Natural and Sustainable

Just as with vinegar, cleaning with lemons can help bring a better air quality to your home and a better way to clean. Here are some tips to cleaning with lemons that will have you wondering why you didn’t clean with them sooner.

1. Cut a lemon in half and dip into baking soda to help fight germs on countertops and cutting boards. Don’t use on stone or stainless steel it could discolor it or scratch it.

2. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to your dishwasher or dish liquid to help cut grease and kill germs while washing.

3. Rub lemon juice or a lemon half onto faucets and drains to help combat against lime scale and rust. For harder to remove lime scale, let it sit overnight and rinse away with cold water in the morning.

4. Cut a lemon in half and run through a garbage disposal to combat against smell and bacteria and to kill germs in the disposal.

5. Make an all natural bleaching agent by combining 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar with lemon juice.

6. Remove fish smells from hands or other items with lemon juice straight.

7. Add 1/2 cup lemon juice to a normal laundry size load to help bring out the bright white in clothes.

8. Apply straight lemon juice to plastic ware to remove smells and discoloring from any plastic. Let it dry on the container then wash as normal.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: To repurpose sheets and dress up your bathroom sink, make a sink skirt. Start with the finished hem on a sheet and turn upside down. Cut the sheet to the length of your sink to the floor and wall to wall. Turn the raw edge down and sew a straight stitch or use fabric glue. Attach Velcro to the bottom side of the sink and the other Velcro side to the sheet edge. Attach and hide the bottom of your sink and dress up your powder room in 1 simple step. For complete instructions click here.

Vinegar can help inhibit the growth of mold, mildew, and some bacteria like E. coli and salmonella on surfaces. Here are ways to clean around your home with vinegar.

1. Pour equal parts water and vinegar into your coffee maker and run through the cycle several times. Run with clean water through several cycles to flush it out before suing again.

2. Pour 1/2 cup of vinegar into the soap reservoir and run through the cycle without dishes to disinfect the machine.

3. Pour 1/2 cup vinegar down drains and follow with boiling water then cold water to disinfect kitchen drains and bathroom drains.

4. Pour 1/4 cup vinegar into warm water to help clean floors. Don’t use this on marble or wood because it will scratch marble and it will strip wood of its finish.

5. Combine 1 cup water with 1 cup vinegar to clean windows and mirrors or even glass.

6. Spray vinegar straight onto moldy surfaces and leave on for 30 minutes to kill the mold.

7. Soak clogged showerheads in straight vinegar over night to dissolve mineral deposits. Rinse with warm water to rinse.

8. Clean your iron with straight vinegar and rinse with a cool wet rag to remove mineral deposits on the outside of the iron. Run vinegar through the spray cycle to remove mineral deposits from the steaming option as well. Flush through with clean water before use.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Feeding yourself healthy options is easy, but feeding your pet the right choices can be a bit difficult. Instead of going with whatever is available put some thought into what you are giving your furry friend. Look to options like Pegetables dog treats. They are made with real vegetables and they are made with quality ingredients to give you pets the best.

Cancer-causing chemicals could be all around your home and you aren’t aware of it.

Laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaners and even air fresheners could be hoarding more in the solution than just a quick cleaner for the stove. Many products contain one or more chemicals like acetone, limonene, acetaldehyde and 1; 4-dioxane and many of these chemicals aren’t even listed on the labels of the products. And it’s not the short-term exposure that you should be as concerned with as the long-term exposure to these chemicals that could lead to cancer and nervous-system damage as well.

When cleaning, whether it’s by doing the laundry or cleaning the oven, chemicals from those cleaners are given off in the form of toxic air particles that in turn we inhale and they sit in our lungs and are absorbed by the body through the blood stream. This can be potentially dangerous to children over time too.

The best way to avoid this is to look to cleaners that are non-toxic and can offer what’s exactly in the make-up right on the label. Look to cleaners like Seventh Generation or the like.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Look to online bill pay to save on paper waste as well as cut the carbon emissions that are given off to produce the paper as well. If one in five households made the online bill pay switch it would save 151 million pounds of paper and avoid producing nearly 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emission each and every single year according to Pay It Green.

When I say for a better environment I not only mean the planet, I also mean your present environment as well, your breathing environment and your family and living environment as well. The air quality in our homes can be 10 times worse than the air quality outside. With that comes illnesses and other sickness. To help prevent that, go green with your cleaning and here are some ideas to help get your started.

• Rust Remover: Sprinkle sea salt on the rust, and then squeeze a lemon or a lime over the salt. Leave on the rust for about 2 hours then scrub the area with the rind of the citrus fruit.

• Window Cleaner: Mix together 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/2 tsp. castile soap and 2 cups warm water. Pour into a spray-top bottle and use with newspaper to clean windows, stove tops and even shower doors and curtains.

• Wood Cleaner: Mix together 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 tsp. castile soap and a drop or two of olive, canola or other carrier oil in a bowl and with a sponge, soak up some of the mixture and ring out the excess. Wash the wood surface and all to dry. If the smell of vinegar is too much, place a few drops of essential oil into the mixture as well.

• All-Purpose Cleaner: 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2 tsp. borax, 3-1/2 cups hot water (not too hot that it burns the skin though), 1/4 cup castile soap like Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap or the like, 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil, 10 drops lemon essential oil and 10 drops peppermint essential oil.

Mix everything together but the castile soap into a spray bottle. Add the castile soap last and use on surfaces like kitchen counters and bathroom sinks.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: No matter what your budget allows, simple cleaning solutions can be made from everyday household products that are really inexpensive. Look to baking soda and vinegar first before spending money on something more expensive and that can pose a health risk.