Spring Cleaning with Earth-friendly Products

The older I've gotten, the more sensitive to smells I've become. Perfume has always bothered me, and I swear my husband wouldn't have gotten a second date if he had been a cologne-wearer. When my sister lived with us, she was responsible for cleaning the bathrooms, and she had to give me fair warning for bathroom cleaning day. She has a love for the smell of Clorox similar to my love for, say, strawberries and fresh lettuce.

When she moved out, I put the ix-nay on any cleaning product containing bleach. I cannot stand that choky feeling and whatever it is that makes me smell bleach for days after it's been rinsed away. But even though I hate cleaning and cleaning products, I do occasionally feel required to spray the kitchen and bathroom down with something more than a little soapy water, so I found a recipe for All-Purpose Cleaning Spray.

I've adjusted it a little over the year or two that I've been making this. Here's my adjusted recipe:

Use a funnel and put 1 t. 20-Mule Team Borax and 2 T. white vinegar into a 24 oz. spray bottle (recycle one or buy a new one from Dollar General). Put the borax in first! Swirl the bottle a little, then pour in about 20 oz. of very hot purified water.

(If you purify your own water at the tap, remember that you shouldn't run hot water through your purifier. You'll have to heat it. Let it cool a little before pouring it into your solution.)

Shake the bottle a few times to make sure the borax is dissolved, then add 1/4 c. of Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Hemp Citrus/Orange Pure Castile Soap. Shake the bottle well, put the sprayer back on, and you're ready to clean.

Does it work as quickly and as well as other countertop sprays? Not as quickly, but definitely as well. It also costs about 23 cents for the ingredients, so even if I have to use twice as much (which I don't), I'm saving a good deal of money.

And I don't feel like I can't breathe after I've cleaned the kitchen counters.

Tip #2: Straight club soda makes great window cleaner, even after it goes flat. It may take a cleaning or two to get rid of the residue from the ammonia-based cleaners, and you may have to work a little harder, but your mirrors will sparkle.