Living a more “green” lifestyle starts at home and lucky for you, home is the easiest place to start eco-friendly practices. You are in complete control over what comes into your home in terms of food, clothing, cleaning products and beyond. While there are more and more green cleaners being offered commercially, green cleaners are easy to make and you probably already have all the ingredients on hand.

Green Cleaning – Getting Started

To get started, you’ll need to look at what you already have on hand and make a few adjustments. When utilizing eco-friendly household cleaners, you’ll find that there are three main products that you will use: vinegar, baking soda and salt.

• Vinegar has a variety of uses from cleaning to laundry to home maintenance.
• Baking soda is good for cleaning, scrubbing, and deodorizing.
• Salt is a great scrub and it absorbs grease, making it a great tool for cleaning ovens, pot, pans and dishes.

There are several “recipes” for green cleaners, just be sure to label your containers when making DIY cleaners. This is helpful not only for knowing which one does what but in case of accidental ingestion, you need to know what was in the bottle your little environmentalist just drank. And while green cleaners are non-toxic, they should still be stored away from curious kids and pets.

Just Say No to Paper

Paper cleaning products, like paper towels and disposable wipes have been in vogue for quite some time but they are not green. Using paper products to clean your home results in a lot of waste. By gathering up a good supply of towels and rags, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to be paper-free in your home. You can even find ways to reuse stray socks and holey t-shirts.

Green Your Laundry

Environmentally friendly cleaning also extends to the laundry room. When it comes to doing laundry, you have the opportunity to not only use cleaning products that are more eco-friendly but to also reduce your carbon footprint by being conscious of how much water and electricity you use.

How Else Can Your Clean Be More Green?

Once you have these simple techniques down, you’ll begin to find all kinds of new ways to make cleaning your home a more eco-friendly task. Challenge yourself and your family to find creative solutions to common household chores and menaces.

photo from iCLIPART