Cupboard Cleaners

Are you very conscious of the foods you put in your body, and chemicals you use in your home? Some of household cleaning products’ labels can read like the start to a horror film! Hesitation to use harsh chemicals only intensifies when you’ve got little ones around, whether it be them breathing in hazardous fumes, or getting into an open cupboard and fiddling with bottles. The good news is, there are a number of great substitutes that are significantly safer for your home and family than typical cleaning products. What’s more, is that they’re often times less expensive, and you can make them right at home! Keep reading to get the scoop on which products you can eliminate from under your kitchen sink.

White vinegar: Believe it or not, vinegar packs quite the punch when it comes to disinfecting! We recommend mixing equal parts vinegar and water together, in order to avoid wasting any. If you’re working to get rid of particularly sticky messes, add some salt. This will help to make the mixture more abrasive, and thus effective at getting out those hard-to-clean food particles and so on. If you’ve got a slow drain, mix together baking soda and vinegar for a gentle, but still effective way to unclog drains. Start by pouring down ½ cup of baking soda, then follow it with one cup of vinegar. After it’s stopped foaming, running warm water down the drain for about two minutes.

 Bonus: If you’ve got kids, they’ll love to watch you make the drain foam!

Baking soda: If you haven’t already, grab a small box of baking soda, open it up, and set it in the back of your refrigerator. This old trick will help to eliminate funky smells from your fridge, which believe it or not, actually get into the food you cook – yuck! Additionally, you can use baking soda for a similar purpose at the bottom of your garbage can. Each time you change the bag, just remember to sprinkle some in the can. You can also do the same for a laundry hamper, or sports bags if your kids are athletes. We all know how funky those can get!

Lemons: Lemons have a very low pH, which makes them quite acidic. Also, it is naturally antibacterial. As such, you can use lemon all around the house for various cleaning tasks. For example, you can squeeze a lemon’s juice into a cup of water, mix it up, then pour it into Tupperware containers that have some nasty stains and odors. The acidity will help to get rid of the funky scent, and return it to like-new condition. Next, try supercharging your dishwasher detergent by squeeze 12 drops or so into the mixture before starting the load. Lastly, easily make your faucets shiny and twinkly again by rubbing lemon water on them with a rag. It’s totally safe, and smells good, too!

Rubbing alcohol: One of the best uses for rubbing alcohol is cleaning mirrors and windows. The recipe is, 1/4th cup alcohol, 1/4th cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and 2 cups of warm water. For whatever reason, that cornstarch makes all difference! Mix this all up, then add it to a spray bottle, and get down to business. Eliminate having to buy expensive window cleaners, and get rid of another chemical bottle below the sink! Another fantastic use for rubbing alcohol – which we admit, isn’t a cleaning trick, but is still a great one – is for making ice packs. Take a gallon sized freezer bag, and mix one part rubbing alcohol with three parts water. This will cause the solution to get very slush and almost freeze, but still allow you to shape to a hurt joint comfortably!