Green Cleaning - How To Make Your Cleaning Routine More Green
baking soda, vinegar, and lemon
Cleaning your home is an arduous task. Making sure that your efforts meet green cleaning standards can be even more challenging. However, many people make environmental friendliness one of their top priorities. If you have a young child or pet, this concern can be even greater. Before embarking on your next deep cleaning, here are four easy ways to make your cleaning routine more green.
Reduce: Make Your Own Cleaning Products
On the journey to make your cleaning routine greener, you’ll quickly find that your cleaner is the biggest culprit preventing you from meeting your goals. Many conventional cleaning products use ingredients that are harmful to the environment and difficult to dispose of. Although commercially-available green cleaners are becoming more widespread, the easiest way to ensure that you meet your green standards is to make your own green cleaning products. What’s better, the process for doing so is surprisingly easy and cost effective too.
An all-purpose cleaning spray should stand at the center of your cleaning arsenal, and making one is simple. Combine hot water with a quarter-cup of white vinegar, a tablespoon of Borax, and two tablespoons of an eco-friendly dishwashing liquid. (Dr. Bronner’s is a great choice.) Sick of streaky windows? It turns out your grandmother was right; half water and half white vinegar makes an economical, easy, and environmentally safe glass cleaner. If you’re in need of a scrub for those deep stains you find on your toilets, bathtub, and kitchen surfaces, look no further than your kitchen. Mix together a quarter-cup of regular baking soda with a tablespoon of gentle dish-washing liquid to create a non-abrasive scrub. It will make your surfaces shine with no negative effects on the environment.
Reuse: Avoid Creating Unnecessary Waste
When cleaning, don’t reach for another roll of paper towels to wipe down your shower or shine your windows. These paper products create incredible waste that is terrible for the environment. Instead, use rags to clean everything from your bathtub to your kitchen counters. As an added bonus, cutting up old towels or hitting the dollar store for inexpensive dish rags is more cost effective than buying roll after roll of paper towels.
Recycle: Take Care When Disposing of Old, Toxic Cleaners and Products
You’ve decided to get rid of your stockpile of chemical-based cleaners–wonderful! Unfortunately, most of these cleaning products contain ingredients that are terrible for the environment if they get into groundwater. A good rule of thumb is: if it’s too toxic to use in your home, it’s too toxic to pour down the drain or dump in a landfill. As an alternative, many communities host recycling events to safely dispose of the harmful chemicals found in many cleaning products. It may be easy to empty your old cleaning supplies down the drain, but doing so may make all of your green cleaning efforts evaporate.
Bonus Tip: Make Greening Your Cleaning Routine Easier With a Green Cleaning Service
Cleaning your home is time-consuming enough for many. Making those cleaning efforts environmentally-friendly can seem even more daunting. Luckily, cleaning services are available to take on your cleaning needs with your green standards. Look for a cleaning service that provides green cleaning to keep your home or apartment spic, span, and environmentally positive.
Throughout the Chicago area, Happy Maids is the top cleaning service for every type of living space. We are pleased to stand behind our 100% satisfaction guarantee. Our cleaning staff is thoroughly trained and properly insured to ensure the best possible results. Moreover, we are pleased to provide an environmentally-friendly green cleaning service. Happy Maids uses tools and cleaning products that meet the highest green standards. To obtain a service quote or learn more about our techniques, please contact us today.