3 Natural Ingredients to Clean Everything
Most people have a cleaning cupboard full of many different products with most of them containing kind of toxic ingredients. Especially, when some ingredients are known for being carcinogens or endocrine disruptors, you might want to swap out mainstream cleaners for natural alternatives.
You could replace all the different products with eco-products and pay sometimes double or triple the price... Or you can do what I do and have a minimalist collection of simple ingredients that you can use on pretty much anything.
So here are my 3 versatile minimalist cleaning ingredients:
#1 Vinegar
I basically clean everything with vinegar.
The acidic nature of vinegar can dissolve mineral deposits, dirt, grease, and grime and kill bacteria. It does smell like vinegar but the smell disappears not long after cleaning. It's really cheap and super accessible being found in every supermarket. There are a few things you should use Bi-carb on though like hardwood floors have been known to become damaged from the acidity.
My all-purpose spray is 50/50 Cleaning Vinegar/Water. I will often soak my citrus peels in vinegar to make them smell fresh.
#2 Bi-Carb
Yep, that baking ingredient. Not Baking powder- Baking Soda! Bicarbonate of Soda. This is also really cheap and can be bought at a bulk food store zero-waste. Unlike vinegar, Bi-carb is not acidic at all. It's actually super alkaline. There are a whole bunch of ways to use bicarb to clean. Many people make a paste from it to do grimy cleaning like around tap scum. Because it is abrasive, be sure not to use it on finished sensitive surfaces.
My favorite way to use bicarb is to sprinkle it over the carpet before vacuuming as a carpet freshener.
#3 Castile Soap
This cleaning ninja has been around for centuries and is finally making a comeback. It's basically liquid soap derived from oil. Dr.Broners is the most popular brand and on the label of their bottles, you will find dozens of uses listed for it. It can be diluted at different ratios to make so many products from using it on your own skin, to washing your car.
My favorite way to use castle soap is squirting some into a warm bucket of water to clean the floors.
Other helpful ingredients:
Essential oils- mostly for the smell but some have beneficial properties that help with cleaning.
Lemon: Skins can be infused with vinegar but lemon crops can also be used with bicarb on things like sinks and stoves.
Alcohol: Some recipes call for alcohol to be used for an evaporative effect or disinfectant.
Look up recipes. Sorry, I am not your go-to source for cleaning recipes. But there's are thousands on Google. I keep it super simple and just wing it. As I said, I basically use my 50/50 vinegar-water combo on everything 🤣
And there you have it. 3 ingredients for a super simple minimalist eco cleaning kit.
