Detoxifying your home

          Detoxifying ~ it’s not just for bodies!

Looong before I discovered the awesome health benefits of the raw-foods lifestyle, yeah way back when I was a teenager and munched my share of junk-food, I had a passion for living an earth friendly lifestyle.  I learned a lot about the many issues surrounding the use of synthetic chemical household products from the pollution involved in their production, the effects they have on our indoor environments (i.e. our homes!) and the after effects when they were washed down the drain (adding more volatile compounds to our wastewater). I was excited whenever I found a safer version of a cleaning product my family used (yeah I’ve always been a bit dorky!) and often the best ones were also ones that I could make myself using non-toxic (often formerly edible) household products such as baking soda and vinegar! Like I once heard in a movie, “With enough baking soda and vinegar one could blow up just about anything” wait…they were talking about soap…oh well back to the dynamos of eco-friendly cleaning. BS and V. You can use either of these on their own or in combination to clean darn near anything!! There have been whole books written on the many uses of both of these products.

     You can replace your:

Carpet freshener, stain remover, tub and tile scrub, toilet cleaner, all purpose spray cleaners, window sprays, fabric softeners, laundry boosters, sink drain deodorizers, oven and range top cleaners and shower spray using either baking soda or vinegar alone or in combination!! Imagine what a huge reduction in pollution that would amount to!

     How they work.

Let’s start with baking soda, a.k.a. sodium bicarbonate. Baking soda has a natural tendency towards neutralizing acids and balancing ph. What this means is that odors which are generally acid based are neutralized! Also most dirt and grease around the house is composed of fatty acids which can be neutralized by baking soda and will then dissolve away in water!  Baking soda has a soft crystalline molecular structure which makes it an awesomely effective yet gentle abrasive substance for scrubbing!

   On the other side of the ph scale we have vinegar. Vinegar is formed when alcohol is allowed to ferment into acetic acid. Being an acid, vinegar boasts the power of a solvent and also has been found to have disinfectant, antifungal and anti-mold properties! In many studies it’s been found to kill 99% of bacteria, 82% of mold and 80% of germs (viruses) when used straight up with its original 5% vinegar solution!

Here are some formulas to get you started!

A spray bottle full of a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water can be used to clean windows and other glass surfaces, wipe down counter tops, cutting boards, stove tops, and get rid of food residues on your fridge and freezers’ interior.  Spritz it on your dishes in the sink as a pre-wash to loosen up the tough stuff, clean your toilet seat and lid and spray down your shower after each use to prevent mold and mildew growth and reduce hard water build up and soap scum.  Spray on clothes and carpet stains and blot out with a rag or paper towel (this works better the sooner you get to it, just like other cleaners).

Use about ½ cup of vinegar in a bucket of water to mop your floors. It’ll dissolve all sorts of spilled dried on foods, grime, and reduces germs and molds in the process!!

Pour a cup of vinegar in your toilet and let it sit for about half hour then scrub as normal without the need of any synthetic cleaners!

Adding a ¼ cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle of your laundry will act as a natural fabric softener. I’ve also found it boosts the cleaning power of my detergent when I add it to the wash cycle!

Pour some vinegar down a smelly drain and let it set for an hour (if possible) to dissolve food gunk deposits and kill bacteria and molds in the p-trap.

A neat way to unclog drains ~ pour about a ¼ cup of baking soda into the drain and get the sinks plug ready. Next pour in a ½ cup of vinegar and plug ASAP! The chemical reaction will cause a fizzing and build of gas which may help push the clog down, kinda like a lil’ model volcano goin’ off in your plumbing! Sweet!

Baking Soda can be kept in a squeeze condiment container on your sink top where you’ll find it handy for scrubbing the grime and mildew off of your sinks interior and gently polishing the faucet and fixtures as well as your tile backsplash.  It’ll also help scrub away oily residues from plates, pots, and pans etc., and de-funkify your plastic storage containers! Keep one of these squeeze containers handy in the bathroom as well for scrubbing tiles, sinks, fixtures, and the tub!

Fill a mason jar with baking soda and add in some powdered cinnamon, or dried mint leaves and/or essential oils.  Shake it thoroughly and keep it stored in a cool dark place. This powder can be sprinkled on your carpets and allowed to set for an hour or more it will absorb and neutralize odors then just vacuum away! This powder can also be sprinkled in funky trashcans and the litter box!

And everyone knows about baking sodas ability to absorb fridge and freezer funk! Just leave a slightly open box in the fridge.  Mind the placement though; I’ve had the displeasure of having to clean up a butt-ton of spilled powder a few times myself.

Now you have an arsenal of earth-friendly cleaners to get your place clean and still keep it “green”!

Many of these cleaners can be further pimped out with the addition of all natural essential oils such as lavender, patchouli, ylang-ylang, lemon, lime, orange, cinnamon, vanilla, sandalwood, thyme- the list of awesome scents available goes on and on! Many essential oils have aromatherapuetic qualities which is an added bonus! Be sure to check any precautions with the oils and use your best judgment when adding scents to the cleaners for their purposes, i.e. you might not want to put patchouli in the spray you use for the fridgerator unless you wanna get a whiff of the 70’s when you open the door, not to mention what your food would taste like! Ewww)