Green cleaning - trying to make an effort but need tips

[joorla]

hi

i'm sick of using strong smelling chemicals to clean and wash with so i've gone on a bit of a green cleaning spurt.

i've invested in soap nuts (doing my first load with them at the moment), bought some e-cloths, white vinegar and lemon juice, but cant seem to find baking soda anywhere.

anyone who uses e-cloths - do you just wet them and wipe and if so is this totally hygienic, i've wiped the kitchen cupboards and handles this way and they have come up lovely but not sure if i should be using something else as well. it does say on the instructions that this is the way to clean the bath as well but again it doesnt sound hygienic enough.

any other good uses for white vinegar other than cleaning the kitchen worktops and putting in the washing machine instead of softener?

anyone got any tips they want to share with me.

ECOVER PRODUCTS ARE GOOD - EXCEPT THEY CONTAIN AS MUCH PLAsTIC PACKAGING AS NON - GREEN STUFF! ( sorry about caps there)

ecover stuff is good and green. dilute vinegar is good for cleaning mirrors, etc

I can point you to some past threads that might help
There's this one ,
this one and
this one . There'll be some duplication, but should give you something to go on.

i make my own surface cleaner instead of buying ecover

2 tsp borax, 2 tbsp white vinegar, 2 cups water and a couple drops of lavender - it's Antheas apparently

yes you do use ecloths like that

you can use vinegar to wash mirrors, glass, etc

i do use ecover cleaner on the bath but only weekly

I use some products from a company called natural clean. You can buy their stuff online at www.naturalclean.co.uk

Their lime scale remover is great. The Ecover lime scale remover stinks (and strangely gives me a headachy sick feeling like most chemical non-eco products do). The natural clean lime scale remover doesn't smell at all and is more effective IMO.

I also use their multipurpose cleaner - the orange degreaser - you can clean your oven with this - but actually I tend to use a paste made up of bicarb and warm water.

White vinegar can be used to clean the loo seat, sink etc.

I use ecover washing up liquid for washing up and use it with some hot water to clean worktops. The ecover multipurpose cleaner has a lovely natural lemon smell and is good for cleaning floors. It is less than £1 and goes a long way.

I recently got some decent size boxes of borax and bicarb of soda from a traditional type hardware shop. Their soda crystals were twice the price of those sold in the supermarket nearby though!

jackieno - thanks for those previous threads, have got some good tips from those.

cappucino - thanks for that, i'm going to go on the search for borax later today, i think i might have seenit in wilkinsons.

elibumbum - how do you use the white vinegar, do you dilute it or just use it as it comes, i've bought some from dripak in a spray bottle.

I've got the spray bottle from Dri pack. I just spray and then wipe with an E-Cloth.