BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cleaning Cleaning naturally?

Ravyn, I hadn't heard about the cleaning solution being toxic. I don't have pets now but I will definitely keep that in mind. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the cleaning agents we use are more heavy duty than they need to be.

This was an e-mail rumor about the Swiffer WetJet. About.com and Snopes both verify that this is false.

There is an article on Scott Common Sense that lays out ways to make cleaning solutions for all of your household cleaning needs including an all purpose cleaner made with vinegar, bathroom cleaner with dish detergent and baking soda, and toilet bowl cleaner with baking soda and vinegar. Check out the article for all of the specifics.

Actually, there's at least one article on our cleaning site, too--have you seen it?

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29321.asp

I actually created a section called "Green Cleaning" and will be adding more to it, but there are already a few articles in there.

Denture tablets work wonderful in toilets - they are made to clean deposits from porcelain, after all. I use denture tablets for anything with water rings, also, like a vase.

This brings up an excellent point. We have a Scooba for our kitchen floor cleaning but I do also hand clean sometimes and I used the Swiffer mat things on a stick. I just ran out. Rather than buying more disposable things, do you think I could just use a microfiber towel and wrap it around the stick thing I use (with a rectangular base)? If so what would I soak the towel in?

Lisa i do that all the time. It works just fine. I don't like buying throw away anythings. :-) You can use it dry or spray it with a 2:1 water/vinegar solution.

Yeah--what Jill said. And if you don't like the smell of vinegar (it dissipates pretty quickly) then put a drop or two of essential oil in there. The EOs are expensive, but they last forever. My personal favorite is Thieves because it smells awesome (albeit it very autumn-ish) and kills EVERYthing. I'm working on an article on EOs in cleaning, but it's a ton of research.

Heather, that sounds like a neat idea about the oils. I have a ton of them that i use to make linen sprays and such.

I like the scent of vinegar - to me it just smells *clean* - but i can see where it isn't as nice as, say, Febrese Springtime or whatever is the latest! lols.

Bob hates the smell of vinegar - we've tried it in the Scooba several times and it drives him crazy. Very sharp. I guess to us it smells like "bad wine" which we're already trained to be on the look out for.

I'll try the essential oil idea, we have those already for other projects!