Organic Cleaning

White vinegar and baking soda are two of my most favorite cleaning products. As you already know, I use baking soda and vinegar to wash my hair (although I use the apple cider variety, it's less vinegar-y) and since I'm allergic to fabric softener, it's one of my favorite laundry additives. 


This morning, I received an email with this list in my inbox. Ironically, it was taken from one of my bookmarked websites and reminded me that not everyone has switched over to green cleaning. So, in VERY belated honor of earth day, I'm reposing Divine Caroline's vinegar remedies along with some cleaning recipes from one of my favorite organic cleaning books.

Twenty-Three Ingenious Uses for White Vinegar

By: Allison Ford

Kitchen Remedies Besides adding zest to salad dressings, white vinegar is handy for many cooking tasks.

1. Adding a few tablespoons of white vinegar to the water when poaching eggs helps the whites stay formed. Add a few tablespoons to the water when boiling eggs, and if any shells crack, the whites won’t leak out.

2. If your leafy veggies are wilted, soaking them in cold water with a little vinegar can perk them right up.

3. After chopping an onion, you can eliminate the odor from your hands by rubbing them with a bit of white vinegar.

4. When cooking any vegetables from the cabbage family (like broccoli or cauliflower), adding a little vinegar to the water will perk up the taste and reduce the gassiness they can induce. This also works when cooking beans, making Mexican food a far more attractive option.

Cleaning House Vinegar can help with a variety of cleaning tasks, since the acid acts as a disinfectant and an odor neutralizer.

5. Clean and deodorize the garbage disposal by mixing equal parts vinegar and baking soda and putting it down the drain. After letting this fizzing mixture sit for a few minutes, flush out the drain with warm water for a clean and stink-free sink.

6. The steam from a boiling a bowl of vinegar and water can loosen caked-on food and get rid of odors in the microwave, too.

7. One of my favorite vinegar remedies and my personal weapon against fruit flies is to set out a small dish of white vinegar and some smashed fruit, covered with plastic wrap with some holes in it—the flies crawl into the trap, but can’t get out.

8. If your stemware is cloudy from the dishwasher, wrap the glasses in paper towels soaked in vinegar, let them sit, and the cloudy deposits will rinse right off.  

9. There’s no need to use bleach on tile grouting when you can let vinegar soak on it and then scrub with a toothbrush.

10. Bring lightly scuffed or dirty DVDs back to life by wiping them down with some vinegar on a soft cloth.

11. If you have water condensation marks on your wood, just rub the piece of furniture with equal parts vinegar and vegetable oil to remove them. Make sure to rub with the grain, and then invest in a set of coasters.

Cleaning Clothes Vinegar works magic on upholstery and fabric, too.

12. If a child has an “accident” on a mattress, clean it with a solution of vinegar and water. Afterwards, pour some baking soda onto the mattress, and brush or vacuum the residue once it’s dry.

13. Spraying vinegar onto deodorant-stained shirts before the wash can remove the discoloration. It’s also great for fighting mustard, tomato sauce, or ketchup stains.

14. Adding a cupful of vinegar to the rinse cycle of your washing machine can freshen up bright colors and give you cleaner laundry. Acetic acid won’t harm fabrics, but it dissolves the soap residue that can dull dark clothing. It also acts as a fabric softener, a static reducer, and a mildew-inhibitor.

15. Vinegar will also loosen chewing gum stuck to car upholstery, rugs, and carpeting.

Outdoor Solutions Tough enough even for the outdoors, vinegar can function as a car cleaner and an organic pest remover.

16. If your car still sports a bumper sticker from two elections ago, remove it by spraying the decal with white vinegar to saturate the area, and the sticker will peel off in a few hours. (You might need to spray it a few times.)

17. Wiping down your car windows and windshield with a three-to-one vinegar-water mixture can keep them frost-free in the wintertime.

18. Kill weeds and crabgrass growing in sidewalks and driveways by pouring vinegar onto them. A half-and-half solution of vinegar and water can even kill garden slugs if it’s sprayed directly onto them.

19. To extend the life of cut flowers, add a few tablespoons of vinegar to the water in their vase, along with a teaspoon of sugar.

Pet Protection There’s no need to use chemicals near pets when vinegar can handle most cleaning and bathing tasks.

20. Wipe out itchy ears with undiluted vinegar to keep dogs and cats from scratching at them.

21. Cats avoid vinegar, so to keep them from scratching furniture or sitting on certain areas, spray a vinegar solution onto the spot.

22. For outdoor areas, soak a sponge in vinegar and place it in the forbidden area to keep cats away. If kitty likes to mark his territory, spraying the area with vinegar can help eliminate the smell and deter recurrences.

23. Vinegar also gets rid of skunk odor. Soak the animal with a half-and-half vinegar and water solution, and then rinse with fresh water.


And now for some alternative recipes to your favorite household cleaners....

Better Basics For The Home

All-purpose/window cleaner
- 1 part distilled water (no water spots and streaks!)
- 1 part white vinegar
Mix in equal parts, scaling up as needed. This is your basic cleaner that can be used on everything from kitchens and bathrooms to tables. Keep it in a spray bottle for ease of use.  

Kitchen/bathroom cleaner and laundry scrub
- Water
- Baking soda
For stuck on or ground in messes, sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda on the soiled area and scrub with the abrasive side of a damp sponge. If the dirty grout/baked on food doesn't come off immediately, you can let the baking soda sit on the spot with a little water. Repeat on soiled laundry, I usually sprinkle baking soda onto the stain, dribble on a little water and scrub out the spot. 

Metal cleaner/polish

- 3 teaspoons salt

- 1 tablespoon flour

- Enough white vinegar to make a paste

To polish your metal candlesticks/picture frames/anythings scoop the paste onto a clean sponge, and rub vigorously onto the metal. Rinse clean with hot water and buff dry with a soft cloth. You can also use toothpaste to spot clean silver or baking soda and the soft side of a damp sponge for larger silver pieces. 

Wood cleaner/polish
- All-purpose cleaner
- Olive oil
- Rosemary or lemon essential oil
Put a few drops of olive oil and essential oil on a cloth, spray the wooden surface with your all-purpose cleaner, and rub the oils in to clean and condition the wood.

Happy Cleaning Everyone!

Spotlight On: No Poo And The Most Awesomest Lavender Stuff EVER

Although you may be blessed with happy, vibrant and easy to care for skin, I was cursed with what must be the most sensitive skin in existence. I'm allergic to everything on my face, including water in too large a dose, and have yet to find a single make up product that doesn't result in Dalmatian style hives. To go with my hate everything skin, I have painfully thin practically nonexistent hair. This combination, while a pain in the ass, hasn't been too much of a problem until now. Weddings require not only a large amount of make up, but also elaborate hair do's, most of which call for more hair than I've got.

To combat this, I've been trying to go "No Poo", that is to say, stop using shampoo and conditioner. While this might sound uber gross to most people, the oil in your hair is made on a supply and demand basis. Stop stripping it out with harsh chemicals and your glands will stop making so much of it. My hair is actually fairly dry/normal, so I barely noticed any excess oil when I stopped using shampoo but I did have an issue with it being too dry. For most people going No Poo, their hair experiences a weird transitioning period where it hasn't realized you're not stripping oil out anymore and it can get a little funky and gross. The best way to combat this is to wash your hair with baking soda, 1-2 tbsp mixed into about 16oz of hot water will make an excellent shampoo that can be poured on, massaged in and rinsed out. Your hair will feel clean and smooth but can be a little dry. The best way to fix this is to condition with apple cider vinegar (It's not as weird as it sounds, I promise) that you can mix with honey, lemon and essential oils. Although vinegar smells pretty nasty, the apple cider variety washes out completely and you're left with the smell of whatever you added in, the honey/lemon/etc. You use 1 tbsp in 1 cup of water, and can scale up as needed.

While this worked great for me, my greaseball honey absolutely refused to stop using shampoo. His lovely golden locks make so much oil, that if he showers early in the morning he's usually pretty gross by the end of the day. This brings me to a happy discovery I made back in 2007, organic lavender products free from any chemicals. In Seattle, in the famous Pike's Place Market, is a tiny little kiosk straight past and behind the fish tossing stall. There they sell absolutely delicious lavender products with citrus and spearmint, and a couple times a year when we make the drive up to Seattle to visit our best friend, we always stop there for me to restock. My favorite products are their lip balm, and more recently their shampoo and body wash. My honey loves the lavender shampoo I bought and the tingly lavender mint body wash is absolutely delicious.

Luscious Lavender Lip Balm

Invigorating Body Wash and Shampoo

For those that don't live in Seattle, some of their products are available online at www.thewearygardener.com and www.sequimlavenderfarms.com. The lavender citrus lotion from Sequim Farms and lavender lemon cream from Weary Gardener are also divine, and the culinary lavender is fantastic.

Another absolute staple in our house is basic Dr. Bronner's Castile soap. We buy their classic peppermint or lavender liquid soap by the gallon and use it to wash faces, bodies, clothing, hair and as a cleaning product. My honey uses it for his acne face wash and it controls his acne just as well as those products with salicylic acid. I use it as my everyday body wash, bra wash if I can't lay my hands on the bra wash, laundry soap, toothpaste, and face wash after working out. You can even use it in the garden for pests, washing dishes, and washing the dog. It's really excellent, all natural, and comes in a variety of other scents including a fragrance free baby variety for sensitive skin. I think once we finish this gallon of peppermint that we'll be giving their citrus a try.

You can find it here http://www.drbronner.com/, at your local Trader Joes or more recently, at select Targets. I would Highly recommend everyone give Dr. Bronner's a try.