Service Missing from Service Contracts
by Meredith Brennan
It's very easy to make less dangerous cleansers from natural ingredients. Plain old vinegar, for example, can clean windows, soften old glue, remove fresh epoxy from fingers and help clear clogged drains.
The following "recipes" will save you money and also help avoid health problems linked to the chemicals in many brand-name cleansers. If you're just starting out, try one or two safer alternatives: make the glass cleaner. Grab for it just like you would your Windex. Once you get started, you'll see that using safer cleansers becomes second nature to you.
Glass Cleaner: Fill a spray bottle with 1 quart water and add 1 tablespoon white vinegar. Use and store instead of ammonia products. For larger jobs, like floor and tiles, add 1/4 cup white vinegar to 1 gallon hot water.
Sink & Toilet Cleaner: Mix a paste of either baking soda or borax with water and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Borax or baking soda are also good alone to replace abrasive cleaners. For toilets, drop either a few vitamin C capsules or denture cleaning tablets in the bowl and let sit overnight.
Disinfectants: Mix 1/2 cup borax in 1 gallon of hot water for counters, floors, cabinets and tiles.
Drain Openers: Pour 1/4 cup baking soda down the drain then follow with 1/2 cup vinegar. Cover with a cup or your hand so the fizzing pressure is forced down through the pipes. When fizzing slows, flush with a few cups of boiling water. For severe problems, use a plunger or plumber's snake.
Oven Cleaner: Use a paste of baking soda and water, scrubbing stains with steel wool. For tougher stains add salt, except for self-cleaning ovens.
Furniture Polish: Add 1/2 cup lemon juice to 1 cup vegetable oil, olive oil or mayonnaise. Store between uses.
Carpet Fresh/Cleaner: For odors, sprinkle dry cornstarch or baking soda and vacuum. Or leave 2 parts cornstarch and 1 part borax on for an hour then vacuum. For stains, rub borax into the dampened area, let dry, then vacuum, or repeatedly blot with vinegar and soapy water.
Mildew: Make a paste of vinegar and salt. Or wash area with strong Thyme tea.
Microwave Oven: Use a mix of lemon juice and vinegar in water.
Air Freshener: Simmer cinnamon and cloves or other sweet herbs. Several aromatic herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary and others) have proven antiseptic powers. Simmer them on a stove and spray the "tea" water with a mister. When vacuuming, freshen the air by soaking a cotton ball with scented oil and add to the vacuum bag.
Silver Polish: Add a tablespoon each of baking soda and salt to boiling water. Drop in silver and boil for 3 minutes. Polish with a soft cloth. For larger pieces, rub with cream toothpaste and warm water.
Copper Polish: Rub with a mixture of lemon juice (reconstituted or fresh) and salt. Rinse with water after washing.
Chrome Polish: Use rubbing alcohol or white flour on a dry rag. Or cut a lemon in half and rub on chrome.
Brass Polish: Use fresh or reconstituted lemon juice or Worcestershire sauce. Rinse with water after cleaning.
Shoe Polish: Use the inside of a banana peel then buff.
Paint Remover: Mix 1 pound of tri-sodium phosphate (TSP), a natural mineral-based cleansing powder available at paint and hardware stores, into 1 gallon hot water. Wear rubber gloves to avoid skin irritation and brush on the mixture. Let it sit for half an hour then remove softened paint with a scraper.
Paint on Hands: Use baby or mineral oil.
Paint on Brushes: Clean with hot vinegar.
Laundry Stains: Test each of the following remedies on the fabric first. If it starts to discolor, neutralize the cleaning agent immediately by using lemon juice or vinegar (acids) when cleaning with baking soda or ammonia (alkalies) and vice verse. Wash garments after application. To avoid dryer heat from setting a stain permanently, air dry the garment to be certain the stain is gone:
- Blood: Rinse with club soda or pour hydrogen peroxide directly on the stain and rinse in cold water. For stubborn stains, mix cornstarch with water and rub into the stain. Allow to dry and brush away.
- Coffee/tea: Soak in strong vinegar solution or rinse with seltzer.
- Chocolate: Rub with vegetable oil, or a paste of washing soda/water.
- Grass: Soak in vinegar, or use a solution of rubbing alcohol and water
- Grease: Rub stain with salt, bread or dry soap and wipe off.
- Ink: Soak in milk or lemon juice. Rubbing with hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol also works.
- Lipstick: Rub with cold cream or shortening to dissolve color then remove grease by rinsing in solution of washing soda and warm water.
- Chewing gum: Rub with ice until gum flakes off.
- Perspiration: Rub with solution of vinegar or lemon juice in water.
- Paint: Soak in milk, hot vinegar or a mixture of washing soda/water.
- Oil: Rub with white chalk
- Berries: Soak in vinegar or milk
Spray Starch: Fill a spray bottle with two pints of cold water and mix in two tablespoons of cornstarch. Shake before each use. For delicate fabrics, dissolve a package of unflavored gelatin or 2 tablespoons granulated sugar in 2 cups of hot water. If fabric is sticky when dry, add more water.
All rights reserved.
Meredith Brennan is a teacher, writer, wife and mother of three who believes we each can do much in our own lives that will have a tremendous impact on our environment, our health and our future generations. Her work as an environmental educator has been featured by many national media and she has served as a consultant for a wide variety of corporate, non-profit and public organizations. Questions and comments can be directed to her at Tomerry@exit109.com and may be used in future columns.
