More vinegar uses

To follow up with more Going Green tips, check out this article with 25 more ways to clean with vinegar.

See my previous posting about cleaning with vinegar with a couple other links about Green Cleaning.

How to clean almost anything...

So, in my greening my cleaning, the replacement for many of my household products has been vinegar. Vinegar can clean almost anything (not marble and wood), is cheap and it's safe to use around kids. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant, so vinegar has replaced Lysol in my house.

Here are a few ways I use vinegar:

- as a spot/stain remover on the carpet (mix vinegar and water)

- the tray on my fridge door that catches ice/water (pour vinegar in tray and let sit for awhile, then wiped right off)

- my shower head (put vinegar in plastic bag and tape/rubber band around bag to hold in place for awhile)

- in my dishwasher as a rinse agent

- as a drain opener (pour boiling water, then vinegar and baking soda down the drain to open clogged drains)

- as a toilet cleaner (sprinkle baking soda in toilet and then vinegar and let sit)

- as a multi-purpose cleaner (mix with water in spray bottle to clean windows, counters, toys, etc)

Here are a few sites with uses for vinegar:

Real Simple- a great list of vinegar uses- also 66 All Natural Cleaning Solutions for other natural cleaning products

The Vinegar Institute- more vinegar uses

Have you used vinegar for anything?

Products better for your health...

In the past couple months, I've started to use my couponing to help reduce my grocery and household costs and I've used that savings to start buying more organic and better food for my family. We're eating more organic fruits and veggies, and I can't believe that you can taste a difference. We're also eating organic chicken now- Smart Chicken. It's expensive, but you can taste the difference and there is much less waste than cheap chicken... I'm also shocked that my kids- innocent as they are at almost 14 months old and 3 1/2 years old- eat more organic carrots than traditional carrots and more organic apples than traditional apples. They can even tell a difference!

I found a book at the library- "Green This, Vol. 1- Greening Your Cleaning" by Deirdre Imus. It's an excellent book with tons of information about household products that I was using- and all the horrible chemicals and toxins and yucky stuff in everything. My 3 year old constantly has allergy/asthma/respiratory problems and after reading this book I realized that one more thing we can do to help him (and both my husband and myself who have allergies/asthma) is to get rid of the toxic cleaners we were using.

Seventh Generation makes a great line of non-toxic cleaners that are naturally safe and effective. I found a great deal on Seventh Generation cleaners at Target- there are $1.00 off 1 printable manufacturer coupons here and also $1.00 off 1 Target printable coupons here. They have a great multi-purpose spray cleaner that runs around $2.99 regular price at Target, and their dish soap is around $2.69. So, take $2 off those makes it very cheap! Their multi-purpose spray cleaner is great- I've used it on pretty much everything- the shower, around the kitchen, etc.. and what I LOVE about these products is I don't choke because of the fumes and I feel great using them around my kids.

I loved Lysol... I mean, I really loved Lysol- wipes, cleaner, spray... I never felt like something was clean unless I was choking on Lysol fumes. I was first very skeptical about using natural products but there are SO MANY natural disinfectants and cleaners around that only kill the bad germs and bacteria. After reading "Green This" I was really bothered by all the chemicals in everything and reading the side effects of exposure to each different chemical in each cleaning product it's no wonder why we have resistant strains of illness. It's really scary when you start reading up on this topic...

And beware of false claims on products. Several companies are coming out with products that have the name "green" in them to make themselves sound better- but they're really not. Try to look for non-toxic cleaners, and start reading ingredient lists. Seventh Generation is one of the brands that has been around for awhile now and has established themselves to be a good company with high quality products at reasonable prices.

Let me know if you have a chance to look into that book or a similar one and what products you've found to be better for your health... I'm trying to find a reasonably priced alternative to hand sanitizer-- since my readings have shown me that I really shouldn't be using that either!!

How many cleaning products do you have?

How many different cleaning products do you use on a regular basis? Do you have as many as I do?? Leave a comment and let me know! Would you like to spend less on cleaning products and see better results???

I haven't counted my own yet, but I'd say I have at least 20 different cleaners... multi-purpose cleaners, shower cleaners, toilet cleaner, kitchen counter cleaner, several types of floor cleaners, etc...

Also- what's your favorite cleaning product that you don't think you could live without??

In the next few days, I'm going to show you how to simplify your cleaning and get rid of many of your household cleaners- this will definitely save you some money!