Clean Homes
Household cleaning products
All commercial household cleaning products have the potential to negatively impact on the health of your child (and yourself, for that matter). They are poisonous if swallowed, leach toxins into air and are inhaled (affecting the lungs). Surface toxins are handled and absorbed by the skin, all of which results in a toxic load against which your child has not yet developed adequate defences.
There are many easy (and very cheap) ways to make up your own cleaning products and they usually require only a few ingredients. Below is a list of different recipes that will leave your house clean, fresh and safe!
All-purpose cleaner can be made from a vinegar-and-salt mixture or from 4 tablespoons bicarbonate soda dissolved in 1litre warm water.
Drain cleaner – Pour 1/2 a cup of bicarbonate soda down the drain, add 1/2 cup white vinegar, and cover. Do not use this method after trying a commercial drain opener – the vinegar can react with the drain opener to create dangerous fumes.
Disinfectant and Toilet Cleaner – Mix 1/2 cup borax and some lemon juice with about 3,5 litres hot water. Alternatively pour 1 cup borax into the toilet bowl and leave overnight. The next morning scrub and flush.
Washing Powder – use a cup or bicarb per load in place of detergent. To brighten clothes add one cup of vinegar OR half a cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle. A quarter of a cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle will completely remove detergent from clothes (DO NOT use vinegar if you are using bleach – the resulting fumes are hazardous).
Fabric Softener – add ½ to ¾ of a cup of bicarbonate soda to the wash.
Furniture polish – 1 part lemon juice to 2 parts vegetable oil.
Floor cleaner can be made by adding a few drops of vinegar to the cleaning water. For vinyl or linoleum, add a capful of baby oil to the water to preserve and polish. For tiles, use 1 cup white vinegar in 1 litre of water and rinse with clear water.
Deodorise carpets by sprinkling bicarbonate soda on carpets ½-hour before vacuuming.
Window and glass cleaner can be made by mixing vinegar-and-water solution or lemon-juice-and-water. Wipe with newspaper.
Air fresheners – Open windows, simmer lemons, vanilla pods or cinnamon sticks in water, use flower essence oils, or use fresh flowers. Install a ceiling fan or an extractor fan. Sprinkle ½-cup borax in the bottom of rubbish bins to stop mould and bacteria growth, which can cause bad smells.
Oven cleaner or pot scourer can be made by sprinkling bicarbonate soda and dry table salt on moist surface and scrubbing with steel wool or a damp sponge.
Bath and tile cleaner can be as easy as rubbing in bicarbonate soda with a damp sponge and rinsing, or wiping with vinegar first followed with bicarb as a scouring powder.
For more information, or to book a consultation, call Tanya on 041-5811679 or email her on tanya@thehappybaby.co.za
International author and SHAPE advisory board member, Tanya Wyatt’s work is not mainstream – it centres on optimal hormonal balance and true organ health through the use of traditional nutritional and lifestyle practices. Her driving passion is child health and her work covers issues such as restless sleeping, short attention span, eating problems, skin conditions, optimal brain and nervous system development, immune dysfunction, constipation, toxicity prevention and general health promotion. She is also a mom.