Learn how to get rid of mold in your home without relying on dangerous, toxic chemicals.

Mold is pretty gross, and far worse, it can even make you sick. Exposure to damp, moldy environments can cause a host of ailments, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For those with a mold allergy, it can cause nasal stuffiness, coughing, wheezing, and skin irritation. Not to mention, that it can even cause serious, life threatening lung infections in those that are susceptible.

Mold most commonly forms in bathrooms, but it can also appear in other damp places like basements. But you don’t need toxic chemicals to get rid of it. In fact, using bleach or ammonia can come with its own set of symptoms. One study published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that parents who regularly cleaned with bleach had kids that got sick more often. For example, kids were 20 percent more likely to get the flu, 35 percent more likely to get tonsillitis, and 18 percent more likely to get any kind of infection. The study found that bleach kills so many germs that it takes a toll on the immune system and can even do damage to a child’s lungs.

So, how to get rid of mold without the chemicals that may make us sicker?

Not to worry–you can kill mold totally naturally. In fact, you only need one ingredient to do it! Simply spray the moldy area with undiluted vinegar. Spray the vinegar and let sit for a few hours and then use a scrub brush or a sponge (along with a little elbow grease) to remove the mold. This All-Natural Scouring Powder from Wellness Mama is also effective. The powder includes borax and baking soda. Just sprinkle on a wet surface and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then go in with a scouring pad. If you’ve got a really bad build up of mold (like a gross tub, sink, or toilet) come back again and spray it down with vinegar and then leave for a few more minutes and come back with a scrub brush.

If you’re not a fan of the vinegar smell, you can also add in some essential oil like lavender, lemon, or tea tree oil for a fresher, less pungent scent. Add 5-10 drops of essential oil to a spray bottle full of vinegar.

According to MNN, hydrogen peroxide is another safe option to get rid of mold. “You can also use hydrogen peroxide, which is commonly used as a disinfectant, to clean mold naturally. Just spray some on the moldy surface, let it sit for at least an hour, and then scrub the surface clean.”

Getting rid of mold just got a whole lot easier, right? And you don’t even need to go anywhere near toxic chemicals to get the job done. Plus, if you’re vigilant you can stave off mold growth before it takes hold by regularly spraying down problem areas with vinegar.

Related on EcoSalon

5 Homemade Cleaners: DIY Green Cleaning on the Cheap

8 Simple Steps to Spring Cleaning Your Diet and Your Life

More than 24,000 Chemicals Found in Bottled Water (But Surprisingly Not on the Ingredients List)

Bathroom image from Shuttershock

The post How to Get Rid of Mold With Just One Ingredient–And Without Toxic Chemicals! appeared first on EcoSalon.

From baking soda to table salt, get the sparkle without the toxins.

Contrary to what Proctor & Gamble would have you believe, you don’t need a complex chemical compound to get your house “fresh,” “sparkling” or clean. Nor do you need particularly advanced compounds for cleaning toilets or scrubbing away grime. That’s just big companies tapping into old anxieties picked up in chemistry class. As in, “I really don’t get what this teacher is going on about, but that thing exploded so I must be doing something right.”

When it comes to cleaning the space in which you live, love and breathe, Professor SC Johnson doesn’t know his carbon from his footprint. Stock your house with these eleven staples and your home will dazzle with cleanliness instead of the toxic stuff that makes you cough.

1. Olive Oil
Consider it a cure-all. It can be used for polishing wood, getting a zipper unstuck, preventing hairballs (add a teaspoon to your cat’s food), shining stainless steel and brass, polishing shoes, and making your leather (or pleather) sofa look like new.

and,

2. Vinegar
Vinegar is acidic, meaning it will kill mold and mildew. It’s also great for removing stains and curbing rust. Use it on your windows and mirrors, too, as well as toilets.

3. Baking Soda
Because baking soda is alkaline, it works well with acidic messes – like grease, proteins and animal poop. It also removes odor from said pets and other stinks. Add a little water to make a paste and scour your tub with it.

4. Salt
Dissolve salt in white vinegar to make a subtle abrasive for cleaning tiles, glass and sinks. Here’s another tip: if you drop an egg, clean it up with a handful of salt.

5. Castile Soap
Castile soap is vegetable-based and cleans by attaching itself to dirt at the molecular level. That’s way more hardcore than Scrubbing Bubbles®.

6. Lemon Juice
Lemons can be used as a natural disinfectant and alternative to bleach. They will obliterate germs and microbes, and still look all cheery and yellow.

7. Tea Tree Oil
In our household, we relish in cleaning with essential oils, mainly because they smell pretty. Tea Tree Oil has that hyper-minty scent associated with so many commercial cleaning products, though it comes by it’s smell naturally. It’s extracted from the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia and can be used to remove mildew and mold, as well as eradicating bacteria, germs and microbes.

8. Old newspapers
Mix some warm water with a drop or two of vinegar to wash your windows, then dry with bunched up newspaper to get your windows sparking.

9. Orange Oil
Another essential oil, this one is great for removing gummy grime.

10. Borax
The name bears a cautionary resemblance to Clorax and Lorax, but borax is a naturally occurring evaporate deposit found in seasonal lakes. It’s alkaline, thus effective at killing mold and fungus, and softens water. Try adding it to laundry, or use it to clean countertops, walls, pots and pans. You can even clean fine, hand-painted china with it.

11. Toothpaste
Because a tube of it consists of a mild abrasive, a detergent and an antibacterial agent, toothpaste is a born stain-fighter. Stay away from tartar control or whitening brands for a breadth of reasons, the main one here being that it can inflict damage on surfaces like silver.

Images: Jaymie Koroluk; Alfonso Silóniz; Rakka; Krissen; Max Edmands; Sarah Cady; .angels; just.Luc; SheKnows; Instructables; Stéfan

The post 11 Household Items You Can Use for Cleaning (& Greening) Your Home appeared first on EcoSalon.