Dust, degrease and disinfect with all natural products and items you already have around the house.

The tulips are blooming, the birds are singing, and you’re on your hands and knees in your ugliest sweatpants scrubbing the grout on the bathroom floor. Spring cleaning isn’t exactly fun, but it’s a necessary evil that can be made a lot more pleasant with the use of natural, non-toxic products that won’t leave you with a headache or require a costly trip to the store. If you’ve got baking soda, vinegar, lemons, an old towel and a handful of other common household items, you can give your house a fresh start without spending any money at all.

Fresh Air In, Odors Out

Closed-up houses may be cozy in the winter, but they tend to smell pretty stale. Get some air moving in your house by opening all the windows and positioning a few fans in strategic places, like hallways and stairways. Placing a fan in the window, facing out, can work wonders for your indoor air quality, making it smell as fresh as the outdoors.

Make Glass Sparkle with Newspaper

Nothing gets glass windows and mirrors quite to a streak-free, so-transparent-it’s-dangerous shine like newspaper. You won’t have problems with smeared text because most newspapers are now printed with water-based inks. The paper leaves behind virtually zero lint. Just spray the glass with a 50/50 mixture of water and white vinegar, rub the glass with a dry cloth and then go over the surface with a piece of newspaper.

Cut Old Towels into Cleaning Rags

Those scratchy towels that are no longer fit for post-shower use could provide you with a dozen or more new, totally free cleaning rags. Just cut them up – most terrycloth towels won’t unravel, so you don’t need to worry about breaking out the sewing machine. It’s far better for the planet than using disposable paper towels.

Eliminate Odors with Fresh Lemons

Even the nastiest of odors can’t stand up to the freshening power of fresh lemons. Get rid of garlic, fish and other strong smells using half a cut lemon or some fresh-squeezed lemon juice. To freshen indoor air, simmer lemon peel on the stovetop, adding water as needed.

Freshen the Fridge with Coffee

Among the many unexpected uses for coffee is absorbing funky odors in the refrigerator. If you’ve got stale coffee grounds, or have a bag that’s no longer good for brewing, place a bowl of them in the fridge for a day or so. You can use the same trick to deodorize virtually anything by placing the object in a plastic bag along with a container of coffee grounds.

Sanitize Sponges With Salt

There’s no use trying to clean anything with a sponge that’s teeming with bacteria. Suds up your sponges, rinse them thoroughly and then soak them in cold, heavily salted water for an hour or two. This process will kill the germs and plump the sponges back up again.

No-Scrub Oven Cleaner

It’s time to tackle that burnt-on mess on the bottom of your oven. Baking soda makes it as easy as it gets, and your next batch of cookies won’t taste faintly of chemical cleaners. Sprinkle it liberally all over the floor of the oven, spray it with water until it’s well dampened, and leave it for a few hours. Then just wipe out the mess and use vinegar to remove the film of baking soda residue left behind.

Vinegar for Cleaning Floors

Use a half-and-half solution of white vinegar and water to clean virtually any type of flooring other than porous stones like slate and granite. You can up the cleaning power for unwaxed wood floors, tile or linoleum by mixing 1/3 white vinegar, 1/3 rubbing alcohol and 1/3 water with 3 drops of dishwashing liquid.

Make Reusable Swiffer Covers

There’s no doubt that Swiffers and other floor cleaning tools that use disposable pads can be convenient. But all those sheets add up fast, not only in cost but in the amount of trash you put out each week. Instead of buying refills, sew up a few of your own covers with a pattern you can find at Berlin’s Whimsy.

De-Gunk Microwaves with Baking Soda and Lemon

The citric acid in lemon juice can loosen even the crustiest food residue that gets splattered all over microwave interiors. Place lemon wedges in a small bowl of water and nuke them for two to three minutes. Let it sit without opening the door for about ten minutes, then wipe out the inside. If you still have any odors or nightmarish globs of unidentifiable gunk left behind, use a paste of baking soda and water to scrub them right out.

Polish Wood With Olive Oil

Add a teaspoon of olive oil to a quarter cup of lemon juice for a non-toxic, gentle furniture polish that will remove dust and bring wood surfaces to a brilliant shine. Because this mixture is free of petroleum and waxes, it won’t build up into a dull, gunky finish over time.

Remove Rust with Salt and Lime Juice

Not only is rust hard to scrub away, sometimes it’s impossible – like when it starts to appear inside a tea kettle. Most commercial rust cleaners are highly toxic, so they’re not exactly ideal for use in bathrooms, let alone on a furnace that comes into contact with food. For spots you can reach, slather them in a paste of salt and lime juice, let it sit for a few hours and then scrub it off. To clean the inside of a tea kettle, just add a cup of lime juice and then fill it up with water. Let it sit overnight and then boil it for about ten minutes.

Disinfect Surfaces With Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil instantly kills bacteria, viruses and mold, so it’s an ideal antiseptic cleaner for extra-germy spots like doorknobs and toilets. Add two cups of hot water to two tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax, plus 1/2 teaspoon liquid dish soap and 1/2 teaspoon tea tree oil. Put it all in a spray bottle, shake it and apply it to any surface that needs to be disinfected.

Deodorize Carpets With Baking Soda

Carpets absorb odors all too easily, making it hard to get rid of a smell like smoke or pet urine. Make them smell almost new again (minus the overwhelming plastic smell of off-gassing VOCs) by sprinkling them with baking soda and letting it sit overnight before vacuuming it all up.

Dust With Old Socks

If your dryer is in on the sock-eating conspiracy, you probably have a few lonely socks sitting around. No need to throw them away. Put one over your hand like a glove and use it to dust surfaces around the house. This works especially well with athletic socks that have been turned inside-out, since the inside is usually textured.

Polish Metal Surfaces With Half a Lemon

Easily remove food residue, fingerprints and other grime from stainless steel or chrome surfaces by slicing a lemon in half, dipping it in salt and rubbing it on the surface in circular motions. Rinse with water.

Unclog Drains With Baking Soda and Vinegar

Drain cleaner is enough to give anyone a migraine. Next time, don’t put yourself through the trauma of gagging on toxic fumes. Dump 3/4 cup of baking soda down the drain and chase it with 1/2 cup white vinegar. Plug the drain, let it sit for 30 minutes and then rinse it out with a kettle full of boiling water. If you do this on a regular basis, you probably won’t have a problem with clogs anymore.

Brighten Yellowed Linens With Lemons or Salt

You don’t need bleach to get white sheets, towels and other laundry looking crisp and bright. Add a quarter cup of lemon juice to the assign machine and then hang them out to dry in the sun. Alternately, you could boil them in a big pot of water with a few tablespoons of salt plus a few tablespoons of baking soda.

Kill Mold With Borax and Vinegar

Mix half a cup of white vinegar with half a cup of Borax (the type sold in the laundry aisle, not the bug-killing kind.) Dilute that mixture with 1/4 cup of warm water, then pour it into a spray bottle. Apply it immediately to moldy surfaces to kill and loosen the mold spores so they’re easy to wipe away.

Organize Cleaning Supplies with a Shoe Holder

Over-the-door shoe holders can organize a lot more than just shoes. Keep all of your cleaning products and tools – which should include boxes of baking soda, bottled vinegar, Borax, empty spray bottles, dish soap, reusable rags, socks and essential oils – visible and handy. Everything will be easy to access and you’ll be able to tell at a glance when you’re running low on a certain item.

Photos: Muffet, Horia Varlan, Beaufort’s TheDigital, Andrew Comings

The post 20 Ways to Spring Clean Without Spending a Cent appeared first on EcoSalon.

Vinegar as your home’s superhero.

Chances are you’ve got a big bottle of vinegar in your pantry right now and that you only use it as a condiment. Prized for thousands of years, this fermented liquid was discovered by accident when products like wine, beer and cider spoiled, turning them sour. But did you know that vinegar – particularly the distilled white and apple cider varieties – has hundreds of household, beauty, medicinal and even horticultural uses? Here are 20 unusual, thrifty and eco-friendly uses for vinegar that you may not have thought of.

Hair conditioner

Silky, shiny, buildup-free hair using a single cheap, natural product? Sign me up! It may sound odd, but using apple cider vinegar as a rinse after shampooing really does work like a dream. It removes residue from the hair shaft and closes the cuticles. Just add half a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of water, plus a few drops of essential oil if you like. Pour it on in the shower and then rinse it out. Sure, your hair will smell like salad dressing for a while, but once it’s dry, the smell dissipates.

Weed killer

A few rogue weeds can wreak havoc in an otherwise flawless lawn, vegetable garden or flowerbed and are especially annoying when popping up in the cracks of a sidewalk or driveway. Forget pricey weed killers full of toxic ingredients – household vinegar really does kill unwanted plants; stronger vinegar made for horticultural use, which is 25% acetic acid, works even better.

Underarm stain remover

Unsightly sweat stains can really ruin an otherwise beautiful blouse. Ironically, if you use aluminum-based antiperspirants, they’re even more likely to appear thanks to a reaction between aluminum compounds in these products and salts in your sweat. Spray full-strength white vinegar on the stain before washing and it will disappear.

Fabric softener

Add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the wash cycle and not only will it prevent lint from clinging to your clothes and keep colors bright, it’ll also remove soap scum from both the clothes you’re washing and the washing machine itself. Vinegar is also recommended in place of dryer sheets – simply add 3/4 cup to your washer during the final rinse cycle.

Sore throat remedy

Many people recommend sipping or gargling with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a cup of warm water to soothe a sore throat. Add a few tablespoons of honey (also a seriously versatile product!) to this mixture in order to make it even more effective, and far more palatable.

Ant deterrent

Got trails of tiny ants weaving their way around your home? These annoying insects aren’t big fans of vinegar, so spraying a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water anywhere you have seen them can help encourage them to move out. The vinegar also erases the scent trails that they use to indicate sources of food to their brethren.

Sore muscle soak

Apple cider vinegar helps draw out lactic acid, which accumulates in muscles after exercise, causing that sore feeling. Mix a few tablespoons of vinegar into a cup of water, dip a cloth in the mixture and apply it to sore areas for 20 minutes.

Air freshener

Whether it’s smoke, mildew, pet odor or lingering whiffs of burnt casserole, bad smells can make a home less than welcoming. Store-bought air fresheners just cover up the smell with strong, clearly artificial scents, creating disturbing hybrid smells that only serve to worsen the situation. Acetic acid in vinegar absorbs odors, so spritzing it around the room will neutralize the smells. You can also use it to wipe down surfaces in the room that needs freshening.

Sticker remover

If you’re just getting around to removing that Kerry/Edwards decal from your bumper, or trying to peel a price tag off a new purchase, you’ll never guess what magic ingredient is about to make your life a lot easier. Warm a little bit of white vinegar on the stove top or in the microwave and then dip a rag into it. Hold the rag over the sticker until it’s thoroughly saturated, and it will peel right off without leaving sticky residue behind. This trick also loosens wallpaper adhesive.

Hiccup cure

Most doctors claim that hiccup cures don’t actually work, but tell that to the thousands of people who swear by vinegar as a way to ease these involuntary spasms. It’s not clear how a shot of vinegar would actually help – other than to distract you with its acidic flavor – but next time you’ve got a bout of the hiccups, give it a try.

Clean crusty paintbrushes

So you forgot to clean your paintbrushes last time you used them, and now they’re so stiff and crusty, it seems that you’ll have to throw them away. Not so fast! Fill a saucepan with undiluted white vinegar and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Dip the paintbrushes into the boiling vinegar, one at a time, dragging the bristles along the bottom of the pan. Continue this process until the paint is dissolved.

Dissolve rust

The acetic acid in vinegar reacts with iron oxide to remove rust from small metal items like hinges, nuts and bolts. Simmer them in a saucepan full of vinegar, then rinse well with water to prevent the vinegar from further affecting the metal.

Eliminate stale odors

You know how lunch boxes and other food containers can take on a funny smell after a while? Vinegar can take care of that, too. Either wipe down the surface well with white vinegar or, in severe cases, leave a cloth soaked in vinegar in the container for a few hours to absorb the odors.

Remove mineral deposits

Calcium and lime deposits from hard water don’t just stain coffee makers and bath tubs, they can actually clog shower heads and reduce dishwasher function. Run a mixture of half water, half white vinegar through your coffee machine to remove them. Use straight vinegar as a rinsing agent in your dishwasher to prevent buildup, and wrap a vinegar-soaked cloth around stained faucets until the deposits can be easily scrubbed away. To clean a clogged shower head, remove it from the pipe and place it in a saucepan full of white vinegar. Simmer for just a few minutes, being careful not to allow it to boil, and then wash off the stains.

Neutralize spice in foods

You’ve got a dinner disaster on your hands: one too many shakes of cayenne powder has turned your award-winning chili into an inedible five-alarm blaze, and your guests are waiting at the table. Vinegar to the rescue! Add white or apple cider vinegar to your food, one teaspoon at a time, to neutralize the spice.

Prolong the life of cut flowers

Bouquets of cut flowers brighten a room all too briefly, often wilting after just a few days. Squeeze a little extra enjoyment out of your arrangements by adding two tablespoons of white vinegar per quart of water in the vase, which will keep them perky just a little bit longer.

Glass, plastic, chrome and floor cleaner

A half-and-half solution of water and white vinegar will cut the grime on the shelves and walls of the refrigerator and eliminate spoiled food smells too. Full-strength vinegar will remove tough smudges on glass and make porcelain sinks shine. Make it into a paste with a little baking soda to scrub chrome, or mix 1/3 white vinegar with 1/3 rubbing alcohol, 1/3 water and 3 drops of dishwashing liquid for an economical floor cleaner. Just be sure not to get vinegar on marble, granite or slate surfaces.

Treat fungal infections

Fungal infections like athlete’s foot, toe nail fungus and dandruff are definitely no fun. White vinegar and apple cider vinegar can both be applied topically to affected areas of the body to kill fungus. For foot-related ailments, soak in a solution of one part vinegar to five parts water for about thirty minutes a day.

Tenderize and kill bacteria in meat

Marinate meat overnight in apple cider vinegar and it will be delectably tender. This can reportedly also kill the bacteria that causes food-borne illnesses, including e. coli.

Open drains and freshen garbage disposals

Clear a clogged drain without the nasty, headache-inducing chemicals. Dump about 3/4 cup of baking soda down the drain and chase it with 1/2 cup white vinegar, then plug the drain. Leave it for about 30 minutes before rinsing with a kettle full of boiling water. You can use the same trick to clean and deodorize garbage disposals, or freeze vinegar in an ice cube tray and grind them up in the disposal to clean and sharpen the blades at the same time.

ALSO CHECK OUT:

20 Unusual Uses for Wine

20 Unusual Uses for Baking Soda

20 Unusual Uses for Honey

20 Unusual Uses for Salt 

Images: Stephanie Rogers, Budzlife, minka6, muffet, uberculture

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If you’re creeped out by the loads of chemicals lurking in traditional cleaning products, one of the purest and safest ways to keep your home spotless is by mixing up cleaning solutions yourself. And if you think you’ll need to turn your kitchen into some sort of DIY eco-friendly cleaning lab, you’ve got it all wrong. Distilled white vinegar can do wonders all on its own or with a little water – and the lack of stink will surprise you. Here are seven easy ways to clean with vinegar.

All-Purpose Cleaner: Mix equal parts water and distilled white vinegar in a spray bottle. It’ll work on tile, countertops, glass and chrome.

Windows: Put 1/4 cup of white vinegar in a spray bottle and fill the rest up with water. Use the solution to wash your windows with reusable towels, or if you have old newspapers, they’ll help you achieve streak-free results.

Garbage Disposal: Make a tray of ice cubes from distilled white vinegar. Once frozen, run them down the disposal followed by cold water.

Fabric Softener: The addition of 1/4 to 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar to the rinse cycle of your washing machine will help dissolve detergent residue and leave your clothes soft and static-free. While this trick is great for heavy and absorbent fabrics like towels, cloth diapers and jeans, don’t use it for linen and other delicate fabrics.

Grills: Spray distilled white vinegar on crumpled up aluminum foil (try to reuse clean foil used for cooking if you can). Use the foil to scrub the grill grates vigorously.

Coffee Maker: Stains and oils go hand-in-hand with our morning brew and if you let the gunk build up in your coffee maker, it can make fresh coffee taste stale. Luckily, cleaning is super easy. Fill the coffee maker’s reservoir with six cups cold water and one cup white distilled vinegar. Skip the filter and turn the coffee maker on, allowing it to run through a full cycle. Empty the pot and refill the reservoir with water. Run the cycle again to flush away the vinegar. This project can smell and if you’re not satisfied with one rinse cycle, feel free to run water through it again before you make a pot of coffee.

Wood Floor: Plagued by streaky wood floors? Add 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar to your water pail for rinsing and take care to keep your mop as dry as possible by ringing it out frequently.

Image: mollypop

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