Rather than turning to harsh chemicals, such as bleach or borax, to banish mold and to clean your house, there are eco-friendly, natural ways at home that won’t hurt your family, pets or the environment.
And the ingredients are easy to find and very affordable.
detox your home shopping list:
- Vinegar (either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
- Tea tree oil solution
- Citrus seed extract and water
- Lemon juice
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Baking soda
Those ingredients are great for your house cleaning and they make the best detergent ever to detox your house.
So, without further ado, here are our suggestions for you:
Vinegar:
You can dilute it with water or you can spray it from a bottle onto the area and leave it for few hours, then scrub with a brush. It works miracles on limestone, mold and it kills bacteria as well as viruses. Vinegar also prevents mold if you spray it on surfaces and leave it to dry. You can add some drops of essential oil like mint, lemon or thyme. Thyme essential oil is a powerful antiseptic.
Tea tree oil solution:
Just two teaspoons of tea tree oil mixed with two/three cups of warm water can make a solution you can spray onto mold. It prevents the formation of mold spores and the strong scent keep pests away from your furniture
Citrus seed (or grapefruit seed) extract and water:
They are both very powerful against mold and bacteria and, unlike vinegar and tea tree oil, do not have an odor but their taste is very bitter. You can dilute 30 drops with three cups of water, mix in a bottle and spray where needed. Do not rinse.
Hydrogen peroxide:
With baking soda, this is my best choice when I want to clean my house. Both very cheap, they do miracles. I use them in the bathroom, in the kitchen and over all surfaces that need a deep cleaning.
Use three percent hydrogen peroxide from the bottle on the surface you want to clean and leave for 10-15 minutes. Keep the hydrogen peroxide into bottles in a dark area.
It is also a powerful disinfectant and it removes mold spores.
Baking soda:
Used with vinegar and water, or alone with water, baking soda is very effective at cleaning your house. Here are some suggestions:
– Mix baking soda with enough water to make a paste. Scrub the surface with the paste and leave it for 15 minutes, then rinse with water or vinegar.
– For cleaning oven, pans and baking trays: make a paste with baking soda and water and scrub the surface, as above. Leave it all night. Then rinse with hydrogen peroxide and then with water. This remedy removes all the oily stains and it is chemicals-free.
Do-it-yourself dishwasher soap! With four ingredients and in few minutes…
This is all you need:
- 8 lemons
- 800 ml of water
- 300 grams of salt
- 200 ml of vinegar
Put the lemon into a pot with water and boil them (like potatoes) until they become soft. Drain the water and cut the lemon in small pieces, discard the seeds and process them until you have a puree. You should have a very thick juice, with no pieces of lemons left in it. If there are still pieces, use a cloth and filter the pulp and keep the dense juice.
Now, mix the puree with 800 ml of water and add the vinegar and the salt. Place the mixture into a pot and bring it to the boil, stirring WITH A WOODEN SPOON, from time to time until the mixture reaches the right consistency…neither too thick nor too runny. It will take around half an hour.
You will get almost 500 ml. of an excellent detergent, 100% ecological!
Use one or two tablespoons of it into your dishwasher.
All-purpose cleaner:
- 100 ml of vinegar
- 400 ml of distilled water
- 8-10 drops of castile soap (or dish soap)
- Essential oil, few drops (mint, lemon, thyme, rosemary, lavender, etc)
Place all the ingredients into a spray bottle and use it where needed.
