Spring Cleaning the Green Way

When the weather warms up and the trees start to bloom, you know spring is coming. Just about the only down side to the arrival of spring is it means spring cleaning, plus for many of us a concern about how to do our spring cleaning in a ‘green’ way. Well, environmentally responsible spring cleaning is certainly possible, as an added bonus, could actually end up costing less than using old style chemical cleaners. Here’s some ideas of how you can do your spring cleaning the ‘green’ way.

Start with easy things

• Clean the air inside your home by opening the windows. Your home has been closed up for months during the winter and if you’ve done any painting or used chemical cleaners during the winter, the residual fumes may still be inside. The best (and quickest) way to get all the old stale air out of your home is to open your windows when the outside weather is warm and sunny. (Just don’t forget to turn down your thermostat when you do this in case that fresh air is a little colder than your thermostat setting, you don’t want your furnace to run while you’re airing out your house.)
• You can add a nice fragrance to your home without using artificial air fresheners, by bringing some cut flowers into your home or simply put some potpourri in an attractive bowl.
• If you don’t want to add any fragrance to the air but do want to get rid of cooking and pet odors, try leaving an open box of baking soda on a kitchen shelf where it will absorb most of the kitchen odors (without adding any chemicals to the air).

Cleaning your home

• Natural cleaners like water, white vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice have been used for years. They’re inexpensive, easy to get and they still work just fine.
• Vinegar used by itself or mixed with water can clean almost anything from floors and walls to kitchen and bathroom counters, plumbing fixtures and windows.
• Pour some baking soda down a drain then add some vinegar to clean out slow running kitchen or bathroom drains. Finish up by pouring a kettle of hot water mixed with salt or a half cup of lemon juice down the drains to keep them odor free.
• Baking soda by itself can remove odors from carpets (just sprinkle it on your carpets ten minutes before you vacuum), or make it into a paste by mixing it with a little water to scrub counters, tubs and toilets.
• Use old T shirts torn into strips as rags for your cleaning rather than using paper towels. You’ll keep the old clothes out of the landfill and by cutting back on one time use paper products, help ease pressure on our forests.

A couple of special ‘green’ cleaning tips

You can even clean metals in a ‘green’ way

• Silver polish – Start by placing a sheet of aluminum foil into a glass bowl then sprinkle it with baking soda and salt. Add warm water and soak your silverware in the bowl. The tarnish on the silver will be attracted to the aluminum foil by natural electrolysis.
• Brass polish – Sprinkle salt on a lemon half then rub it on your brass objects. Finish by shining the metal with a clean dry cloth.

Murray Anderson is an experienced freelance writer with over 500 articles published on the web as well as in print magazines and newspapers in both the United States and Canada. He writes on a wide range of topics and is a regular contributor to DoItYourself.com. He can be contacted at murand@lycos.com.