5 Reasons to use Herbs for Cleaning – the Natural Way
Why clean with herbs? Because it’s the green and natural way and is very important for the our health and the environment. Another great reason it’s such an easy, inexpensive way to clean and to keep your home toxic free. I love using the common items such as baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, but herbs add an extra punch and personal elegance. Adding herbal material like essential oils enhances the value with an extra benefit of leaving a soothing, natural scent.
Even the many toxic commercial cleaners have added citrus oils such as lemon or lime because they are natural degreasers and have antibacterial properties. Actually the principles of sanitary hygiene and aromatherapy become partners to make your clean chores a pleasurable experience that your whole family can enjoy and benefit from their medicinal qualities.
It’s hard to get excited about cleaning and doing household tasks but when you use natural herbal products instead of chemical laden commercial it has a natural way of making those chores pleasurable. You have the personal satisfaction that knowing the surfaces of your bathroom, kitchen and whole house are germ and toxic free plus you have that lingering soothing aroma of lavender, mint, cedar or any other herbal scent that satisfy’s your personal needs and taste.
Another very important reason to use herbs is how much money and time it will save too. We all could certainly benefit from time-saving ideas that could lessen the load on our hectic lifestyles and we certainly all want and need to save our pennies. Making your own herbal cleaning products is not time-consuming or expensive, but quite the contrary. It take only minutes to fill a spray bottle with vinegar and water and add a few drops of essential oil.
For instance a typical spray or foam cleanser for the bathroom is usually about $4.00 or more and that is just one cleaning product– multiple the cost of all the other cleaners you purchase and the price can be quite hefty. The most common natural cleaning ingredients such as vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, castile soap, cost only pennies when compared to commercial cleaners. You can buy pure essential oils for an average of $3.00 to $5.00 per half ounce. Most formulas only take a few drops of essential oils depending on what product you’re making, so a half-ounce bottle goes a very long way. An alternative natural non-toxic herbal cleanser will cost only pennies compared to toxic commercial cleaners. Do the math and you can certainly see the savings!
Think about the closet clutter of having a commercial cleaners for every job. You have to buy a product for the toilet, the bathtub, the sink, the floors, dusting and waxing your furniture and you probably have 4-5 products just for your kitchen cleaning duties. Now you get the picture you are saving so much space and clutter because most of the your natural and herbal green cleaners are multipurpose. Check out cleaning tips at —“6 Tips To Make Your Spring Cleaning Green Cleaning!“
Herbs and essential oils are suitable for all-purpose cleaning, floor and furniture care, laundry needs, all kitchen and bathroom needs too. In fact you usually only need a few ingredients to clean the house. You can reuse the spray bottles over and over which is saving waste and helping to cut down in a big way on our over loaded land fills. For storing many products you can actually recycle from other products such as coffee tins with plastic lids are great for storing your herbal wood polishes. Glass or plastic jars that you bought bulk food items or other products in can be recycled and reused for DIY laundry products
Many people choose to grow their own herbs and dry them for making scouring powders, sachets, and carpet fresheners. Dried herbs such as lavender, sage, mint, rosemary, and lemon balm. are usually easy to grow, add beauty to your landscape or if you don’t have a yard or space, they can be grown in small containers on your window sills. Even if you choose to purchase dried herbs they are comparably very inexpensive to commercial cleaners.
The number one reason to use herbs and natural green cleaning products is to avoid the health dangers to our bodies. Toxic ingredients in commercial cleaners have been linked to cancer, are neurotoxins, allergies, asthma, liver damage and so much more. Many commercial cleaners actually do more harm than good. Take a look at some of the bottles or cans – Warning do not inhale! That should open you eyes. If you shouldn’t be inhaling them — they why in the world would you be putting your family at risk and in harm way!
Lets not forgot how commercial cleaners affect the environment and the impact on our water, the deterioration of our ozone layer and air quality, the imbalance of our ecological system, and the disastrous effects to our aquatic life and wildlife.
So why would you continue using commercial cleaners when you know that using herbal and natural cleaning products:
1. Saves you money and time
2. Saves you space and waste
3. Saves the environment and keeps the ecological system in balance
4. Saves your health and your family’s health. They are healthy!
5. Makes cleaning more pleasurable and satisfying
So make sure you are cleaning the natural green way! Adding herbs and essential oils to your cleaning routine can make your family healthier and happier. Nature provides us with many natural resources — we just have to utilize them and make them part of our lifestyle. I know that you want the very best for your family — after all they depend on us to protect them. So please stop using those toxic commercial cleaners! Give our kids the best chance for a healthy future and make the world a safer place for them to live and thrive in.
Live Green, Live Natural, Live Healthy!
Shared On HEALTHY HAPPY GREEN & NATURAL BLOG HOP!
Shared ON OIL ME UP WEDNESDAYS!
Pingback: Make Going Green in Your Personal Home Office your Goal
Pingback: Five Deep Cleaning Tasks to Do This Summer
Pingback: 5 Effective Ways To Improve The Air Quality Inside Your Home
Pingback: Seven Tips to Maintain Healthy & Natural Toilet Hygiene
Pingback: How to: Nix Ungreen Habits from Your Life
Pingback: How Your Body Fights Allergens, and How You Can Help
Pingback: How to Clean You Bathroom the Green and Natural Way
Pingback: Small Steps
Pingback: 5 Ways To Preserve And Dry Your Own Herbs Naturally
Pingback: Green Oven Cleaning Tips
Hi Marla,
Knowledge is power, so it is so important for us to understand how harmful and toxic conventional cleaning products can be. Thank you for sharing this vital information about cleaning with herbs the natural green way with us at the Healthy Happy Green and Natural Party Blog Hop! I appreciate it!
Hi Deb, I certainly agree with you that knowledge is power. I wish I had the power to get the whole world to stop using toxic conventional cleaning products. I believe it could make such a big difference in our environment and health.
Glad to know more about green cleaning. Thank you 🙂
Your welcome! Glad to help and thank you for reading my article. Green cleaning is so important to our health and the health of our environment. Stay healthy!
Excellent article. I have not gotten to the point of growing my own herbs yet, but do use essential oils in the ways you describe. Several months ago, I found a great source for essential oils. For information, go to herbalteria.com.
Thanks Rick for reading my article, glad you liked and found my information helpful. I will check out your source of essential oils. Have a healthy day. Hope you come back and check for updates.
Vinegar, baking soda, essential oils – pretty much all I use!
Thanks for reading my article and I use mainly the same things except I also like hydrogen peroxide for cleaning counters and cutting boards. Have a healthy green day!