Eco tips for cleaning

Eco tips for cleaning - top 10 tips

Here are some top tips that include home made cleaning mixes to eco friendly cleaning brands.

1. Use Lemons

Lemons are nature's cleaning wunderkind. They have powerful antiseptic and antibacterial properties and are a natural deodorizer due to their high acidic content. Here are some suggestions for how to use lemons in your home: Have your copper pans lost their shine? Dip half a lemon in salt or baking powder to scour your pans to their former glory. Combine lemon peel and white vinegar in a jar, allow to marinate for a few days, then strain out the peel to use the vinegar as a cleaner. A small dish containing vinegar and lemon juice will absorb odors. Rub a slice of lemon across your chopping board to disinfect the surface

2. Use Baking Soda

Baking soda, like lemon, is another one of nature's cleaners. Also known as sodium bicarbonate, this mildly alkaline substance functions as a gentle abrasive, deodorant and more.

Vinegar is your friend again here to descale your kettle, although you can use lemon juice, too. 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.

4 Use natural cotton dishcloths

Ditch those microfibre plastic dishcloths for completely natural options. We have a number of stylish cellulous cotton Munch dishcloths that can be composted.

5 Use plants

Like us, there are some smells insects and small animals can’t stand and a strategic placing of plants can help you get rid of them, without having to turn to chemicals as you're green cleaning your home.

Spiders don’t like citronella oil, so add a few drops to any essential oil burners where you have a spider issue or burn some citronella scented candles like these ones.

Mice on the other hand, really don’t like peppermint or spearmint. Install a few herb pots with mint where you’ve got a mice problem or add some drops of peppermint essential oil (20-30) to cotton wool balls and insert them into the holes and cracks where they’re getting in.

6 Get rid of kitchen paper towels

Did you know kitchen towel can’t be recycled? It’s often made of valuable virgin wood pulp, uses masses of toxic chemicals to be bleached and processed and it comes in plastic packaging. So what can you do?

For green cleaning, swap to a reusable kitchen towel (yes it exists), that are made from bamboo or other ‘unpaper’ materials, that can be washed and reused many many times. Try our Munch unpaper towels here.

7 Refillery cleaning options

There are many branded cleaning options on the market and our favourites are Ecostore, Green Goddess and Little foot. All can be refilled at our refillery online or at our store. The refillery has everything from dog shampoo to dishwasher tabs. 

8 Get the kids involved

Don't let the kids watch you clean. Get them involved so they learn how to look after things and see you care for both your family and the environment.

9 Open the windows and let the sun in

Sometimes, the air quality inside your home can be more toxic than the air quality outdoors. Everything from pet dander to pollen to mold to chemicals can flare up a person’s allergies or asthma, thus making the air unhealthy. 

To keep things fresh, open your windows every so often to let in the outside. Also let the sun in as again it freshens your house and helps to clean.  

A new study in 2020 found that UV light can help kill bacteria. New research shows that sunlight kills potentially harmful bacteria and improves air quality in indoor environments.

10 create some joy in cleaning

Make shopping for cleaning products fun for you and the kids! They love refilling containers with conditioner, body wash ect. It's an opportunity for (clean) sensory play while educating about the environment and creating minimal waste. 

Put the music on and use the time while cleaning to clear your head from the busy day. Try to bring some joy to cleaning as it has to be done, it is not going away and maybe you can create joy in it!