Cleaning Naturally With Items You Already Have

The acidity makes lemon a strong contender against stains on clothes and carpets, so next time you have a stain, cut a lemon in half and rub the open half over the stain before washing.

As a deodorizer, lemon leaves behind a fresh, clean smell while clearing out odors around it. The best way to experience its deodorizing power is to freshen up your disposal with one. Cut a lemon into wedges, put the wedges into the garbage disposal, and run it with a little bit of cold water. It not only clears odors out of your disposal, but will freshen your whole kitchen!

Baking soda can go all the places lemons can’t, and it is a passive deodorizer—you don’t have to do much of anything to get it to work. Open a box and place it in the fridge, laundry room, or bathroom. It absorbs odors and neutralizes them, so you might even want to put one in every room. Additionally, sprinkle a little in the bottom of your trash can to remove garbage odors.

If you’ve ever dealt with stuck-on food, you know what a hassle it can be. Baking soda does a great job of breaking up grime and grease, so sprinkle some baking soda on the crusted-over dish and let it sit for a while. When you come back, the mess should be much easier to remove.

An amazing and often unappreciated substance, vinegar can be the basis for one of the most effective solutions in your home: mix equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle to take care of just about everything.

Its best benefit is as a natural disinfectant. It kills germs as well as the leading disinfectants while leaving no residue behind. If you’re worried about the smell, you needn’t be—once vinegar dries, the smell is gone. One tip, though: don’t use vinegar solutions on marble countertops.

Also, and somewhat surprisingly, vinegar can be used to soften your clothes without any strange chemicals. Just pour half a cup into a large laundry load and enjoy the soft freshness afterwards.

House cleaning is important for your health, safety, and overall mood, too. Inexpensive, natural home cleaners make every cleaning job easier and healthier.