When you think of air pollution, you probably conjure up images of smokestacks and clogged interstates. But recent research shows that air quality is actually the worst where we feel safest — in our homes.
Some toxins are an unfortunate and unavoidable fact of modern life. But others, like those in household cleaning products, are remarkably easy to do without. In fact, you probably have many of the supplies you need to "go green" right in your kitchen cupboard.
And these nontoxic cleaning supplies work just as well as their chemical cousins but without the nasty side effects (which range from irritating the skin to contributing to cancer).
The well-stocked pantry
Another benefit of going green with your cleaning products: You'll free up a lot of shelf space. Instead of having a single cleaner for each purpose (how different is cleaning a tub vs. a sink, anyway?), you’ll only need these five essentials:
- Baking soda. Buy it in bulk, because this wonder powder has about 1,001 household uses. Use it to cut odors in the fridge, mix it with castile soap for a gentle surface scrubber, or pour it down the drain with some vinegar to clear clogs.
- Salt. Say goodbye to your harsh oven cleaner. Instead, pour salt on spills as they happen, allow the surface to cool and scrape up the mess. "If you do that every time you have a spill, you don't need to do anything else," suggests Linda Mason Hunter, co-author of Green Clean: The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home (Melcher Media, 2005).
- Castile soap. Much gentler than detergent-type cleansers, this basic liquid soap can clean just about anything — from toilets to armpits. Dr. Bronner's is a high-quality, superconcentrated brand.
- Lemon juice. Mix with olive oil for a wood and furniture polish, use it to clean glass and stainless steel or sprinkle it in baking soda to make carpet-cleaning powder. After you've squeezed out the juice, toss the rinds down the garbage disposal to cleanse and deodorize.
- White distilled vinegar. Because of its acidic properties, vinegar can dissolve grease, soap residue and mildew, making it the perfect bathroom cleaner. It's a hit in the kitchen, too. Use it to polish chrome, shine glass and mop tile or linoleum floors.
Ready-made cleaners
Of course, if you take comfort in a bottle that tells you exactly what it’s going to do, you can buy commercial, nontoxic cleaners. Companies like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Bio-Kleen are available at health food stores and many mainstream grocery stores.
Hunter's favorite is Shaklee's new Get Clean product line (www.shacklee.com). Green cleaners can cost more than conventional cleaners, but they're often more concentrated, giving you more bang for your buck.
Out with the old
So are you ready to go green? According to Hunter, if you really want to green your life, cleaning up your cleaning is the best place to start.
"It's manageable, you're working in your own house, you have control and you learn a lot about how to read labels, what's in products and what to look for," she says. "You can use that knowledge when you're doing other things as well — buying cosmetics, furniture and building materials, for example."
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