10 Natural Cleaning Hacks for a Chemical-Free Home

Want to clean your home without the harsh chemicals? Check out these 10 Natural Cleaning Hacks for a Chemical-Free Home. You’ll learn simple things you can easily do to clean your home with natural, yet powerfully effective ingredients to keep your family safe and well.

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Have you ever read the label for one of your household cleaners? There’s likely a long list of ingredients that are hard to pronounce. You don’t need all those harsh chemicals to clean your home. You just need to master a few natural cleaning hacks with simple ingredients. I’ll walk you through how to do that.

Be sure to check out my guide on how to spring clean room by room – it’s like a how-to manual on how to clean your whole home in a day.

How Often Should I Clean My House?

This depends on how much traffic you get around the house but a good rule of thumbs is to sweep your kitchen once a day, as well as wiping down kitchen counters and sanitizing sinks. Then once a week do the vacuuming. Things like pans should be done after every use, the microwave can be done once a week, dishwasher once a month and cleaning out the fridge once a season.   It’s best to disinfect the toilet daily and do the bathtub/shower once very two weeks.

10 Natural Cleaning Hacks That Actually Work

1. Keep Lemons and Citrus Fruit Handy

Citrus fruits such as lemons, oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit can come in handy for several tough cleaning jobs. Add some salt to your cutting board and use lemon to deeply clean it, or even use it to make your faucets shine.

You can even make an effective DIY Disinfectant Spray with lemon peels and vodka. Get the recipe here.

2. Freshen the Air Naturally

Instead of an aerosol air fresher from the store (which is loaded with chemicals in the fragrance), you can make your own DIY Air Freshener Spray with 3 ingredients. It’s so easy and you’ll wonder why you paid for those pricey air fresheners in the store all these years.

3. Clean Bad Smelling Towels with Vinegar

Add a splash of vinegar to the wash to make your towels smell like new again. Check out these 13 Surprising Uses for Apple Cider Vinegar (#8 is my favorite).

4. Use Baking Soda to Remove Smells from Your Carpet

The next time you vacuum your carpets add a sprinkle of baking soda to your carpet first. Then, vacuum up the baking soda, and you’ll be left with an odor-free carpet. Check out this DIY Carpet Refresher recipe with baking soda and essential oils to help deodorize carpets.

And check out these 30+ Uses for Baking Soda with a ton of cleaning hacks in the kitchen and bathroom.

5. Use Essential Oils to Fight Harsh Smells

Essential oils are really effective in getting rid of odors. One of my favorite ways to put a couple of drops of essential oils (such as lemongrass, citronella, or a blend such as Thieves) in the bottom of the trash can. It really helps to deodorize smells.

You can also use essential oils in a diffuser to replace candles and plug-in air fresheners. This is my favorite set of essential oils with a diffuser.

6. Freshen Up Your Garbage Disposal with a Few Lemon Slices

The next time to freshen up the garbage disposal add a few lemon slices, and then turn on your garbage disposal. The lemon helps to get rid of odors, while the peels from the lemon help to clean out the disposal.

7. Vinegar Can Clean Almost Anything

If you are looking for a cheat to help you clean and disinfect nearly any surface in your home, you can’t go wrong with vinegar. It can be used on many surfaces to clean and sanitize, including food surfaces, kitchens, floors, windows, tubs, tile, laundry and so much more.

It’s my preferred method of cleaning produce like fruit and vegetables. Check out this DIY Produce Wash recipe. Now do keep in mind that it can kill some bacteria and viruses, but not all.

The downside with vinegar is the smell. Add lemon juice or essential oils to help with the scent. Vinegar is great in laundry and actually doesn’t leave a scent on fabrics when they’re washed. Check these 13 Surprising Ways to Use Vinegar.

Avoid using vinegar on granite, marble, stone floors or surfaces, hardwood floors, and iron. The acid in the vinegar can breakdown the natural stone, wood and iron.

8. Use Salt to Clean Pans

Salt is a great alternative to baking soda to cleaning cast iron pans. Just sprinkle a little salt in a cast iron pan and use a paper towel to wipe it up. It helps to gently clean off food stuck in the pan. Be sure to check out these tips on how to season cast iron pans to make them cook like non-stick cookware.

9. Make Your Own Cleaners

If you want my best hack, this one would be it. Instead of trying to find natural cleaners in-store, make your own. They usually only require a few simple ingredients, and you may have them in your home already.

Here are my top 10 DIY Natural Cleaner recipes – including household cleaner, reusable cleaning wipes, soft scrub, bleach alternative and more.

10. Microfiber Cloths Can Dust for You

Microfiber cloths are great for dusting. You don’t even need to use a cleaner. Just wipe down the surface using a microfiber cloth. You can use a natural household cleaner as well if you need to clean surfaces but the microfiber cloth itself works great for dusting.

Are Natural Cleaning Hacks Cheaper Than Buying Store Bought Cleaners?

Yes! These natural cleaning hacks are so much kinder to your wallet! You don’t have to spend money on expensive green cleaning products, plus you can make up big batches so less trips to the store.

If you prefer a one and done option, get Thieves Household Cleaner.

Natural Cleaning Hacks Make Cleaning Easier

Why have 10 toxic products when you can use one natural product. A lot of these natural cleaning products are mutli-use, so you don’t have to search around your cupboards and store away a tonne of store bought products, it cuts down on time and clutter.

Top Tips for Natural Cleaning Hacks

• Essential oils are great for combating odors in even the toughest of spots. Just put a few drops in places like trash cans and smell your favorite aromas.
• Avoid using vinegar on granite, marble, stone floors or surfaces, hardwood floors, and iron. The acid in the vinegar can breakdown the natural stone, wood and iron.
• Lemon peels are great for clearing out your garbage disposal and they’re also great for cleaning stained tea and coffee pots. Add the peel with some ice and salt and swirl around the pot and it’s done.
• When cleaning with vinegar, add lemon juice or essential oils to help with the scent.

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Photo credit: Bigstockphoto.com / Milkos, wertinio