Cleaning your house shouldn't compromise you or your family's health. Take care of the environment, including your septic system and private well, or the water others will use who live downstream of you by using nontoxic, natural cleaners. Here are some down-to-earth suggestions for cleaning your home with basic household ingredients, for a clean, safe home that doesn't expose your family to toxic chemicals.

•Baking soda: An all-purpose cleaner especially effective for cleaning glass coffee pots and glassware, and removing red-wine stains from carpeting. A paste (made with water) can shine stainless steel and silver, and remove tea stains from cups and saucers. Make a paste with a castile- or vegetable-based liquid soap and a drop of essential oil (tea tree or lavender) to clean sinks, countertops, toilets and tubs. Pour 1 cup down the sink to clear a clogged drain, followed by 3 cups of boiling water or hot vinegar (wow!).

•Boiling water: Use to flush drains and avoid clogs.

•Coarse salt: Cleans copper pans and scours cookware. Sprinkle salt on fresh spills in the oven, then wipe off. Sprinkle salt on rust stains and squeeze a lime or lemon over them, let sit for several hours and wipe off. When you burn the inside of a pot while cooking, put some water in it, add a generous amount of salt and this will loosen the burnt food, which you can then scrub off more readily with steel wool.

•Grapefruit seed extract: Add 10 to 20 drops to water in a spray bottle for an odorless way to kill mold and mildew.

•Lemon juice: Use as a bleaching agent on clothing, and to remove grease from stoves and countertops. Add 2 Tbsp lemon juice to 10 drops of (real) lemon oil and a few drops of jojoba oil to clean and polish wood furniture.

•Olive oil: Use to lubricate and polish wood furniture (three parts olive oil to one part vinegar; or two parts olive oil with one part lemon juice).

•Tea tree oil: Can be added to vinegar/water solutions for its antibacterial properties. Use it to kill mold and mildew, and on kitchen and bathroom surfaces instead of chemical products. Add 50 drops to a bucket of water to clean countertops and tile floors.

•White vinegar: Cleans linoleum floors and glass (from windows to shower doors) when mixed with water and a little liquid soap (castile or vegetable). Cuts grease and removes stains; removes soap scum and cleans toilets (add a bit of baking soda if you like). Pour down drains once a week for antibacterial cleaning, and add to water in a spray bottle to kill mold and mildew.

•To clean showerheads and faucet aerators with calcium build up that has affected the nozzle function, either remove the showerhead and soak it in the vinegar or fill a plastic bag with vinegar and place the bag around the showerhead like a feedbag for a horse. Fully immerse the showerhead in the vinegar. Tie the open end of the bag with a twist tie and let it soak for 24 hours. Let it run for a minute after you remove the bag and then use it.

•Boric Acid: Can be used as an insecticide or insect barrier.

Borax: Add Borax to deodorize laundry. Also use 1/2 cup Borax with 1/2 cup vinegar & 1 gallon of hot water as a general purpose cleaner. 2 Tbsp Borax, 1/4 cup lemon juice and 2 cups hot water in a spray bottle is a good cleaner, too.

Pumice stone: A great way to remove calcium build-up in toilet bowls or sinks. It won't harm the surface of your fixture.

Sounds old fashioned doesn’t it? Well, one of the problems today is that we’ve invented numerous chemical which end up in our water when they’re flushed down the drain. To read more about that problem, see this article:

Pharmaceuticals in Water

We’ve become accustomed to using a variety of strong chemicals in our homes. You can take steps to protect your own family members, your septic system and private well, and the water that others will use after you do…..

My name is Jim McMahon and I help people achieve healthy water in their homes.