Green Cleaning - Green Cleaning Products

Anyone making their own cleaning products? at http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=320237 did not receive much response. I was hoping that folks would respond with recipes and what they are doing for greener cleaning products. Since that post did not get many responses, are we to assume folks are purchasing 'green' cleaning products?.

If you are purchasing green cleaning products, please share where what products you are purchasing and where. Hopefully, we can comprise a list of commercial green cleaning products that would be helpful to the readership.

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hello
sir i am in new yark and i used the product of green works . which is 99.99 %green product .

Uhm, I found vinegar to be a pretty good cleaner.

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=350520

And you CAN create your own cleaning product (for windows) using vinegar. Some eco-products are based on it.

I use white vinegar for windows, counters, anywhere you would use a "spray" cleaner. Also use vinegar and water on floors, laminate & vinyl.
I use baking soda wherever you would use something like Comet, that requires some grit, with a rinse of vinegar if necessary.
Baking soda & vinegar together will also get stains out of carpet.

For dishwashing liquid, I use mostly Method or Seventh Generation products. I've heard excellent things about Ecover, but haven't been able to find it locally yet.

Oh, and I've stopped using paper towels -- cloth diapers are excellent for cleaning with.

I like the Green works products as they smell a little nicer than straight vinegar.

Please help with some real cleaning products especially for carpet extractors and floor polishing equipment. There is a real need in this area.

Thanks a bunch:confused:

The Carpet Rug Institute recommends professional cleaning. The pros have the equipment or professionally clean carpet with big trucks and hoses to remove excess water, maintain water temp at 180 degrees plus and return yarn twist to memory, enough suction to prevent mold/mildew growth which can take place in 24-48 hours in overly wet carpet/cushion, and products that do not leave residues that attract soil and rapid resoiling, and potential permanent restainting.

Floor polishing, when it comes to 'green' will require more details re: type if floor. Your post is not specific. Most local janitorial suppliers have moved into 'green' and perhaps if you have one in your area, they can supply you with products that you need.

Green, green, green.. what is it to be "Green"
There is a ton of confusion out there about "Green Cleaning Products".. I have seen some that claim to disenfect, which by the nature of being green can not happen. To be green certified, by either Green Star, Green Seal or the EPA DfE program, you can not add anything to a product that will kill ANYTHING, nor can you add artificial coloring or scent. So, be careful when you are buying "Green" product and check the label to se if they are truely certified by one of the above agencies. If not, then you might not just be getting a product that is really "Green".
For more info check out the web sites for the three agencies I mentioned above.
Good luck and take care
Dan in Atlanta

Vinegar is a natural disinfectant. So is lemon. Hydrogen peroxide is considered a natural disinfectant. Sunlight is a natural disinfectant. As indicated, there are a number of EPA registered nontoxic disinfectants available.

Lemon juice and sugar makes a great scrubbing agent. I agree that vinegar does not always smell the greatest but it is a good cleaner - especially for glass, i find.

I do not understand the sugar. Sugar is a food source for mold/mildew and other feeders. Lemon juice, water, and sugar make for lemonade. Are you sure about the sugar?

If sugar is added to give a mild abrasive action, surely sodium bicarbonate would be a far better option!

When you mix vinegar and baking soda, you get a foaming action. Vinegar is acetic acid and baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Mix the two together, and you get carbonic acid. This decomposes to carbon dioxide and water. Carbon dioxide foams.

In elementary school, we made paper mache volcanoes with a tall juice can inside. In the can we placed baking soda. Then, we poured in vinegar. Our volcanoes overflowed with faux lava.

Baking soda makes for a very mild abrasive cleaner. For some baking soda cleaning tips, go to ARM & HAMMER® - Jill?s Secret Solutions (http://www.armandhammer.com/default.aspx?ITEMID=4)

Lemon juice is supposedly used to clean shower doors

I've heard that Borax is environmentally friendly .. cheap.. and does a good job ... since I don't clean much .. i couldn't really say..

I have one basic cleaner I use . . vinegar. I keep a spray bottle filled with 1/2 water & 1/2 vinegar to clean my kitchen & bathroom daily. I use husbands old t-shirts as rags. For the toilet I use socks that have lost their mates. The smell dissipates quickly, but it really helps in the kitchen after cooking fish! I never have that yucky fish smell. I've kept my new vent hood looking new by using vinegar to clean the grease that builds up there.

For mopping I use 1/2 c vinegar, 1 c clear ammonia, & a gallon of hot water. This solution tackles the wax build up & grease that splatters in front of the stove.

I use salt to clean up oven spills or for burned on foods on my casserole dishes.

Furniture polish: 2 tbl lemon juice with 2 c of mineral oil in a spray bottle. Be sure to shake the bottle well before each use. Buff til nice & shiny.

A friend shared this one with me for my cleaning the soot from my fireplace: throw a handful of salt on a hot fire to keep the flue clean.

For removing smells from carpet, try sprinkling coffee grounds (dry, straight from the container) on the carpet, let set for 5 minutes, then vacuum.

There my 2 cents worth.

Lemon juice is supposedly used to clean shower doors

I've tried a lot of cleaning products, both green and commercial, and they usually give me headaches and don't work well. Ones that were supposed to be natural using lemon didn't clean anything. I now use Shaklee cleaning products as they really work well and don't give me headaches.

Go to the National Institute of Health's web site to look at the cleaning products listed that contain many harmful ingredients. It is quite an interesting and informative list. Here is the website URL:
Household Products Database - Health and Safety Information on Household Products (http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/list?tbl=TblBrands&alpha=G)

After you read some of that info you can understand why it's so hard to walk through the cleaning product aisle at the grocery store.

Nothing like bleach to give me the mother of all migraines - nasty stuff, nasty!!

Green cleaning products I have used...

1. Shining tarnished silver - line a sink with aluminum foil, shake in 1/2 cup of baking soda - fill with warm water, and stir to mix baking soda with water. Place silver in sink - let soak for 30 mins, turning if necessary to cover all sides...- you may want to test this on a small piece, as I use this only with silver plate....and may need to add more baking soda depending on your water hardness...dry polish

2. Furniture polish - for wood furniture, I have stumbled upon a product called Feed N Wax by Howard, available at HD, and containing beeswax and orange oil. I live in a 40+ year old house, and the handrails on the stairs and some natural wood on the window sills were in pretty bad shape -dried out, and no commercial polish would work..- I've applied this product, let it sit for about 10 mins, to let the beeswax nourish the wood, and then buffed out - not only does it nourish the wood, but the shine stays for weeks!

3. Vinegar - I've used it full strength with a scrubber on glass shower doors for soap scum, diluted with 1/2 water with a rag on windows, the 1/2 water vinegar solution on counters, inside microwave, and for scrubbing efflorescence ( that gray/green particulate that forms) off outdoor clay pots.

Blessings,
Debbie

I use the EcoSense line of cleaners. As as nurse I have researched a lot of cleaning products not only because I am a nurse but also because I have multiple health problems. I have used regular cleaners but they make me sick. These products have yet to make me sick.