Living in a clean home is for most people one of the top priorities but it’s not always enjoyable and fun. Most of the time it’s an overwhelming task, especially when it’s time to wash the windows and clean the space under the furniture and kitchen appliances.
Cleaning your home is indeed a chore but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bore.
If you make a good plan, divide the tasks and use simple, earth-friendly cleaners, such as:
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Lemon
- Vinegar
Cleaning can become a quick and enjoyable task that is also easy on the environment.
Polishing surfaces
Polishing different types of surfaces is usually very high on the list of most tedious and hated cleaning chores. It usually takes a lot of time and involves using products that contain hazardous and smelly ingredients. Luckily, there’s an earth-friendly solution for almost all surfaces in your home that need polishing. For wood, apply a mix of two parts of olive oil and one part lemon juice using a soft cloth. Lemon juice is also great for vinyl surfaces, glass and mirror.
Spring cleaning
Spring cleaning has become a tradition in many households around the world that gives families the opportunity to clean and freshen up their homes after winter and before the hectic spring/summer season starts.
It’s a long checklist when you decide to dabble in spring cleaning and most people will start with decluttering and getting rid of the excess stuff. This way, there is more room left to get organised and clean the whole house. It usually involves giving all the rooms in the house a proper and thorough scrub, so it’s a big task that may require getting some help. Even if the family members jump in, it might be a good idea to hire professionals, such as these Sydney-based house cleaning experts, who will easily deal with any persistent dirt in your bathroom, kitchen or bedrooms, all without using any harsh chemicals.
The fireplace
A wood burning fireplace is a beautiful feature that can make any room warm, cosy and inviting. But, if it has built up smoke smudges and soot, it will neither look good nor will it function efficiently. To clean it, apply a coat of a paste of tartar cream and water, rub it into the stains and when it dries, scrub it off.
If the inside of the fireplace worries you, you can loosen the accumulated soot by throwing a handful of salt into the fire next time decide to enjoy your time by the fireplace. It will slacken the soot and buy you some time until you get it professionally cleaned.
Heating/cooling system
Cleaning your home on a regular basis is excellent but there’s one aspect you shouldn’t neglect – proper maintenance of your heating/cooling system. This system is a hard worker that is in function most of the year, so the air ducts can get quite dirty with dust and grime build-up.
It’s highly recommended by EPA that you have a certified contractor examine the system ducts for contaminants such as mold, dust and dirt, and clean them professionally. Ultimately, the air that flows through these ducts is the air you and your family breathe indoors, so make sure it’s healthy and clean air.
The floors
Cleaning floors usually comes as the final stage of cleaning, when all else is spick and span. If you have carpets, the easiest way to clean them is simply to vacuum, working your way backwards out of the room. For your hardwood floors, steam mops beat the traditional ones, but if you’re planning on using products, go with the basic vinegar and water solution. The typical ratio is one cup vinegar in one gallon of warm water, and it works great on all floor types, hardwood, ceramic, tile linoleum or vinyl. There’s no need to rinse afterwards, but if you want to make the floors extra shiny, mop them over again with club soda.
Research studies show that good physical and mental health are closely and directly linked to living in a clean environment. By maintaining your home clean, you can significantly lower your stress, fatigue, asthma and allergy symptoms and improve comfort and safety. With the simple tips outlined here, you’ll be able to tackle your home cleaning in no time, enjoy the comfort of your home in good health and make no negative impact on natural environment.
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I find more and more I am using natural cleaning products so I will bookmark this page for future reference. Thank you for adding it to #GoingGreen and I hope you’ll join in again when the next one opens on Easter Monday. Happy Easter!
Hi Rosie,
That is all I use is natural and usually they are DIY products any more to clean with. Looking forward to linking up next Monday. Thanks for hosting the The Green Linky party.
That homemade polish sounds great. I’m going to try that next time I’m cleaning. Thanks for the tip Marla #GoingGreenLinky
Hi Gina,
That homemade polish works quite well and I also use just plain olive oil on wood furniture that nourishes the wood and makes it new again. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a healthy, happy & blessed day!
You taught me something today. I use olive oil for furniture, but now am going to test it with lemon juice too. Just concerned that it might bleach the color. I know from my own experience with sensitivity to chemical that what you wrote is true…”good physical and mental health are closely and directly linked to living in a clean environment.” I’ll pin and share this.
Hi Nancy,
It makes me feel happy that I was able to teach you something that will help you. It always to good to know that what you are writing and posting is helping people improve their lives. Many times I just use olive oil on wood furniture – it nourishes the wood and keep it looking new and polished. Lemon juice has many uses in cleaning and can help with furniture but as you said you do have to be careful of it bleaching some items. Thanks for commenting and sharing my article. Come visit me on my mew FB page @ https://www.facebook.com/organic4green/ and maybe we can share and help each other. Have a healthy, happy & blessed day!