How to Clean Green

Create your own green cleaners. If you want to clean green, food-grade substances are best. That way, if you ingest your cleaners or they somehow end up getting into your body, it’s nothing to fret about. Baking soda, washing soda, cider vinegar, white vinegar, lemon juice, salt, citric acid, hot water – these are the cleaning staples we use at How to Clean Things. They are probably the same cleaners your grandparents used, and there was never a good reason to change. You can follow the above link to learn how to green clean just about anything using our website.

The only thing “green” about many cleaning products is the marketing. Words like “natural”, “eco-friendly”, “biodegradable”, and even “green” don’t mean a thing when put on packaging. Arsenic is naturally found in nature. So is rattle snake poison. Do you want to use an arsenic-scented rattlesnake venom body wash on your naughty parts? If said body wash is labeled “biodegradable”, how long does it take to biodegrade? Four eons? Until our government, the FTC and EPA catch up and create standards (may never happen), your best defense is research. Go to company websites. Call them. If they don’t specifically list ingredients, forget about it. The USDA Organic seal and Green Seal are good indicators, but they are far from perfect.

Green cleaning means conserving water. Water waste has an adverse impact on water tables, water quality, as well as flora and fauna. Americans, on average, use up to 500 liters per day – far beyond the 80-90 liters needed for a quality life. Washing dishes by hand (using one bowl or basin for washing, one for rinsing), taking brief showers instead of baths, washing only full loads of laundry, and refrigerating drinking water (as opposed to running until cold) are all simple ways to conserve water. When it comes time to replace faucets, shower heads, and toilets, look for water restricting brands. These are just a few of the many ways you can make your cleaning green by conserving water.

Use natural air fresheners and purifiers. It’s tough to write about how to clean green without talking about air fresheners. These so called “fresheners” and “deodorizers” (spray or plug in) are known to emit all kinds of dreadful stuff – propane, ethanol, formaldehyde, phenol, limonene, naphthalene… Here are some green options: Try boiling cloves or cinnamon to freshen things up. Baking soda naturally absorbs odor; open a box and leave it in an offending area. The same can be done with sachets filled with lavender, flowers, herbs or baking soda. Mix your favorite essential oil with distilled water in a spray bottle. Create a human rights violation in the bathroom? A lit match will suffice.

Stop over-cleaning. Antibacterial, antimicrobial soaps and detergents kill everything – even the beneficial microbials we are supposed to have on our skin and in our bodies. Bad bacteria sometimes survive and turn into “super germs”. Both the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Health Organization have been urging the FDA to ban these products outside of hospitals for over a decade. Our immune systems are supposed to rub elbows with the world at large. Many experts believe our kill-everything approach to cleaning is responsible for the rise in immune disorders like eczema, asthma, allergies, and more. As of yet, there is no proven health benefit gained from using these products.

Reduce your possessions. Green cleaning is about health and happiness. A minimalist home – a home that only contains things you need or love - improves both. Having fewer things means spending less time cleaning and organizing. You’ll also end up spending far less time searching for lost items amidst the debris. Truly, critically, deliberately think before adding to your household possessions. Of course, this will save you money, but it will also lesson the burden on the environment via production at the front end and landfills and/or incinerators at the back end.