Whether you live at home, or at campus, cleaning is an unavoidable part of the daily routine. Have you ever read the list of ingredients in store bought cleaning products? Not only are its contents difficult to pronounce, they are harmful and toxic. Green cleaning is not hard, and will save you money. Listed below are 3 simple ingredients that can be used to simply and efficiently clean your entire house.

Vinegar or Baking Soda:  By adding warm water to either vinegar or baking soda, a natural all-purpose cleaner can be made. Vinegar and baking soda can be mixed together with water to clean as well. Do not worry about the vinegar smell; yes it is strong at first, but it will go away. The vinegar/water mixture can be used to clean both inside and outside of various machines and appliances like tea kettles, steam irons, coffee makers, and more. Vinegar or baking soda can be used to deodorize the home too (i.e. placing a slightly opened container of baking soda in the fridge). These green all-purpose cleaners can be used to clean almost anything! Everything from windows, clothing, furniture, microwaves, and even the kitchen sink can be cleaned with these simple ingredients.

Lemon Juice:  The acid in lemon juice works great as a natural stain-remover . However, work quickly while using lemons as a stain remover since they do have “a bleaching effect, particularly when exposed to sunlight”. A lemon half can be used to scrub away at copper and steel surfaces; but be careful on marble. Or a cloth wetted with lemon juice (bottled or squeezed from a lemon) can also be used to rub away stains. Lemon juice can be combined with either salt or baking soda to form a paste, to make cleaning easier since lemon juice by itself it quite runny. Clothing, and other cloth-like material can also be freed from stains by using this lemon juice paste. After gently rubbing the mixture into the stain, be sure to wash the item of clothing after.

Now that you know about green cleaning, your commercial cleaning products can be replaced; however, since they are toxic they must be disposed of responsibly. Toxic recycling programs are held in most communities to properly dispose of these chemicals. So even while cleaning may still be a chore, at least we can feel better that we are not harming the planet in the process.

Check out these websites that offer more tips on green cleaning, and other ways on how to go green:

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/

http://www.treehugger.com/

http://odyb.net/food-cooking/62-little-known-uses-of-vinegar/