In keeping with the eco-conscious theme, I'm going to tackle another of my favourite Earth-friendly alternatives: cleaning! (I know, exciting right?) But seriously, one of the best things I have learned in my time playing house is that no cleaner, Earth friendly or not, compares to good old fashioned baking soda and vinegar.
As someone interested in Earth-friendly alternatives to regular products, I had been relying on the Clorox Green Works all-purpose cleaner for several months. From the first time I picked up the bottle I was wary of just how "environmentally-friendly" the stuff actually was. It says right on the back of it "If swallowed, call a Poison Control Centre or Doctor immediately". I mean, my first inclination would be that something that isn't supposed to be harmful to the environment should also not be harmful to humans. But of course, this is silly, as there are many plants that are poisonous to humans, so fair enough. Still, I was a bit disappointed because one of my biggest complaints with cleaning products in general is that, when cleaning a kitchen counter, you are covering a food preparation area with toxins. Doesn't make much sense to me. Also, when you read the info under the "Design for the Environment" logo from the US EPA, it says "Recognized for Safer Chemistry". Safer than what? Bleach? 'Cause that's not saying much.
Anyway, after a little while of using the Green Works stuff, our bathroom sink started to develop a yellowish/brownish film that never could be properly scrubbed away. My theory is the coconut-based cleaning agent was leaving a coconut-based film behind. Plus, mold started to develop on the grout between tiles in the shower. Despite frequent cleanings. Seriously, a week after I'd used the stuff I would start to notice mold again.
After a few months I got pretty fed up with the detrimental effects of using Green Works and I vowed never to buy it again. I was however, disappointed that this might have to mean buying harsher chemical cleaners. Though I try to avoid corrosive chemicals as much as possible, I bought some CLR to try to fix the unacceptable state the Green Works had left my bathroom in. What a mistake that was.
Oddly enough, I noticed the CLR bottle carried the same "Design for the Environment" US EPA logo as Green Works. It also says on the front that it contains no phosphates. While phosphates in and of themselves aren't bad for us, they can be very harmful to lakes and rivers. To learn more about that, check out this website. But there are also a lot of more harmful things that CLR does contain.
Without going into too many details, I will just relate to you my experience with CLR. I was cleaning our tiny bathroom, and I had followed the directions exactly. I was wearing polyurethane gloves, and had the fan turned on. I not only got a little bit of a chemical burn through my gloves, but I got very dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out. It took a good 15 minutes or so of sitting outside on the front porch for this feeling to go away. And I refused to use CLR ever again.
So, in looking for a solution to my problem, I decided to attempt something I'd heard of, but never really thought of actually trying. I grabbed our bottle of white vinegar from the pantry, and the box of baking soda from the cupboard, and I went to town. (Figuratively, not literally. Literally I went to the bathroom). I sprinkled baking soda in the sink, dumped some vinegar on top, and started scrubbing with the sponge. I immediately saw the dirt stick to the chunks of baking soda and come right off the sink. It didn't take much elbow grease at all. Then I went to the grout in the shower. Put a bit of baking soda and vinegar on the sponge, and rubbed the mold away. Then I did the same with some rust spots that had developed on the counter (side note: never buy a soap dish with a metal bottom). The rust spots, especially, were things that I thought would never be removed. Prior to this I had even tried a bleach-based cleaner on them to no avail. But the baking soda and vinegar did the job perfectly.
Honestly I was pretty excited, not to mention amazed. I mean, the problem went from being this elusive, seemingly unsolvable issue, to actually having the simplest solution ever. And the benefits of using vinegar and baking soda abound.
For starters, just like with lawn mowing, the most environmentally friendly option is also the most cost-effective. I mean you can get a one-gallon jug of white vinegar for like, 2 bucks and a store brand box of baking soda for not much more. A bottle of Green Works will run you at least $3.50 (probably more) and you'll only be getting 1/4 of a gallon. And yes, vinegar does kill germs. In fact, there are a number of sources on the internet quoting a Heinz spokesperson as stating that the regular household white vinegar that you find at the grocery store "kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of germs". (See here and here for example.)
While you may not like the idea of rubbing something that smells as strong as vinegar all over your house, its smell dissipates relatively quickly, and it actually gets rid of other odours. So once you stop smelling vinegar, you don't smell anything left behind that other products may just mask. And if the smell really bothers you, try adding a couple drops of an essential oil that you like the smell of, just to kind of personalize it.
Seriously, vinegar is an edible, safe on skin, safe to breath, even safe to get in your eyes (though I wouldn't recommend it) alternative to chemical cleaning products. And a bit of baking soda really helps when it comes to tougher areas. To be more efficient, pick up a spray bottle to pour your vinegar in, so that you aren't just dumping loads of it all over the place. And for extra-tough areas, try a bristle brush with the baking soda and vinegar to really scrub away the build-up. Just try it, even once, and you will be impressed.
