Want to start making more environmentally savvy decisions that will benefit the environment, and ultimately, your health? The Rogue Ginger, Erin Rhoads, has the answer.
Many of the ingredients in plastic-encased cleaning products have the potential to cause sore eyes, skin irritation and much more.
Common ingredients in cleaning products, which are often not required to be listed on the packaging, include formaldehyde, naphtha and phthalates – all are known to have ill effects on our health.
When we spray or wipe counters with these chemicals, they are also contributing to air pollution in our homes. There’s even a scientific theory – the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ – that all the cleaning we are doing is harming our immune systems by not giving them enough exposure to common germs and bacteria.
So what can we do? Start making our own cleaning products. The two easiest all-purpose products that I make at home use my favourite cleaning products: Vinegar and soap.
Vinegar cleaner
Just mix one part water with one part vinegar or scrappy citrus vinegar. Apart from toothpaste marks on bathroom mirrors, I use it to wipe down surfaces, stainless-steel appliances, inside the fridge, built-up soap scum, windows – anything needing a good clean.
Due to its acidic nature, vinegar should be kept away from stone, marble and granite as it will etch the surface.
How to make floor cleaner with vinegar
- Combine 125ml (½ cup) vinegar with 4 litres (16 cups) hot water in a bucket.
- Add 1 drop eucalyptus oil (optional).
- Mix and use as normal.
Do the environment and your home some good by making your own eco-friendly solution to clean the floors. Picture: Getty
Soap cleaner
This mixture is the original spray and wipe! Use 1 teaspoon of grated soap to 2 litres (8 cups) hot water, and perhaps a drop of tea tree oil. I put it in a spray bottle or leave it in a bucket and clean as normal.
Although soap and vinegar are two of the only products you need for cleaning, they should never be mixed together. Adding soap to vinegar will turn whatever cleaning product you’re trying to make useless.
The vinegar breaks down the soap to its original oils, leaving you with a white gluggy mess.
Originally published as Why vinegar is the ultimate floor cleaner ingredient by Erin Rhoads. Author at realestate.com.au.
