Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tips
1. Hire a Green or Eco-Friendly Maid Service / House Cleaning Service. For people or families that just 
don’t have the time to clean their own homes, luckily there are an increasing number of green cleaning services out there to help get your home cleaned the eco-friendlyway. From time to time we will feature a green house cleaning company on our main homepage.
2. Be Cautious of Antibacterial Cleaning Products. The antibacterial cleaners that people think are essential don’t clean hands better than soap and water. Also, they add to the risk of breeding more bacteria that survive the chemical onslaught and have opposing offspring. The FDA has found that antibacterial soaps and hand cleansers do not work better than regular soap and water, and should be avoided.
3. Use Green Cleaning Products. The new wave of eco-friendly products are non-toxic, biodegradable, and made from renewable resources (not petroleum). Alternatives to designer labels include vinegar and baking soda. The right mix of warm water with either of these and you have yourself an all-purpose cleaner.
4. Indoor Air Should Be Cleaned Naturally. Rather than using the air fresheners, try boiling cinnamon, cloves, or any other herbs you have a keenness for. Fresh chocolate chip cookies create a friendly aroma as well. Also, plants are good for filtering interior air, pretty much any broad green leaf plant will do. Peace Lilies are a favorite choice. Open windows to allow fresh air in will certainly do the trick.
5. Think Baking soda more often. Baking soda not only removes the smell coming from your fridge, it's also a great odor-eliminator for your carpet. Just sprinkle on a little baking soda (rather than the odor eliminator products bought from the store) to soak up some of those odors and then vacuum it up.
6. Get Rid of Toxic Cleans Cautiously. When replacing your cleaning products, don’t just throw the old ones in the trash. If they're too toxic for your home, they won’t be good for the drain or the landfill either. Many communities hold toxics & electronics recycling days and will take all of these off your hands. Throwing chemicals in the trash or down the drain means they might end up back in your water supply.
7. Leave the Toxins at the Door. Imagine what’s on your shoes at the end of the day. Bringing that oil, antifreeze, animal waste, particulate pollution, pollen, and who knows what else into the house is not good news, especially for kids and other critters that spend time on floor level. Keep the sidewalk out of your home with a good doormat or a shoeless house policy. Less dirt also means less sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming, which means less work, water, energy, and fewer chemicals.
8. Avoid Conventional Dry-Cleaners. Conventional dry cleaners are the largest users of the industrial solvent called Perchloroethylene, or perc, which is toxic to humans and also creates smog. The two most common green dry-cleaning methods are carbon dioxide cleaning and Green Earth. Seek out cleaners that use green methods. If you do take clothes to conventional cleaners, be sure to air them outside before wearing them or putting them in the closet.
9. Design with an ECO Mind. Designing homes with green or eco in mind can create spaces that are cleaner, healthier, and require fewer substances to maintain. In can also be a big money-saver as cleaning costs can often add up to as much as half of a home’s total energy costs.
10. Essential Oil. Certain essentials oils are great disinfectants and natural deodorizers. Lavender, ginger, pine and clove are good choices and many also have antiseptic properties. Lemon oils are useful for keeping your kitchen clean and germ-free while essential oil from cloves will help to eliminate cooking odors. Grease is no match for lavender essential oils which is a useful addition to your kitchen and bathroom cleaning supplies. Pine essential oil is useful inside and outside your home to keep certain insects at bay and to discourage destructive buds from visiting your garden.
11. Citrus Cleaning. The citrus line-up includes oranges, lemons and grapefruits but also lime, bergamot and kumquat. Not only do they look good and smell great their essential oils are wonderful cleaners which are increasingly being used by manufacturers to create environmentally friendly cleaning products. Lemon juice can be used to remove stains from solid surface countertop and when mixed with salt can help to remove rust stains from hardware. Orange and lemon rind can be used as a wonderful air freshener and to reduce odors from trash cans and garbage disposals. Lemon oil is the most effective natural glass cleaner but orange oil works too and best of all they leave a smudge free sheen. It is the citric acid that works to remove calcium build-up on shower doors. Lemon oil found in many commercial furniture polishes works wonderfully well on it's own to clean and protect your wood furniture.
12. Avoid Poor Indoor Air. It is very common for the air inside a home to be more toxic than the air outside. This is due to the presence of toxic materials and because homes are better insulated these days. Keeping windows open as often as possible allows fresh air in and keep toxins flowing out. This is extremely important when cleaning your home.
