New cleaners hit the market with advertising pitches like “with the added power of baking soda!” and “now with bleach!” Why not just use the baking soda or bleach?

Our kitchen cabinets, the areas under our sinks, and bathroom cabinets are filled with cleaners labeled, “Do not swallow,” “If swallowed call a poison control center immediately,” and “Do not allow contact with skin.” The lists of ingredients on the bottles are barely pronouncable. The fumes are barely tolerable. We label things with poison stickers and use child saftey latches on our cabinets. But why?

There are safer and more natural alternatives! The suggestions below are better for our environment, our homes, and our children - and will save you $$$. So throw away those toxic cleaning solutions and clean naturally & frugally!

Here are just a few tips to help you get started:

(1) Make your transition slowly. Replace your commerical cleaners with a homemade substitute as you run out of each one. Be sure to mix up the new cleaner as soon as you run out of the commerical one so that it will be on hand and ready to use when you need it.

(2) Always keep your cleaners in a baby/child proofed area and store them in the area you will need them in (bathroom cleaners in the bathroom cabinet, kitchen cleaners in the kitchen).

(3) Store your cleaners in reusable airtight containers. Do not reuse bottles from commerical cleaners. Instead purchase empty spray bottles or recycle milk jugs. Be sure to label each container with the ingredients and purpose.

(4) Don’t forget to also replace your expensive scrubbers and cleaning tools with cheaper homeade alternatives!