I had to laugh when I sat down to write this. I am the LAST person to be giving advice on cleaning! It’s not that I haven’t tried making steps to be more environmentally friendly . . .
I bought a whole set of special cloths that were supposed to be able to clean without soap or chemicals . . . they are nice cloths, but I couldn’t get over the fact that I wasn’t using . . . soap.
And then I tried some eco friendly dishwashing soap. The EcoStore did work, but not to DH’s liking. About the only thing we have switched over is Mrs. Meyers cleaning spray for counters and handwashing dish soap, and Dr. Bronner’s for hand soap.
However, after reading Planet Green, I went out and bought a big bag of baking soda. Apparently it, along with vinegar, is the  miracle clean-all. There’s even a Baking Soda Book that you can download for free.
Anyone have any great baking soda cleaning recipes?
This post also shared at Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Friday
My favorite use for baking soda is adding about 1/4 cup to the washer to take out any smells. It works for toddler’s clothes that have had accidents in them… or smelly dishrags, etc.
I was using it on my hair, but it wasn’t working out very well for me. I use it in the laundry when it’s a smelly load. My son loves to pour it in the sink drain followed by vinegar to watch the reaction. It helps clean the drain too.
I have a huge bag that’s almost gone and I can’t for the life of me remember what else we use it for!
We put a small amount in with epsom salts and scented with essential oils for Christmas gifts.
I don’t have any good cleaning recipes, but I love to use it as a facial scrub. I bought one of those glass sugar containers with the silver pour-top lid and filled it with the baking soda. I keep it just outside the shower curtain. I like to mix it in with my shampoo periodically to get rid of all the product build-up, too!
Hmm I might have to try that!
There are tons of home made cleaner recipes out there – many using baking soda. My favorite is mixing it with salt and some liquid soap to use as a tub scrubber. There are tons of great recipes here: http://fingerlakesbuygreen.com/data/Do%20It%20Yourself%20Recipes.pdf
My favorite uses for baking soda are cleaning the bathtub (sprinkle some in with a squirt of Dawn, and scrub – nothing cleans my bathtub better), facial scrub, and cleaning my glass stove top.
I use baking soda to clean the bathtub too, and it works great! Most recently, I used it to scrub the kitchen floor, but that’s just because my 1-year-old spilled a bunch and I was cleaning it up. It made the linoleum sparkle, though! I enjoyed your lighthearted post. 🙂 I found you through Simple Lives Thursday, by the way. http://mindofthemother.blogspot.com/
I recently discovered how to make a homemade Soft Scrub cleaner by mixing baking soda with liquid soap (like Dr. Bronners). It’s simple to make and works good too. It’s one of my favorite homemade cleaners. Here’s a link if anyone wants to check it out:
http://themakeyourownzone.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-soft-scrub-cleaner.html
Thank you so much for sharing!