If you believe the ad hype, you can't keep a clean house without loading your shopping trolley with a different cleaner for each surface, floor and sink.  Not true, says Julia Stephenson

Many of us have been brainwashed into buying expensive cleaning products, while cheaper natural alternatives like lemon and bicarbonate of soda will do the job just as effectively. What's more, conventional cleaning products expose us to a hazardous cocktail of toxicity.  Hundreds of dangerous chemicals including formaldehyde, phenol and ammonia are regularly used.

This is no secret, manufacturers themselves emblazon their products with skulls and crossbones, 'DANGER' and 'DO NOT INHALE', while painting a picture of a fearsome battle with germs which must be won.

We're not winning this war though, and over-use of these chemicals has created a raft of immune superbugs like MRSA, which are multiplying and exposing us to real danger.  Besides, all these cleaning unguents usually smell awful, are tested on animals (unless you buy them from Marks & Spencer who have a non-animal testing policy on all their toiletries and cleaning products), and are packaged wastefully. Far better to make your own which will save money and improve your health, too.

 

                                        You don't have to be a scientist to make your own cleaning products

 

When I recently wrote an article about the benefits of making your own cleaning products I was deluged with emails from ladies (no men oddly enough) demanding 'recipes' but you're not making a soufflé for heaven's sake!  Any combination of neat lemon juice, vinegar, salt and bicarbonate of soda will clean most things.

In particular, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda sprinkled onto a filthy baking-tray, hot from the oven, will create exciting chemistry lab style froth.  Leave this mixture for a few minutes and the filth will just lift itself off and be washed away quite easily.  Meanwhile, salt and lemon juice will clean brass very effectively. And if I'm travelling and fear the hotel will be grubby, I decant my bug-zapping MRSA-proof spray made from tea tree oil and vodka (patent pending) into an old spray bottle - it's just the sort of thing Howard Hughes would have given his right arm for.  This is perfect for sterilising grubby hotel bathrooms and it smells delicious too. 

The only problem you may have with making your own cleaning stuff is trying to persuade your cleaning lady, if you have one, of the benefits. 

When I moved into my current flat, I inherited my saintly cleaning lady, Mrs Pipolotta, who was simply unable to function without reams of noxious sprays and used to nick terrifying containers bearing skulls and crossbones from the hospital where she worked.  Despite my pleas, for many months identical cleaning fluids in different bottles for every conceivable room – even rooms I didn't use – continued to proliferate in my cleaning cupboard.  My loo had never been so blue.  (I've noticed that blues, pinks and greens are popular colours for cleaning materials but they will never use brown, grey, black or red, presumably because they are reminiscent of bodily functions).

Mrs P was an unreconstructed ecover-free zone, the last bastion of guilt-free bleach, and aggressive in her use of soon-to-be-banned dangerous unguents with crossbows on the back denoting their poisonous grime-dissolving possibilities. Soon you will only be able to buy these products in Third World dictatorships, where they will flourish along with DDT, heroin and other banned substances.  

 

Dishy DC Hunt would save 50 gallons of water and cleaning chemicals if he cleaned his Ford Cortina with a bucket of soapy water instead of taking it to the car wash.

 

I had a battle on my hands but slowly but surely my perseverance paid off and Mrs P eventually became similarly evangelical in her use of cleaning stuff. 

So, spread the word!

White Vinegar
Mildly acidic white vinegar dissolves dirt, soap scum and hard-water deposits from smooth surfaces, yet is gentle enough to use in solution to clean hardwood flooring.

White vinegar is a natural deodorizer, absorbing odours instead of covering them up. (And no, your bathroom won't smell like a salad! Any vinegar aroma disappears when dry.) With no colouring agents, white vinegar won't stain grout on tiled surfaces. Because it cuts detergent residue, white vinegar makes a great fabric softener substitute for families with sensitive skin.

Try these recipes to harness the cleaning power of white vinegar:

Homemade Spray Cleaner Recipe
Mix in a sprayer bottle:

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup water

In the kitchen, use vinegar-and-water spray to clean counter tops, lightly soiled range surfaces and back-splash areas.

In the bathroom, use it to clean counter tops, floors and exterior surfaces of the toilet.

For really tough bathroom surfaces such as shower walls, pump up the cleaning power by removing the sprayer element and heating the solution in a pan over the stove until barely hot. Spray shower walls with the warmed solution generously, allow to stand for 10 to 15 minutes, then scrub and rinse. The heat helps soften stubborn soap scum and loosens hard-water deposits.

 

Hilda Ogden gives her seal of approval to green cleaning

 

 

Undiluted White Vinegar
Undiluted white vinegar makes quick work of tougher cleaning problems involving hard water deposits or soap scum.

Use undiluted white vinegar to scrub the inside of the toilet bowl. Before you begin, dump a bucket of water into the toilet to force water out of the bowl and allow access to the sides. Pour undiluted white vinegar around the bowl and scrub with a toilet brush to remove stains and odour.

Clean shower heads that have been clogged with mineral deposits with undiluted white vinegar. Place 1/4 to 1/2 cup vinegar in a plastic food storage bag, and secure the bag to the shower head with a rubber band. Let stand for 2 hours to overnight, then rinse and buff the fixture to a shiny finish.

Add one cup of undiluted white vinegar to the laundry rinse cycle instead of commercial fabric softener. White vinegar softens clothes and cuts detergent residue - a plus for family members with sensitive skin.

Baking Soda
Baking soda's mild abrasive action and natural deodorizing properties make it a powerful replacement for harsh commercial scouring powders.

Sprinkle baking soda onto a damp sponge to tackle grimy bathtub rings, scour basins or remove food deposits from the kitchen sink. For tougher grime, make a paste of baking soda and water, apply to the tub or sink, and allow to stand for 10 to 20 minutes. Dirt, soap scum and deposits soften and are easier to remove.

Slow-running drains? Keep bathroom drains running freely by pouring 1/2 to 3/4 cup baking soda into the drain, and dribbling just enough hot water to wash the solution down. Let stand for 2 hours to overnight, and then flush thoroughly with hot water. The deodorizing effect is an added bonus! [Do not use this method on blocked drains.]

Soda water is a great stain lifter for fabrics and can double as a glass cleaner. When using soda water as a stain lifter, allow it to soak into the stain before blotting. Do not rub the stain or you risk smearing it around.

Save money and chemicals by replacing your washing powder with Eco balls (available from www.naturalcollection.com).