Greener Cleaning For Your Home

A First Step

One consideration is if you actually need to clean the same objects, carpets and surfaces on a day to day basis. Whilst some surfaces, especially those that you are preparing food on, need to be cleaned after every meal, such a rule isn’t the case, for instance, with household appliances such as refrigerators and the facias of washing machines. Excessive cleaning of such appliances and surfaces is not only unnecessary and time consuming, it is also wasteful. So ask your self, primarily, what do I really need to clean?

Products: To Buy or Not To Buy

As a consumer purchasing items from supermarkets and superstores you have a great deal of power. Read the labels of the cleaning products your are buying to ensure that they do not contain harmful chemicals such as chlorines and phosphates which are widely known to be harmful to the environment.

Also, consider products from a value point of view. Try to find multipurpose cleaning products. They will enable you to clean a maximum number of surfaces and areas for a minimum spend, and will also cut down on the plastic packaging you are using.

Further to this, consider that a regular, off the shelf lemon can, with its powerful citric acid, be a useful and potent cleaning tool. That is why most chemical brands have at least some form of citrus in them. This is a great alternative as the lemon rinds, with their pitted exteriors and pithy insides, make excellent natural scourers as well.

Moreover, the alkaline powers of vinegar can be an excellent way to clean windows and mirrors when diluted in a small cup of water, and this is just one of many household items with dual functions. Make your own air fresheners rather than buying them by using dried orange slices, fresh herbs that you can grow yourself as well as cinnamon sticks and vanilla pods.

Alternatively, consider buying products from sources who specialise in ethical, planet-friendly items for those tough or specialist cleaning jobs such as Cinderella Products.

Electrical Purchases

When buying new electrical products, aim to find those brands that have energy efficiency labels on them, and consider, the next time that your reaching for the vacuum cleaner if the dustpan and brush could really do the same job without using electricity, and if you do have to use your vacuum, purchase reusable bags to go inside it, or better yet, invest in a bag-less vacuum.

Green Cleaning

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