along with the bad. Vinegar is great at removing stains, dissolving mineral deposits and grease, removing soap and wax buildup, polishing some metals, and deodorizing almost every room in your house.

(I recently watched white vinegar used on HGTV to clean stainless steel appliances!)

2. Baking Soda: Baking soda is unbelievably useful in every room of your house. It can neutralize acid, scrub shiny material without scratching, unclog and clear drains, extinguish grease fires, and remove certain stains. It can also be used to deodorize your refrigerator, carpets and upholstery.

3. Lemon Juice: Lemon juice is a natural odor-eater that combines well with other ingredients. It can be used to clean glass and remove stains from aluminum, copper, clothing and porcelain, and nothing works better on Formica surfaces. If used with sunlight, lemon juice is a mild lightener or bleach.

4. Table Salt: Table salt is great at removing rust. Mixed with lemon juice, it can clean copper; mixed with vinegar, it can polish brass. Salt is also a key ingredient in an effective, all-natural scouring powder.

5. Essential Oils: Why use toxic artificial fragrances? Essential oils can eat up odors from cooking, mold, mildew, airborne microorganisms and other everyday pollutants that enter the home. Some have powerful disinfecting properties as well; the pressed oils of oregano, basil, clove and thyme in particular are highly antimicrobial, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory.

There are hundreds of different essential oils to choose from. Buy preblended oils, or just experiment with different combinations. Ask at your local health food store for therapeutic-grade oils, and remember, a few drops go a long way.

(Excerpted from: Green This! Volume 1, Greening Your Cleaning)