Make Healthier Cleaners

Monday, June 16, 2008

Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM

The post Junk Food Through Your Skin? about making your own healthier skin and hair care products brought in many notes from readers asking for more.

Fitness is not just in a gym. Health comes from all your actions. Commercial cleaners may have toxic fumes or compounds you absorb through your skin. They may be mass-produced in ways that pollute water sources, degrade air quality, generate industrial litter, and destroy resources faster than can be replaced. Healthier ways are simple and usually cheaper. Here are a few cleaners to try making on your own. Children who are able, can have fun helping you measure, mix, and get good physical and mental exercise from making things clean and healthy:

Rust Remover - Sprinkle salt over the rust. Squeeze a lime over the salt until soaked and leave for a few hours. Use the lime rind to scrub off the rust. When sanding, vinegar helps see the metal to determine how much rust still remains.

Furniture Polish - Squeeze the juice from a lemon. Good hand exercise. Mix in a teaspoon (5 ml) of olive or other oil. Apply thinly to the wood and use a soft cloth to make it shine. Experiment with how much oil you like compared to lemon. A thin rubbing of plain coconut oil makes great wood polish as well as nice skin cream and hair shiner.

Counters and Surfaces - mix a quarter cup of baking soda (about 60ml) and quarter cup of vinegar in a quart (liter) of water. For stains, sprinkle baking soda over the surface, wet with water, and allow to sit until you feel like wiping it off with a sponge or lemon rind. Plain white vinegar makes a nice disinfecting cleaner by itself.

Glass Cleaner - Add 1/4 cup white vinegar to a quart warm water. Add a tablespoon of cornstarch. Apply any way you prefer from a sponge, spray bottle, or crumpled newspaper.