Grapefruit infused vinegar cleaner – white vinegar and grapefruit peels
The world we live in is a dirty place. Even a spotless home can be a haven for nasty toxins – especially if the very “cleaners” you use are more harmful than beneficial. Tight, energy efficient homes are good for energy preservation, but sometimes make for dirty indoor air quality because leached chemicals have no place to go and just build up in homes {especially if you never open your windows}. Toxins in food, toxins in our clothes, toxins in our make-up and soaps: sometimes it’s hard to know where to start to clean up.
One of the first steps I made to clean up my house was to stop buying commercial cleaners which are notorious for leaching toxins. They may smell clean, but they aren’t safe. Making homemade cleaners is a quick and frugal way to decrease toxins in your life. Most cleaners are easy to prepare, easy to use, and best of all, they work great!
Here are four frugal, effective, and safe ingredients no green home should be without:
1. White Vinegar – White vinegar is the quintessential, frugal home cleaning ingredient. It’s all natural, effective, and has antibacterial qualities. It’s safe for you, safe for your children, safe for your pets, safe for the environment. And best of all, it can be used to clean your kitchen, your bathroom, your woodwork, your floors, and your laundry. I use vinegar to wash my fruits & veggies and to clean just about everything in my house! The easiest way to use it is to dilute with water, add to a squirt bottle, and start cleaning! This helpful website here has a lot more information on vinegar if you’d like even more ideas.
2. Baking Soda ~ Another must have in my house is Baking Soda. Also very frugal, also very versatile, baking soda is used in a whole host of applications. I use it to clean my kitchen sink, keep my drains clean, deodorize my fridge, make my laundry soap, clean my carpet, freshen my trash can, and bake cookies! How nice is that? This website has even more uses for baking soda.
3. Borax ~ Borax is a natural mineral compound (Na2B4O7 • 10H2O) found in the ground. According to this website, it’s mined in Death Valley, California. Borax is a natural laundry booster and multi-purpose cleaner. It’s great for cleaning your bathroom (hard water deposits and soap scum) and also works well as a carpet cleaner and deodorizer. Borax is natural, but not totally non-toxic, so it needs to be stored away from children, pets, and food. Other uses for borax can be found here. If you’re looking for borax in the grocery store, you’ll find it in the laundry section.
4. Lemons ~ Lemon juice just smells clean, doesn’t it? It also has anti-bacterial qualities and acts as a natural bleach. Squirt some on wet clothes, hang them to dry in the sun, and voila, bleached clothes ~ works great on cloth diapers. I put lemon peels (and other citrus peels) down my garbage disposal if it starts to smell. Grinding them up makes my sink smell nice without emitting toxins into the air. Any type of citrus can be added to vinegar based cleaners to make them smell better. Lemon juice also cleans and shines brass and copper. For more ways to clean with lemon, look here.
To make a citrus infused cleaner like the one I have pictured above, just mix up some vinegar and citrus peels. We had a ton of grapefruit peels from a case of grapefruits I bought so I used them. You could also use orange or lemon. Let them “cook” at least two weeks. Then strain the vinegar through a fine mesh, put some of the liquid (1/2 cup) in a squirt bottle and dilute with water (1 cup). I got this idea from a comment on my blog – the original post is here.
As you’re getting ready for spring cleaning this year, think about trying some natural cleaners instead of using harsh and toxic commercial products! Let me know if you try any of the above – I’d love to hear.
This post is part of this month’s Green Moms Carnival - hosted by Lori at Groovy Green Livin. How to Keep Toxic Chemicals Out of Your Home. Read a lot more great posts on Lori’s blog here.
Linking up: Monday Mania; Homestead Barn Hop; Savvy Homemade Monday; Inspire Me Monday; Real Food Forager; Frugal Tuesday Tip; Anti-Procrastination Tuesday; Tutorial Tuesday; Handmade Tuesdays; Hearth & Soul Hop; Frugally Sustainable; Healthy 2day Wednesday; What I Whipped up Wednesday; Wicked Awesome Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Rock N Share; Real Food Wednesday; Taking a Timeout Thursday; Frugal Friday; Fight Back Friday;
About Michelle
Welcome! I'm Michelle and I'm glad you're here. Simplify, Live, Love is a blog about simple life in rural Iowa. We are a self-employed, frugal, green, mostly homeschooling family of 6 working to go off the grid on a modern day homestead in Eastern Iowa. Please subscribe for gardening tips, green living hints, recipes, fun giveaways, and frugal ideas. Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you for posting this, now I know what to do with all those peels.
You’re welcome!
Awesome, I have been using a vinegar/water solution to clean (as an all purpose cleaner) for a while now, but gosh the smell leaves something to be desired (my husband always thinks it’s easter egg dying time). Can’t wait to try it! Just one question though – what kind of squirt bottles do you use? I’ve found that the vinegar solution eats through the cheap Target brand type, but haven’t found a source for more industrial types.
I’m not sure I’ve had that problem. I have had a problems with squirters not working after a while. Is that what you mean? I’ve found some more industrial bottles in garden sections. Maybe they would work for you? After a while, I just have to replace my bottles though.
What great ideas for going green cleaning! My husband brought home a huge bag of Cara Cara oranges today, so I’ll be saving the rinds to soak in vinegar. I LOVE that idea! Thanks for this post and the links!
What a great idea! Citrus peels don’t compost very well for us and I always cringe when I throw them away.
You’ll still end up with wasted peels, Jennifer – it just delays the inevitable. But you have to drain the vinegar from the peels before you use it.
I’ve been meaning to research this, so thank you! I love it when I find new uses for things I already have around the house!
Awesome! Love cleaning with vinegar and other natural cleaners. I have added essential oils but I love this idea, too. Thanks for sharing.
Great post! I would love for you to link up at my Linky Party via: http://ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com/2012/03/show-me-what-you-got-linky-party-6.html
Mrs. Delightful
http://www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
Great tips for non-toxic cleaners! We use natural cleaners because the store-bought cleaners usually contain ingredients that are bad for the septic tank. They kill the good bacteria that breaks down waste.
I’m glad you added a caption…because I looked at the picture first and immediately thought, those are the ugliest peaches I’ve ever seen. I guess the post title hadn’t registered with me yet. haha! I’ve been wanting to go green within the house and this is a good place for me to start. I immediately think of the $$ we’ll save. I’ve had a good time here…laughing at myself and learning! Thanks for sharing at the Rock ‘N Share!
That’s so funny! Ugly peaches…I know I have work to do with my photography, but this cracked me up!
This is really useful information! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!
Great ideas. I soaked my lemon peels in water to use in the final rinse for laundry and sometimes in my hair. I then chucked it in the compost as it breaks down quickly in that state ( i also live in a warm climate). From now on I will be using citrus infused vinegar for the laundry – as soon as the first lot is ready!
Baking soda is a great product to be used as a carpet freshener. You just sprinkle it on the carpet and then leave it for an hour to settle and then vacuum the entire carpet.
I really like it when people get together and share opinions.
Great blog, keep it up!
With the surfacing of different cleaning materials, we are no longer sure which of these are safe for the family. Thus, it becomes common that people go for more natural or toxic-free remedies. Thank you for sharing these ideas. These will definitely benefit all homeowners; consequently, our environment.
You have written a fantastic resource.