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Cleaning Without Chemicals Print E-mail
Written by Jane   
Sunday, 22 April 2007

Cleaning ProductsMaybe the first time you thought about chemicals was when you became pregnant, or when your baby arrived, or maybe that time is now. With a tiny little being in your world there is nothing more important than keeping them safe. The last thing you want is to worry about the effect of cleaning products when you see your baby suck on the highchair tray.

You might think that the amount of chemicals in your chosen cleaner is not a problem and by itself that may be the case. However in everyday life we are exposed to probable thousands of chemical combinations. Non-organic food, water, skin and hair care, medicines and cleaners as well as air pollution are continual sources of toxins. It is becoming more apparent that these chemical combinations build up in the body and can be difficult to break down. Add to that the rise of asthma and eczema in children and here we are, thinking that maybe it is time to reduce exposure where we can.

So what to use and how do we know it’s really clean? Well, we’ll be looking into the cleaning properties of easy to obtain household items and you can help by contributing. Meanwhile here are a couple of ideas:

Surface Cleaning

  • Use some vinegar, home brand is fine.
  • Fit an old spray trigger to the bottle, or move the vinegar to a spray bottle
  • Sprinkle some bicarbonate of soda onto the surface, spray with vinegar to make bubbles
  • Wipe with a wet cloth to clean
  • Wipe dry with an old nappy or soft cloth to finish

Microwave Cleaning

Cut up a lemon, place in a shallow dish of water, put into the microwave and heat for 5 minutes on high. Then wipe the microwave clean.

Food Safe Cleaners

Fridge Vanilla or Vanilla Fresh is a very simple commerically available spray cleaner combining Vanilla essence and ethanol. You can use it for high chair trays, food preparation benches, fridges and so forth. It's antibacterial and safe around food. It is a very gentle cleaner however, so I find sometimes you need something stronger, but if you need to clean near the kids, it's great.

Antibacterial Dust Mite Controller - Eucalyptus oil

Eucalyptus oil is great for laundry care. 1-2 caps (approx 1 tsp) in with your detergent will kill dust mites and disinfect your wash. You can use the spray version (sometimes found in the first aid section) for a laundry pre-wash spray, on bites and for a myriad of other uses around the house. It is also fantastic to spray a little down your vaccuum cleaner nozzle to kill dust mites in the bag and create a fresh smelling house after vaccuuming. Eucalyptus oil is not safe around children, so keep it on a high shelf or in a locked cupboard.

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