Welcome to the second ever Tips And Tricks Tuesday. This week I give you:
Five Green Cleaning Products I Love
I’ll start this list with a disclaimer that I am not the world’s greenest person. I’d say on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is the gas-guzzler driving, steak eating, litter bug and 10 is the tree hugging, organic foods only, save the rainforest T shirt wearer, I’d be lucky to come in at a solid 6. Fortunately, though, I’ve found five great cleaning products that save me time and money that also come with the added bonus of being earth friendly as well. Love it when that happens!
#5 Vinegar and Baking Soda
Nothing earth shattering here, I know. But when it comes to cheap, easy and green, the tried and true Vinegar and Baking Soda combo are hard to beat. TIP: For a fresh smelling garbage disposal, pour in a generous amount of baking soda, let it sit for an hour or two and then come back and pour in a cup of vinegar. After it’s done foaming, run the disposal with cold water and then enjoy a deep odor-free breath of kitchen air. Ahhh!
#4 Bon Ami Powdered Cleanser
Perhaps you remember your mother or even your grandmother using Bon Ami while doing the dishes. That’s because this natural cleaning powder was around back before green was the thing to be. It’s inexpensive and you should be able to find it in most any grocery store. TIP: Forget the scratchy scrub pad that might just scratch up your pans too! Bon Ami and a dish cloth is all I ever use to get off the most baked on food and as the little chick says, it “Hasn’t scratched yet!”
#3 Norwex Microfiber Enviro Cloths
I have a few different microfiber cloths, but my Norwex ones are my favorites. Did you know that when wet, Norwex microfiber picks up, traps and holds 99.94% of bacteria on a smooth surface? I love knowing that using these cloths, I’m disinfecting my house using nothing harsher than good old H2O. TIP: Microfiber cloths are great for cleaning almost any surface in your house, from carpets and sofas, to counters and toilets. I especially love mine for disinfecting delicate surfaces like my ivory piano keys.
#2 Seventh Generation Lavender Floral & Mint Dish Liquid
I love how this soap powers through greasy messes, that it has a subtle pleasant scent and that it doesn’t cost much more than the other brand name dish liquids. It’s the only kind I buy. TIP: Don’t keep a plastic bottle on display! Transfer your dish liquid into an inexpensive oil cruet for a more stylish way to keep soap near at hand.
#1 Norwex Microfiber Mop System
The number one thing people notice about our house is our floors and the first question they seem to ask is, “How do you clean your hardwood floors that they are so shiny?” Answer: the Norwex Mop System. Just like the cloths above, it cleans and disinfects with just water, which I so appreciated when my kiddos were learning to crawl. Now if only they were as eager to get dressed as they are to mop the floor!
And there you go. The five green cleaning products I love most. And no, I was not paid by any company to write this post. I bought these products with my own money and I use them on a daily basis, just because they work for me.
So now tell me, what’s your favorite cleaning product?
I love Borax, another “green” product. It is Sodium Chloride, I believe. However it cleans everything from laundry, hard water stains, to getting out smells. For less than $3 a box it is a great and pet-friendly option for cleaning.
You know, I have a box of Borax that I’ve had forever. I forget why I even bought it in the first place. I guess I’ll have to start using it!
I’m what you’d call a troll on your site I guess. I found it a while ago and thought your daughters were just beautiful and that most everything you put on your site is interesting enough that I follow you checking in about twice a week to see if you’ve posted anything new (love the new TATT series by the way).
Anyways I know a load of people hate (hatehatehate) the smell of vinegar and so I thought I’d share my own tip of the day with you. I know you have little girls so I figure you probably go through some oranges (though any citrus fruit will do and I usually use lemons myself because of the tradition clean smell to lemons) but use the peel from your fruits in a thing of vinegar (doesn’t matter how much but obviously the more peel you use the less time it will take and you probably know more about how much vinegar you go through than anyone else) and leave it sit in the vinegar until the smell is (mostly) gone. I’ve never been able to get rid of the smell of vinegar completely (probably I’m too impatient) but it does cut down on the smell a great deal.
Wow! Someone follows my blog who doesn’t even know me?!?!? Craziness!
I’ve never really minded the smell of vinegar, but I do much prefer the smell of citrus, so I’ll definitely have to give that a try. Thanks for the cool tip and for being my first official person who doesn’t know me who reads my blog!
Thanks for these tips! I have been interested in the norwex cleaning products lately…
I use citrus for the disposal too. I actually don’t use vinegar at all, and I just put the juice from the lemons down there and let it sit for a bit, then I rinse it with hot water. Works great for getting the stinkies out.
I like citrus for the disposal too, especially lemon, although I’ve never tried using the juice, just running the rind through after using the fruit for cooking or eating. It sure does smell better than vinegar!
Vinegar is my favorit for cleaning glass, windows,mirrows and the coffee pot. I use 1/2 cup of vinegar to a 8 or 10 cups of water. Run through pot.
than run several pots full of water through to rinse. I use 1/4 cup of vinegar to one quart of water in a spray bottle for windows I spray and use news paper in place of a cloth. Tip—never do windows on a sunny day. It will leave streaks. Cloudy day It’s like there is no glass. Better than windex. Vinegar and baking soda have been friends 0f mine for many years.
I totally need to clean our coffee maker. Thanks for the reminder!
I’ve never heard the cloudy, sunny day thing for cleaning windows. I’m going to have to start paying attention to the weather when I’m washing windows!
Well, Elise, I am trying to get in the habit of logging onto blogs more. I am starting with yours. As I scrolled through, I couldn’t help but notice your Norwex shoutouts, of course! As your Norwex Consultant (or at least one of them), I can vouch for you that you did not get paid to write that…haha :) I love cleaning my house mainly with microfiber and water, and no harsh chemicals. Been doing it for almost six years. Now that I sell it, it’s not really any different because I already told people about it all the time before because it’s so great and saves me so much money. A non-Norwex related cleaning tip I love (just so you know I am not just trying to plug myself!) is to put a little splash of vineagar in the door of the dishwasher–not the soap dispenser, just in the door or the bottom of the dishwasher. I cannot vouch for the manufacturers if they recommend such a thing, but it prevents that mineral/scum build-up on the dishes like a Jet Dry would but is totally natural and much cheaper. I was using a natural detergent for a long time, and those tended to leave more of a buildup. Now, most or all of the detergents have gone phospate-free and tend to have that residue problem. This tip has saved our dishes!
Hmmm… I’ve never noticed much build up on our dishes and we do use a phosphate free dishwasher detergent. But if I ever do notice it, now I’ll know what to do, so thanks!