Your Healthy Home

Simply skeptic about green cleaning and its cleaning-effectiveness? That’s okay! Homemade cleaners do actually work, allowing you to create a clean, safe, and healthy home for yourself and your family.

Many Do It Yourself (DIY) recipes for cleaning products consist of vinegar and baking soda as ingredients – two ingredients commonly found in the household. Let’s check out the properties of these ingredients:

Vinegar

Vinegar has the ability to:

• Deodorize
• Dissolve mineral deposits and grease
• Remove soap traces, mildew, and wax build up
• Polish brass, chrome, copper, pewter, and stainless steel
• Clean bricks and stone
• Remove decals and stickers
• Remove water spots on leather

Baking Soda

Baking soda has the ability to:

• Neutralize acid
• Scrub shiny materials without scratching
• Deodorize refrigerators, carpets, upholstery, vinyl, and drains
• Extinguish grease fires
• Clean and polish aluminum, chrome, jewelry, plastic, porcelain, silver, stainless steel, and tin

Source: http://www.womenandenvironment.org/greenclean/faqs

• Recipes for a Healthy Home (PDF)
• Household Products: Ingredients to Avoid (PDF)

Household Cleaning Alternatives

Source: National Environmental Services Center: Alternative Household Cleaning Solutions Brochure

**For more information visit Household Products http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/products.htm

For more DIY recipes and greening tips, visit these links:

• Non-Toxic Cleaning Recipes
• Recipes for Safe and Effective Home Cleaning (PDF)