Cleaning with Herbs

With herbal cleaning products, your home will be less toxic and will smell exactly right.

By Sandy Maine
February/March 2006
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With spring peeking around the corner, it’s time for that annual ritual associated with the season: spring cleaning. Time to eliminate the fusty odors of winter and make our homes ready to welcome fresh air and sunshine. It’s an ancient tradition, accompanied these days by the most up-to-date cleaning solutions and deodorizers Western science can provide. But, as many of us are now discovering by reading the labels or simply noticing our bodies’ reactions, these products — the plug-ins, sprays, polishes and detergents — can be shockingly laden with sometimes very nasty chemicals. Happily, you don’t have to choose between your health and your home’s cleanliness: A few simple ingredients can create cleaning products that are healthy, effective and smell absolutely great.

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Here are some of the bad reasons why I wrote this: ammonia, bleach, butylcellosolve, cresol, dye, ethanol, formaldehyde, glycol, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, napthalene, paradichlorobenzenes, perchloroethylene, petroleum distillates, phenol, phosphoric acid, propellants, sulfuric acid, and trichloroethylene.

I found these chemicals listed on the labels of popular cleaning formulas. Each is dangerous and most considered hazardous waste. Are they fun to use? No! Effective? You bet — but they cost plenty, both in dollars and risk to the environment.

Natural Cleaning Products Recipes:

• Carnauba and Lavender Furniture Wax
• Eucalyptus, Lavender and Tea Tree Spray
• Lemon-Mint Window Wash
• Spritz-and-Spray Toilet Bowl Cleaner
• Eucalyptus-Mint All-Purpose Disinfecting Soap for Kitchen and Bath
• Grapefruit Abrasive Cleanser 

Here are the good reasons for this article, along with descriptions of the ways each benefits home-keeping.

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a mild alkali useful in a variety of cleaning applications. (Don’t confuse this with washing soda, also called sal soda, which is not the same substance.)

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