about household cleaning products

Just walking down that aisle at a conventional grocery store makes me feel sneezy and queasy…here is what I use for cleaning:

opaque spray bottle filled with hydrogen peroxide. The bottle has to be opaque or the peroxide loses it's extra oxygen molecule and just becomes water quite quickly. Peroxide is the active ingredient in most of the Seventh Gen products by the way. Also good for spot cleaning laundry - better than any of those other kinds of spot cleaners but make sure your clothes aren't veggie dyed before you use it. It won't bleach like bleach does but will take out most biological stains - your friend if you got blood on your pants but not if you dyed your shirt with onions skins. Or beets.

spray bottle filled with the cheapest vodka I can find. It's an excellent cleaning agent and solvent and where the aerosolized spray would be unhealthy if using isopropyl alcohol, this is (theoretically…) fit for human consumption and not a risky thing to use for cleaning.

Baking soda.

Borax. (I was so sad when 20 Mule Team borax changed their packaging and got rid of the little cow girl…)

Vinegar. I should buy this by the vat and sometimes my house smells like an easter egg but vinegar kills mold and mildew and also (oddly enough) weeds, so it gets used inside and out. Poured into a drain on top of the baking soda and it becomes a drain cleaner.  It cleans glass better than anything and if you are dyeing fabric (or eggs!) it helps to set the color. Vinegar rules.

I use J.R. Watkins dish soap (which is sold at Target) mostly because I just think the container is so cute. How lame is that? But it's nice stuff.

Dr. Bronners - I especially like the lavender and love that it's refillable at my local food coop or either of the health food stores close by. It's great for laundry, baths, floors, countertops - it does need to be rinsed off which confuses people who are used to those spray cleaners where you just spray and wipe but it cleans wonderfully, smells great and eradicates all bad smells through some kind of magic. Great stuff and the bottles have all that wildly entertaining stuff printed on them…although it's mostly worn off of mine due to the refilling…

And that's pretty much it. Oh, I use ammonia sometimes in laundry - the runoff is great for plants (we recycle the laundry water) and it actually can be diluted and used directly to feed nitrogen to garden plants. But it smells awful so that's a desperation move. 

Re: about household cleaning products

jeannie, I'll be looking for J.R. Watkins dish soap the next time I'm at Target, thanks for the tip!
I'm curious about the spray bottle filled with vodka - do you use that for cleaning glass?  bathroom fixtures?  wood?

Re: about household cleaning products

Awesome posts - thanks, Tink - I just knew I was going to learn so much from you!!

And wow, that's interesting you have the same queasy reaction I do to that aisle - it always amazes me that people sashay down there like it's any other aisle, while I can't spend more than 30 seconds without my body going haywire - looking back to my extreme reactions to it as a child, I think they would call it “asthma” these days, but that was practically unheard of back then… hmm - wonder if there's a connection?!  I guess I'm definitely one of those canary in the coal mine types - SO not fun for us canaries!

It's so funny - I just saw that J.R. Watkins brand at Target the other day, and I had never seen it there before - very memorable labels!  Has it been around a while? 

And yeah, sometimes you gotta just love a product for froofy reasons like cool labels or cause it just smells so darn good (I LOVE the Thymes Mandarin Coriander dishwashing liquid for these reasons)  - despite the critical mindset of everything needing to pass a rigorous set of requirements having to do with toxicity, cost, renewability, locality, environmental safety, etc., etc., ad nauseum, ad infinitum… (7th Generation's Lemongrass and Clemantine dish soap is a reasonable facsimile at a lower cost, though more runny, so you end up using more).  Ah, these complex algorithms!

I'm going to break up my responses to all the rest of your great tips into individual posts cause there's so much great information there…

Re: about household cleaning products - vodka

Oh dear - no not wood! But for any kind of nonporous surfaces like counters and faucets and stovetops. 

Re: about household cleaning products - vodka

Thanks, I'm going to give it a try!  :)

Re: about household cleaning products - vodka

Okay, wait - vodka?  As a cleaner??  I guess it would be sterilising!  Is rubbing alcohol the same as isopropyl alcohol?  Is that bad?

Re: about household cleaning products - hydrogen peroxide

Great tip on hydrogen peroxide - I'm going to try it for spot cleaning.  I bought my first ever bottle of Shout a few months back (cause my white shirts seem to have a special magnetism about them for anything that will stain - just the white ones, mind you) - and I can't stand how noxiously strong it is.  It's one of those spray at arm's length with face averted and hastily exit the room while slapping on the fan and slamming the door maneuvers - and even after I launder the shirt, I can still smell that gunk on it - aaargh! 

SO glad to hear of an alternative!  My mom used some mysterious yellow bar thing that lasted, I think, my entire childhood - I should ask her, maybe she still has it - who knows?! 

I'm quite sure I don't have any veggie died clothes - will have to start a board on clothing - I have so much to learn! - so that's not an issue, but I'll definitely spot test first! 

I've read you can use hydrogen peroxide in place of liquid bleach as a whitener - has anyone tried that?

Re: about household cleaning products - Baking soda

I really like baking soda as a cleaner - Tink mentioned the combo with vinegar as a drain cleaner - nothing beats it that I have found.  It's also great for scrubbing the stains out of white sinks!  Of course, a dish of it in the fridge works wonders to reduce any strong odors, and I have a friend that swears by using it as a silver coin/jewelry polish.  Great stuff.

Re: about household cleaning products - Borax

I've read a lot about Borax, but I just don't get it.  Do you use it as a surface cleaner?  As a laundry detergent?

Re: about household cleaning products - Vinegar & Cleaning Glass

I've got to say, vinegar as a cleaner is not my friend.  Some lovely balsamic drizzled on potatoes - yum.  Red wine or raspberry vinegar in a lovely vinaigrette?  Superb.  Nasty smelly distilled white vinegar on the windows?  Yuck! 

I just do not like the smell of vinegar in the house (cooking uses above excepted).  Is there a trick?  Does using a better quality vinegar help?  Would adding essential oils work, or would they just break down in the acid?  Am I just being a prima donna with my persnickety olfactory preferences? 

As I mentioned above, nothing beats vinegar and baking soda as the dynamic drain cleaning duo, but other than that, meh.  I have read many books extolling the virtues of vinegar as an all-purpose miracle cleaner, but I just don't quite trust things my nose doesn't like.  I love the idea of vinegar as a cheap, simple, homespun solution, but I just can't wrap my olfactory bulb around it. 

I also love the idea that it kills mold and mildew - I always seem to wind up in green, rainy places where the 3M's (mold, mildew, and moss) are endemic, so I'd love to learn more about those applications. 

And as a weed (plant) killer - I think I read about that somewhere, that you need repeated doses?  Do you use it this way?  Any recommendations?

As far as cleaning glass goes, I recently discovered the awesome Method glass cleaner (sold at Target).  Though I'm a bit skeptical of the Method line in general, and have only found a couple of products in it to my liking, I LOVE the glass cleaner.  I have always hated windex and had an awful reaction to it - when I discovered it requires an MSDS - material safety data sheet - because of its toxicity, I went: of course!  Another of those trust your nose things.  But not only does the Method not smell like poison, it has a pleasant light pepperminty smell that doesn't seem to be covering anything up other than a very slight oily/soapy note that doesn't smell at all toxic, and It. Works. Great.  I was truly surprised by this one.  I think it actually works better than windex, or anything else I've ever used!  It's just so refreshing when that happens!

Re: about household cleaning products - Vinegar & Cleaning Glass

I can't quite imagine using a nice aged balsamic on my windows. No I think that if the smell puts you off you can either deal with that or choose another product - the Method stuff sounds nice and I'll check that out myself.
I have an aversion to some smells also and although vinegar isn't on the list I haven't been able to get past the ones that are. That's one of the reasons I stopped working at the nature center here but we're not going to discuss that or I'll start feeling queasy right now.

And oh yes - I use vinegar on weeds and am currently trying it on the horribly misnamed “tree of heaven” invasive plant which is a blight here in North Carolina. I'll let you know how it goes. Doesn't usually require repeated applications but on this persistent thing I'm sure it will. The only other choice I can see is setting fire to my yard and that just makes me nervous…

Re: about household cleaning products - Vinegar & Cleaning Glass

The nose is such a funny critter ain't it?  I am curious what type of vinegar you use though.  Since I love the smell (and taste!) of some, there seems to be a discrepancy.  I can't imagine using balsamic for windows either - lol - do you think it would leave red streaks?  Some of the other things though?  Like maybe those pesky window casings once in a blue moon?  Something anti-microbial sounds good for that!

Great tip on the weeds, too.  I think I'll try that…  Setting fire to the yard would scare me, too!

Re: about household cleaning products - Dr. Bronners

As much as I love the idea of Dr. Bronners - that one soap cleans everything - I had a bad experience with it when I decided it would be a great sidekick to backpack around Europe with - soap, shampoo and laundry detergent all-in-one?  Sign me up!  No WAY.  OMG, I can still hear the crinkle-crinkle of parched skin and brittle hair shishing up against one another from using that product.  I'm sorry, I don't care how much you dilute it, that stuff is WAY too powerful for lil ol me!  I did end up using it to scrub the black knees of jeans worn to pick strawberries, though, and it did work for that, chapped red hands notwithstanding.  But that stuff was like a bad acid trip for me - once you develop a sensitivity to a product, it is best to stay far, far away from it!

I DO love the idea of refillable products though!  The Canadian boutique-y store Fruits & Passion does this, and their products (though pricey) are SO yummy-licious-good-smelling.  I discovered them in, of all places, a restaurant restroom, and THAT has never happened to me before.  Excuse me, waiter, what hand soap are you serving - I must have some!  Their Cucina olive oil coriander hand soap and lotion are downright delicious (and has eco refills for the strudy glass or ceramic pumps - I love how eco sometimes means both ecological and economical - in the end, they must be the same.).

Re: about household cleaning products - Ammonia

Wow!  Is ammonia really good for plants?  I didn't know that, but I guess it makes sense - diluted of course.  My mom was a big fan of ammonia - ammonia, bleach, and TSP - and no gloves for any of it - gloves were for sissies. (She used to clip our nails and dip them in bowls of bleach water - ouch! - some manicure that was! - I don't know what kind of child of immigrant torture she learned, but that's just not cricket). 

I don't think she used it in laundry though, just on every other conceivable surface.  And when the situation is bad, nothing is better - I try not to ever let things get so dire!  What's it good for in laundry, if I may ask?

Re: about household cleaning products

Well, it persuades dirty things to become a lot cleaner kind of easily. But yes, good for plants - ammonia is the precursor to almost all nitrogen compounds which means it greens plants right up. 

Your mother may possibly be the only mother I've ever heard of who is more terrifying than mine was and was still allowed to run free in the world.

Re: about household cleaning products

This may sound weird, but I use hydrogen peroxide to soften ear wax if my ears get blocked.  It feels so neat tickling and bubbling in there and makes the wax a cinch to remove.

My aunt had one of those mysterious yellow bars - it may have been handed down to her from her mother!

I've got one invasive plant in my garden I'd like to burn sometimes – get sick of weeding it over and over again.  Should try some vinegar on it.  What kills me is that I actually bought the thing – it's pretty but it spreads and eats chokes out everything its path!  Wish the label had warned about that!

Vinegar makes me think of douches…  Sorry…

We've got a persistent mold problem, too, being a mile from the sea and right next to a salt pond…

I love the Method glass cleaner, too.  Windex triggered migraines for me.
Well, today I gave my bathroom a thorough cleaning.  I also took stock of the collection of cleaning products cluttering up the cupboard, decided to pare down and simplify.  Simplify.  One of my goals.  Stop experimenting and stick with what's working for me now.  Wrote down what's working and made a master list so I won't keep getting confused in the store!  Feels good.  Proactive!  :)