Plastic-Free Cleaning
Having children made me much more conscious of the products in my home. When I first became pregnant, I started reading all sorts of books about raising children. I’m a type-A person, so of course that would translate to preparing for a baby.
We have so many chemicals in our cleaning products. I distinctly remember the strong smell of toilet cleaner as a child, after my mom cleaned the bathrooms. Over the years, we’ve been marketed to believe we need a specialized cleaner for shower doors, mildew, toilet bowls, granite counters, wood floors, and the list goes on and on.
But do you really need 50 different bottles of chemicals to clean your house? Nope.
So, what do you need?
It’s simple. Baking soda, vinegar and liquid Castile soap. That’s it.
I clean my entire house with these three cleaning agents. No unpronounceable chemicals, no closet full of bottles, just three ingredients, two spray bottles, rags, and a brush.
Bathrooms
For the bathrooms, I use diluted vinegar to clean the mirrors, metal fixtures, sinks, and toilet.
Vinegar can kill E.coli, Salmonella, and other gram-negative bacteria. It can even kill the flu virus! It kills the bacteria by crossing the cell’s outer membrane and disrupting the cell’s inner structures, causing it to die. Muahahaha.
Glass & Disinfectant Cleaner:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vinegar
You can also add 10 drops of essential oils to add a scent to the spray. Some great scents are mint, lavender, and orange. I add this mixture to glass spray bottles.
You can also use a leftover spray bottle from any previous cleaning sprays you’ve purchased. Or my best friend showed me that you can take a spray top from a leftover bottle and screw it onto a glass sparkling water bottle.
Mirrors & Metal Fixtures
To clean the mirrors and metal fixtures, I spray diluted vinegar and wipe dry. I use some old organic cotton baby onesies as rags. They’re the perfect size and a great way to reuse something old. I simply cut the snap buttons off the bottom and sewed the bottom shut.
Toilets
For the toilets, I spray all the surfaces with diluted vinegar and wipe it down. Then I spray diluted vinegar in the bowl and use a toilet brush to scrub and then flush. My toilet brush is plastic but I’ve had it FOREVER. So, there was no sense in buying a new one just because I want it to be plastic-free. But whenever my current one breaks, I’ll definitely replace it with a wooden option.
Sinks
I splash a little bit of water in the sink and then sprinkle some baking soda to make a paste and scrub with a wooden brush.
Countertops
We have quartz counter tops in our bathrooms, so I do not use vinegar on them because it could eat away at the sealant. Instead, I used a diluted liquid castle soap.
All-Purpose Cleaner
- 1 cup distilled water
- 1 tablespoon liquid Castile soap
Distilled water is just water that has been boiled and then cooled. You do this to avoid any bacteria growth in the mixture.
I love Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap. This Citrus scent is perfect for cleaning my house. I used to buy the gallon-sized bottle because I couldn’t find a shop that sells it in bulk locally. But now I make a melt a bar in boiling water to turn a bar of Castile soap into liquid Castile soap. I grate the soap with a cheese grater and pour the pieces into a pot with 4 cups of boiling water. I stir until it dissolves and let it cool before putting it into a jar.
There are more and more refill stores popping up that have multi-gallon containers of Dr. Bronner’s soap and allow you to bring your own container for refill.
Another options would be to order refills from a shop like the Refill Shoppe. They send you a pouch of various liquids, like Castile soap, and you dump the liquids into your own container and send the pouch back in a pre-paid envelope. The shop cleans, sterilizes and reuses them!
Kitchen
For any sort of surface that needs to be disinfected, I used the diluted vinegar spray. This includes cutting boards, knives or anything that has touched raw meat.
By making your own sprays and using simple ingredients you avoid harmful chemicals and disposable plastic cleaning bottles.
Unintended Benefits
As I talked about in Plastic-Free, Zero Waste, and Minimalism, one of the unintended benefits of plastic-free living is the beauty. By making my own cleaning sprays, I avoid a bunch of marketing screaming at my eyes when I open my cabinet.
Instead of 10 different bottles of assorted colors and brands, I have two beautifully brandless bottles in a bucket with rags and a brush. The simplicity of it makes me happy which makes cleaning the bathrooms a little less crappy (pun intended).
What do you think? Can you ditch the specialized cleaning sprays? (After they’re used up, of course.) Or do you already clean with vinegar and Castile soap? Tell me in the comments!
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