11 Clever Ways to Green Your Clean
Do you schedule a thorough green spring cleaning every year?
Routine cleaning activities like:
– Cleaning out window frames;
– Washing your curtains or steaming your blinds;
– Wiping out your kitchen cupboards;
– Cleaning your carpets;
– Wiping down your walls (especially in basements); and
– Clearing out the gutters
Are some chores that are top of mind as the weather gets warmer.
But why do we go to such lengths for a tidy and clean home?
An array of studies have shown that an annual deep clean and regular maintenance activities hold a variety of benefits including:
- Reducing stress;
- Improving air quality;
- And reducing the repair costs on appliances.
Without further ado: Here are our top hacks for a clean and green home this spring (and beyond!)!
1. Avoid Single-Use Paper Towels
It’s SO easy to reach for a roll of paper towels when you’re cleaning you’re home. They leave a streak and fibre-free finish and they’re so dang handy!
Did you know that the average family uses TWO rolls of paper towels every week!
We recently saw this scary stat about paper towels on the Funkins socials:
It takes about 17 trees to make 1 ton of paper towels.
We’re challenging you to skip disposable paper towels!
Many local makers sell reusable paper towels. These “unpaper towels” can easily be wrapped around an old paper towel tube for easy access. They’re also machine washable!
Author
Stephanie Ward
Stephanie started her journey towards a sustainable lifestyle young: at the age of 12, she started a ‘compost bin’ in a margarine container — and left it for her mum to find under the sink many weeks later … Needless to say, her eco-skills have improved since then! A vegan of 10+ years, a staunch animal welfare advocate, and an avid recycler, you’re most likely to find her on a hike, or in the garden.
2. Ditch the Detergent & Use a Laundry Soda
Nellie's 100 Load Laundry Soda
You’d be forgiven for not carefully considering the cap of detergent that you toss in with your load of laundry.
It’s an act so routine, you could do it in your sleep!
But these statistics on laundry detergents may wake you up to this harmful environmental contaminant.
Traditional laundry detergents are harmful because they contain the below 4 ingredients:
- Phosphates: Phosphates create an unhealthy reaction on the water table once they’ve swooshed down your pipes and out of the house;
- Nitrogen: Nitrogen stimulates the growth of This uses up unusual amounts of oxygen in waterways, ruining native ecosystems;
- Surfactants: Surfactants break down the mucus layer that coats fish, making them vulnerable to parasites and bacteria (US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and
- Water: Water is the main ingredient of traditional detergents. Water is heavy and bulky to transport, adding financial costs to the retailer, the consumer, and the environment.
There has to be a better way? Right?
There is!
Introducing Nellie’s and their clean and green 100 Load Laundry Soda. Not only is this product safe for our shared home, it’s also the cutest laundry product on the market!
Nellie’s was inspired by the Founder’s own mother, Nellie. She was a real person with real values. She believed in honesty and simplicity and was green long before the colour was cool.
Nellie’s strives to make planet-friendly, simple, and honest products for the whole home.
Nellie’s 100 Load Laundry Soda has just four ingredients. It comes in a very cute, reusable tin (I planted a fern in mine!) which is also recyclable!
The powder is 100% biodegradable and it’s totally hypoallergenic. Nellie’s is more concentrated than other detergents, too so you only one tablespoon of powder for a regular load (that means no guesstimating with tricky-to-read caps).
Last but not least, Nellie’s Laundry Soda does not contain fillers and it rinses clear!
Learn more about Nellie’s by clicking the buttons below.
3. Sparkling Tiles
Sometimes … despite your best efforts, the grout between kitchen and bathroom tiles starts to look a little jaded.
Mix together an equal parts: baking soda, dishwashing liquid, apple cider vinegar to make a paste and scrub it on thickly between tiles with an old toothbrush.
Leave it for 30 mins then rinse off with warm water.
If this doesn’t have the effect you’d hoped for: I have been known to gently sand the grout a teeny-tiny bit, too. I’m no handy person, however so I’ll leave that one with you! 😉
4. Say 'No thank you!' to Dryer Sheets
Ditch the dryer sheets! Take the harsh chemicals out of your drying (and the environment) by using wool dryer balls instead. Dryer balls are reusable (tick!) and will naturally soften clothes – all without the use of harmful chemicals (double-tick!).
5. Try Castile Soap
The Green Beaver Company - Castile Soap
Want floors you can eat off?
100% Castile Soap is a great all-round, environmentally friendly cleaning product.
Castile soap is a highly effective and incredibly versatile cleaner made as it’s made from vegetable oils.
It’s great for house and body and has zero harsh chemicals, so pets and kiddos are safe.
To clean your floors, add about 1/8 to 1/4 cup to a bucket of hot water, or dilute into a spray bottle for spot cleaning.
Note: we don’t recommend you use Castile Soap on waxed floors as it can break the wax down over time.
6. Keep Coffee Machines & Kettles Limescale Free
For your coffee machine: Every month or so I run a pot of water with a cup of apple cider vinegar through our coffee machine. I then use this water for cleaning the sink. Make sure you run a pot of water through after (also good for cleaning!) so you don’t drink vinegary coffee the next morning – bleurgh.
For you kettle: Pour a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water into your kettle, allow it to boil, then rinse the kettle out once it cools down a little but is still warm.
7. The Secret to "See-Thru" Windows
Urgh. Cleaning the windows is 100% my least favourite annual job.
I have a sign on my door ‘No Junk, Puhleeeze.’ My mail person generally adheres to this little note, on the occasional time it slips their mind (I get it!), I keep those pesky newspaper pamphlets for ‘The Great Window Clean of 2022!’
Here’s why:
Get your windows sparkly clean by adding ½ cup of white or ACV vinegar to 2-3 cups of water into an empty spray bottle. Apply this solution on the windows then wipe them down using scrunched up newspaper. Voila!
8. Shiny Kitchen Counters
Since Tersano was founded in 2001, they have kept over 𝟲𝟳𝟮,𝟬𝟬𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 liters of harmful chemicals out of the environment to date by replacing traditional cleaning products with sustainable cleaning technologies.
Consider investing in a modern, oxygenated cleaner by Tersano.
The iClean® mini turns tap water into a highly effective cleaner, deodorizer and sanitizer that kills up to 99% of bacteria and viruses. It’s simple, it’s proven and it’s 100% safe.
Accidentally get it on your skin, in your eyes, even in your mouth — you’ll be fine. What is truly amazing is that this solution, which is stronger than bleach and hydrogen peroxide, simply reverts back to water and oxygen, so no harsh chemicals getting back out into our waterways or environment.
9. Tidy Office Spaces
While you may (or may not) be involved in the cleaning regime of your shared workspace, I wanted to include few tips that you can implement personally.
Without being alarmist: According to Sciencealert, the average office desk has 400 times more germs than a toilet seat!
And according to the New York Post: ’90 percent of mugs in office kitchens are coated in germs,’ (I won’t include the next part of this sentence, I’ll protect you!).
– Bring your own mug, water bottle and cutlery and take it home for a good clean.
– Keep track of your pens and hold on tight to your computer mouse!
– I have also protected you from the stats on germs on office door handles. Have a pump bottle of sanitizer on your desk (refill it at a local zero-waste store if you can!).
10. Keep Toilet Bowls Beautiful
Toss a cup of baking soda down the loo, leave it for 30 minutes then pour in a cup of white vinegar, leave it to sit a little longer then flush!
11. Make Your Own Scrubbies
Y’know the mesh bags you get onions, garlic, avocados and shallots in? Don’t ditch them straightaway! They’re a great scrubber for those hard to clean pots and pans!
Are you delaying your annual deep clean? Grab a coffee and check out some of our other green-tip blog posts below!
More Blog Posts:
Sustainable LGBTQ Owned Brands and Organizations To Support For Pride Month (and beyond!)
Sustainable LGBTQ owned Businesses to support! Learn about the connection between this community & their inclusion in the environmental movement.
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