Natural Cleaners: Clean Without the Chemicals

(Page 4 of 4)

July/August 2007
By Miriam Landman 
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3. Rather than using abrasive, corrosive chemicals for scrubbing, use nontoxic soap. Give your elbow grease a boost with steel wool or dry salt.

RELATED CONTENT

4. Open windows while you’re cleaning so cross-breezes can exhaust fumes to the outdoors. Even natural products—such as citrus or pine cleaners—can emit irritating fumes.

Resources

Household Products Database: Health and Safety Information
www.HouseholdProducts.NLM.NIH.gov
searchable database of brand-specific product ingredients and their potential health effects

Care2’s Healthy Home section: Nontoxic Cleaning information:
www.Care2.com/channels/lifestyle/home

Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living
by Annie Berthold-Bond (Three Rivers Press, 1999)

Green Clean
by Linda Mason Hunter and Mikki Halpin (Melcher Media, 2005)

Home Safe Home: Protecting Yourself and Your Family from Everyday Toxics and Harmful Household Products in the Home
by Debra Lynn Dadd (Tarcher, 2005)

Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning
by Jeffrey Hollender, Geoff Davis and Meika Hollender (New Society Publishers, 2006)

The Naturally Clean Home: 100 Safe and Easy Herbal Formulas for Non-Toxic Cleansers
by Karyn Siegel-Maier (Storey Publishing, 1999)

Organic Housekeeping
by Ellen Sandbeck (Scribner, 2006)

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Comments

  • Mers 2/23/2009 5:37:56 PM

    For an added boost to the clogged drainer opener, I add a couple of tablespoons of coarse/kosher salt after the baking soda. Works like a charm. Alo, don't be too quick to wash the baking soda/vinegar down with boiling water.

    Thanks for the other ideas, especially using salt as an abrasive.

  • Mers 2/23/2009 5:37:02 PM

    For an added boost to the clogged drainer opener, I add a couple of tablespoons of coarse/kosher salt after the baking soda. Works like a charm. Alo, don't be too quick to wash the baking soda/vinegar down with boiling water.

    Thanks for the other ideas, especially using salt as an abrasive.

  • Mers 2/23/2009 5:35:51 PM

    For an added boost to the clogged drainer opener, I add a couple of tablespoons of coarse/kosher salt after the baking soda. Works like a charm. Alo, don't be too quick to wash the baking soda/vinegar down with boiling water.

    Thanks for the other ideas, especially using salt as an abrasive.

  • linda 2/20/2009 11:53:39 PM

    Fragrances and commercial laundry products can be very toxic. They get washed into our waterways and pumped out of dryer vents, polluting entire neighbourhoods. More non-toxic alternatives are requires, as even the health food store brands can be problematic.


    Toxic chemicals found in common scented laundry products, air fresheners
    "Fragranced consumer products and undisclosed ingredients"

    Dr. Steinemann's research PDF:
    http://tinyurl.com/5ryj6g

    Faculty webpage:
    http://www.ce.washington.edu/people/faculty/bios/steinemann_a.html

  • linda 2/20/2009 11:53:08 PM

    Fragrances and commercial laundry products can be very toxic. They get washed into our waterways and pumped out of dryer vents, polluting entire neighbourhoods. More non-toxic alternatives are requires, as even the health food store brands can be problematic.


    Toxic chemicals found in common scented laundry products, air fresheners
    "Fragranced consumer products and undisclosed ingredients"

    Dr. Steinemann's research PDF:
    http://tinyurl.com/5ryj6g

    Faculty webpage:
    http://www.ce.washington.edu/people/faculty/bios/steinemann_a.html

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