In our home, the whole family gets on board with cleaning. In fact, my girls started at ages 4 and 5 helping with laundry and wiping down surfaces, and as they’ve grown, have taken on a lot of additional tasks as well! Due to the fact that they help me out, I had to find some non-toxic products for them to use so that I wouldn’t worry about their safety. Check out the following ways that you too can save money cleaning your home with natural products.
We stopped using harsh chemicals to clean our home about four years ago. In doing that, we were able to negate a lot of the Asthma-type issues we were having and the amount of cold/flu issues we’ve had decreased significantly.
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Tip: Struggling to keep a clean home? Grab my FREE Weekly Cleaning Checklist to keep you (and your family) on track! Find it HERE.
Inexpensive and Natural Cleaning with Vinegar
My go-to cleaning product has been white vinegar (or you can buy cleaning vinegar that’s a bit stronger) with essential oils added for fragrance.
The nice thing about using vinegar is that it’s safe for the kids. I add the mixture to small spray bottles and my daughters are constantly fighting about who gets to use the “spray” to clean the bathroom, kitchen, and any other hard surfaces. When the bottle is empty (I never fill it all the way), they each get to take turns looking through my essential oil collection and deciding what oil they want to clean with next. Our favorites include peppermint, cinnamon, orange, lemon, lime, eucalyptus, and lavender.
Where To Clean
In our home, nearly every surface, with the exception of the toilets and oven, get cleaned with our vinegar mixture, but there are many other uses for vinegar in your home.
Wipe Surfaces
Appliances, counters, bathroom sinks, and even coffee and end tables get a good dose of vinegar when we clean. Each week, we also wipe down our light switches, door knobs, and windowsills as well and have found it to be effective in keeping everyone a bit healthier.
Dishwasher Rinse Agent
Struggling to get the additional soap residue out of your dishwasher? Try adding a quarter cup of vinegar to your next load. Personally, I just dump a splash into the dishwasher and press go, but you could add it as a rinse agent toward the end of the wash if that’s more your style.
Effective Degreaser
If your stove, like mine, always seems to be covered in a layer of grease from whatever dinner you cooked the night before, try wiping it down with a little bit of the vinegar mixture. You’ll find that grease will disappear quickly and you’ll be right back to that sparkling clean feel!
Freshening Laundry
We actually don’t purchase fabric softener, but instead, use vinegar in our wash cycles. I simply add about one-quarter cup to each load and am amazed at how fresh our laundry (and washer) continue to smell!
In addition to being fun (and safe!!) to use, vinegar is an inexpensive alternative to other cleaning products, so if you are looking for ways to cut back in your household budget (think goals), then this is a simple way to do so.
Note: if you are using my money-saving laundry detergent recipe, you won’t want to use vinegar with it. The recipe by itself will keep your laundry smelling (and feeling) amazing!
What you need:
An empty spray bottle – these are pretty!
Vinegar – I feel I get the most bang for my buck by purchasing the largest bottle at the grocery store or online here.
Essential oils – purchase them here.
Fill the bottle about halfway with vinegar and add 15 to 20 drops of essential oils, or until you think it has the right smell. Shake before use and clean away!
In my opinion, anything that gets the whole family excited about cleaning (and saves money) is something worth trying.
Do you use vinegar in your home cleaning routine? Let me know the ways you use it by commenting below!
Tip: Struggling to keep a clean home? Grab my FREE Weekly Cleaning Checklist to keep you (and your family) on track! Find it HERE.
