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Cleaning with vinegar can smell good!
Posted
at
11:34 am
by Sarah Jackson
Do you yearn to clean your home with natural products from your pantry such as all-powerful vinegar, but worry you won’t like the smell?
Well, today I have a cool solution.
Simply add essential oils.
I gleaned this groovy idea while listening to “Good Food,” in which “Real Cooking” contributor Victoria Coulter talked all about cleaning with food products in the home.
Though the smell of vinegar naturally dissipates quickly, Coulter recommends adding four or five drops of lavender oil or another nice-smelling essential oil to a spray bottled filled with a half-and-half vinegar-water all-purpose cleaning solution.
Lavender, she said, is also a natural disinfectant.
Coulter also shared some brilliant ideas for baking soda, including using it as an effective oven cleaner (no fumes!) and as a stain remover (simply make a paste with water and it works like a non-abrasive cleaner).
Last spring, I wrote a story about how to clean with dirt-cheap vinegar and I have been trying all kinds of cool things with great success at home, including cleaning our sinks and drains, our mineral-deposit-sodded showerhead and our once-nasty shower curtain liner.
Here’s my one piece of advice on cleaning drains: Most recipes tell you to pour baking soda down the drain, followed by vinegar. If you’re like me, it’s nearly impossible to “pour” a cup of a powder through the tiny bathroom drain holes. Simply dilute the baking soda with enough water to make it pourable and proceed with vinegar for a frothy explosion of clean.
It works!
If you’re interested in getting started with truly natural and cheap cleaning, check out my story from earlier this year or visit the lower portion of this “Good Food” page with recipes from the cleaning-with-food episode, which also includes a wonderful segment on creating a sustainable kitchen with Deborah Tull, who runs Creative Green Sustainability Coaching.
“Good Food,” meanwhile, is a must for the every-day Eco Geek. Though it’s L.A.-focused, it’s great for folks who are interested in local food, sustainable living and other foodie fun, including a “market report” every week with talk of what’s in season at the farmer’s markets and what people are doing with it.
Easily subscribe to "Good Food" on iTunes.
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