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ALG's Green Tips #5: Clean 'n Green for Dummies - An 8 Week Course (Weeks 1-4)
- Jul 11, 2008 at 1:57 PM
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I created this series for one of my groups, I am posting it here so that I can find it and reference it for myself. There are separated by weeks for those who are overwhelmed when trying to be greener and keep their homes as chemical free as possible.
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Clean 'n Green for Dummies: Week 1
Your New Best Friends: Baking Soda and Vinegar
Note: Bookmark this thread and refer to the table of contents at the bottom of this post to easily find all pages in the series
Week 1: Getting to Know Your New Friends
Step 1: Buy a jumbo grande box of baking soda and jug of white vinegar
Step 2: Purchase spray bottles: 1 for each bathroom, 1 for the kitchen, 3 extra. Size does not matter. If you like big get big. If you like dainty get small. Plain, colored, pretty, embellished...whatever!
If you do not have covered storage containers handy, buy some small cheap ones. same number as the spray bottles. You can even purchaes pretty glass or porcelin ones if you want.
** if you are fond of chinese take-out or the deli the large and small plastic containers soup, potato salad, and chow mein come in are perfect. Keep those coffee and powder scoops. They are perfect for the baking soda. If you don't have any improvise with what you have. spoons, measuring spoons, medicine cups, the top off of mouthwash...etc.
Step 3: With a marker or labeler mark your kitchen and bath spray bottles: 50% Vinegar. Mark one extra as 100% vinegar. Put the other extras aside. You will use those at a later time. If you want to, you can label your containers baking soda (one for each bathroom, 1 for the kitchen)
Step 4: Fill your spray bottles 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar. And of course, fill the 100% with all vinegar. Fill your convered containers with baking soda.
Step 5: Put your new friends in their new homes. 1 of each into bathroom and kitchen. The kitchen also gets the 100% vinegar bottle. Why so many containers? You'll clean more if you don't have to trapise all over the house to get your spray bottles and containers. Keep a set in each bathroom and a set in the kitchen, that way they are always handy.
Use the Vinegar and Water to:
wash mirrors, windows, glass, and fixtures.
Spray down the shower tile and door/curtain
Clean kitchen counters, stove, table, and refrigerator
Quick clean the kitchen and bathroom sinks
Use the Straight Vinegar to:
clean the microwave (heat some vinegar in a bowl, let sit, then wipe away)
or...spray the microwave, heat it for 20-30 seconds, let sit, then wipe.
disinfect the cutting board; spray it on
Put some vinegar in a small pot, throw in some cinnamon sticks and cloves and
whole allspice heat until hot, turn off heat and let sit to scent the kitchen.
Deodorize the toilet: pour it in and leave it
Clean your coffee maker...pour it in and run a cycle.
Use Baking Soda to:
Scrub the tub and deep clean the bathroom and kitchen sinks
Scrub stubborn stains off of the counter, stove, and pots
Deodorize the garbage disposal (pour some in and go away)
Deodorize and clear drains (pour some in, go away, return and flush with vinegar)
Pour some in the toilet, let sit, flush, add more and scrub before the water refills.
NOVEL IDEA: Instead of a covered container, use an old jar or parmesan cheese sifter for the baking soda. Poke some holes in the lid of the old jar and you have yourself a container that sprinkles on like comet.
MULTITASKER: If you are a 'poo freer you can use the same vinegar spray bottle and baking soda container to wash your hair.
CAUTION: Don't use vinegar on marble! You can however, use baking soda. And if you have a very stubborn stain go with the milder acid in a grapefruit, scrub it away, then rinse very very very well with fresh water.
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Clean 'n Green for Dummies: Week 2
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= Triple ThreatWeek 2: The Laundry-Beast
Step 1: Purchase a new jug of white vinegar and baking soda specifically for your laundry room.
Step 2: While it isn't strictly necessary, take this week to make a new friend
known as Borax which is a phenomenal laundry booster and can be used later to make stronger cleaning solutions. Keep this on a high shelf away from young children.
Step 3: If you are so inclined get a downey ball (trust me...who said we had to put gross chemical downey in it?). If you already have one great!
Step 4: Designate a measuring pitcher style measuring cup and/or regular measuring cups just for the laundry. Kind and number doesn't matter. I just use one 1/2 cup measuring cup and make due ; but other people are fussier and particular about wet and dry.
Use the Triple Threat to manage your laundry!
To clean the residue grunge and deposits out of your washing machine:
Set your washer to "heavy/soiled". Fill your washer with hot water and add 3 cups of vinegar and 1 cup of baking soda. Let it run through its cycle but stop it after its spin and drain. Get a rag and wipe down the drum. Follow with a cold water rinse on the "heave/soild" setting.
Baking Soda! Boosting the power of your detergent:
Add 1/2 cup of baking soda to the wash cycle.
If the clothes/towels are especially odiferous and 1/2 cup to the rinse cycle.
Vinegar! Whiten Whites, Brighten Colors, Freshen, and Soften
To Freshen, Soften, Brighten Colors, and Whiten Whites: Pour vinegar into the downey ball and toss in with the wash. The vinegar will release during the rinse cycle and will make those bold colors stick just like it does for easter eggs, will reduce odor, and will brighten the whites and soften the laundry by removing the gunk that turns whites yellow and makes fabric stiff.
For Sweat Stains and Ring around the Collar: spray stains with straight vinegar before washing.
Borax! The Muscle
To Boost the Detergent Power and Condition Hard Water: Add 1/2 cup to the wash.
Especially Stubborn Stains and Smells: Pre-soak the items in the wash with 1/2 cup borax (or 1 tbsp per gallon). Let pre-soak at least 30 minutes.
***If you have a really big washer or a front loader (you lucky gal) change all the above 1/2 cups for all to 3/4 cup.***
Clean 'n Green for Dummies: Week 3
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+
= Earth DefendersThis week you should concern yourself with evicting your normal liquid soap and detergent and get rid of the chemical cleaning products stuffed in your cabinets. I know, I know, you may have still some left. So you can wait, but there is no time like the present! You shouldn't have much trouble pawning them off on family or donate them somewhere. At the very least, buy the replacements so that as soon as you run out you aren't tempted to buy something handy while you are too busy to "look for the good stuff."
Brand doesn't really matter, go with what is on sale or easily accessible. When I started out Ecover was the only one available to me and I still use it exclusively for the kitchen. I recommend free and clear, but there are some kinds that have orange or lemon scents.
Purchase evironmentally sound:
1. Dish soap
2. Laundry detergent
3. Regular soap (yes, the kind you wash with...go with Mike's Castille Soap if you can get it. Fragrance free and only a dollar. Otherwise pick your favorite. A castille soap is soap made with olive oil. I think it is the best kind. )
**You should be able to identify all ingredients in a quality soap! You might see something like: saponified oil OR olive oil and lye/NaOH/sodium hydroxide. They all mean the same thing. Soap is a mixture of lye and oil/fat, nothing more.**
Your First Recipe! Dishwasher Detergent Replacement
Mix 3 cups baking soda with 3 cups borax in a jar or container (make as much or as little as you like...equal parts. For something stronger do 3 cups baking soda and 4 cups borax). Use in place of dishwasher detergent (keep a spoon or little scoop in the jar for convenience or alternately you can use a bottle instead to control the pour)
Deodorizing and Cleaning Your Dishwasher
To clean and deodorize the dishwasher: sprinkle baking soda on the bottom and run the dishwasher through a short cycle on the hottest setting. You may need to apply some elbow grease to clean out the corners of the door, gasket, and drain. Then pour a cup of white vinegar in the bottom and run it through another short cycle.
To Make Your Glasses Sparkle and Deodorize at the Same Time
Add vinegar to the "jet dry" reservoir in your dishwasher. If you don't have this feature, pour 1/4 cup of vinegar into the dishwasher just before its rinse cycle.
COOL TIP: use a marker to date the products you buy so that you know how long it takes you to use them up.
FRUGAL TIP: Because you are using laundry boosters you can use HALF of the detergent amount you usually do.
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Clean 'n Green for Dummies: Week 4
The Triple Threat and Sidekick Fight Grime
Let's face it, sometimes that greasy, grimy, gummy gunk is really hard to get off of the stove hood and the refrigerator. Instead of reaching for the Formula 409, make your own all-purpose-grime cutter.
Your Second Recipe!
Get one of those extra spray bottles and mark it as: All Purpose Cleaner. Or you can be clever and name it something catchy like Formula 911.
Combine and Shake It Up:
- 2 cups hot water (to make dissolving easier)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons borax
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid dish soap
Do you need something with a little more disinfecting power for those tough bathroom grossosities? You should have an empty spray bottle left.
Your Third Recipe!
Get that last spray bottles and mark it as: Disinfectant, Germ Eraser, or Mrs. Clean -- depending on your mood.
Combine and Shake It Up:
- 1 cup hot water (to make dissolving easier)
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1/2 cup alcohol
- 1/2 tsp liquid dish soap
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Oh, and one more thing, sometimes I think my clever bits and witticisms are underappreciated and underaknowledged. Come on, Formula 911? That's FUNNY! I demand that you laugh or giggle, you bunch of wet blankets!
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I'll admit. I giggled at Formula 911 :P
Thanks for these great tips. It's really JUST what I need to get me started on this stuff
- mommy2jasmine
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