Guest Blogger: 5 Ways to Spring Clean your Green Home

Guest Blogger #926, Entry #2283, April 10, 2013

One thing that we all like having is a clean home as well as an eco-friendly home. Yet, with all of the demands of life that happen in a 24-hour period, it can be hard to have the rooms in our house sparkle as much as we’d like. Plus, if our goal is to do it in an eco-friendly way, that can be even more of a challenge to pull off.

The good news is that we have a few tips on how you can make your home cleaner in a greener way; ones that are highly-effective and also easy on your budget. Plus, being that they contain no harmful chemicals, you can even have your children help you (which is always an added bonus).

Simple ways to clean your spring home

Image via: Moeski Design Agency

Check these five ideas out below:

Use vinegar.

Almost all of us have some distilled white vinegar in our pantry or under our kitchen sink. It’s a good thing too because the amount of the things that can be done with it are virtually endless. By mixing equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle, you can wash your windows and mirrors. By pouring a capful into your laundry’s rinse cycle, you can soften your fabrics and remove static cling. Also, by mixing two parts water with one part vinegar, putting it into a bowl and allowing the solution to boil in the microwave, you can remove all stuck on foods inside of your oven. (And again, that’s just a few things of the things that you can do with vinegar.)

Try hydrogen peroxide.

Another common liquid that is found in most homes is hydrogen peroxide. You can fill up a spray bottle with half water and peroxide to clean your appliances. You can pour half a cup of peroxide into your toilet and let it sit for 20 minutes to remove any hard water stains. And speaking of stains, you can also use it to pretreat any that you might find on your clothes, curtains or tablecloths.

Use cornmeal as ant pesticide.

None of us like having ants in our home. However, a safer way (and cheaper) to remove them than calling an exterminator who will use harsh chemicals is to put down a little cornmeal. All you have to do is pour some where you see ants and it will kill them. It’s also proven to be a highly effective fungicide.

Green your home with indoor plants

Image via: Kristina Wolf Design

Turn leftovers into compost.

If you have a garden, rather than spending money on fertilizers that oftentimes contain harmful toxins, opt for making a compost out of your leftovers instead. It will result in there being less stuff piling up in your refrigerator and less trash to take out. Plus, compost has been proven to work miracles in fruit and vegetable gardens. (Composting101.com)

Green your home with indoor plants.

If you want to know how you can make the air inside of your home cleaner, heat pump or air conditioning services will probably tell you that you should have new air filters put in every few months. They would be right, but another way that you can clean the air of toxins while also beautifying your home is to get some plants. English ivies, Spider plants and Boston ferns are all plants that will have your house (literally) greener and cleaner.

For more green living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.