Cleaning with vinegar and baking soda?

[Blue Plastic Straw]

White distilled vinegar is the best because it is more acidic than rice vinegar, and also pure, so it won't leave a residue. It also tends to be cheaper than the other kinds.

[Joe]

I'd love to use the baking soda and vinegar for cleaning, but I'd like to know which essential oils would work to make it smell nice. I hate the smell of vinegar. Also, how do you get this stuff to go around the inside of your toilet bowls?

For cleaning toilets, you could use anything with citric acid, like Coke/Pepsi, Tang, or even denture cleaners (the fizzing tablets). You would probably need a toilet brush to swish the insides and the rim, though.

Lemon oil is probably the most inexpensive of the essential oils.

[aarealskei]

Thanks Joe. I never thought about using Coke/Pepsi before, though I have heard that they are pretty good at removing gunk from off of things. The Tang could be interesting, too. I wouldn't have to worry if my pets decided to pop in and take a drink while I wasn't looking. :D

[Christy]

What if you hate the smell of vinegar (and peroxide)?

[Joe]

Thanks Joe. I never thought about using Coke/Pepsi before, ...

Might be a good use for an opened can or bottle that has gone flat. Then again, I've never priced soda vs. commercial toilet bowl cleaners. Might even be less expensive.

[Blue Plastic Straw]

What if you hate the smell of vinegar (and peroxide)?

You can make scented vinegar using essential oil. I like peppermint, since I think it covers up the smell pretty well, but you can use any kind of essential oil you like. I get the Heinz brand white vinegar in the gallon jug. According to Karen Logan, author of Clean House, Clean Planet, the Heinz brand smells better than other white vinegars. She has a number of "recipes" for scented vinegars in her book.

1 gallon jug of white vinegar + 50 drops of peppermint oil (or 1/2 tsp.)

[pghmountainbkr]

the best site for alternative cleansers.
http://www.wswmd.org/recipes

[IWorkAtHome]

Last July, I started ordering ALL my cleaning products and detergents from a company in Idaho because they are non-toxic, environmentally freindly and are made of ingredients like baking soda, vinegar and tea tree oil.

They work great, cheaper than Wal-Mart and are delivered to my door. Plus, let me be honest here, I get rebates when I refer others to this great company. So thanks for allowing me this shameless promotion! Ha! Email me if you want information about the company!

[doola]

Great link pghmountainbkr! Gonna try a lot of those out.

[mazza1998]

I use vinegar amd baking soda a lot. Mixed to keep our sink pipes clear, vinegar in a bucket of hot water to wash the windows and mirrors, baking soda instead of shake and vac, vinegar in ironing water with a few drops of essential oil for perfect laundry, baking sodas also a great fridge cleaner and as a paste gets the really horrid burnt pots clean.

[cookingVeg]

I've been using vinegar and baking soda to clean almost exclusively for years. I have recipes to make them smell nice, but I'm too cheap, er, thrifty to buy the essential oils. Somewhere in my office I have a book of recipes for homemade, environmentally-friendly cleaners -- something for almost any purpose. I'll try to dig it up soon.

I read that vinegar can be used in place of jet dry in a dishwasher. I haven't tried this, mostly because I very rarely use my dishwasher for anything but a drying rack. But it'd still be nice to know if it works -- has anyone tried this?

Begin rant: I want to start a campaign against jet dry. It contains all the nasty phosphates that environmentalists fought to get out of dishwasher detergent in the 80s. The marketing makes me so mad -- dishwasher detergent says "Phosphate Free!" while they quietly pump jet dry full of phosphates. End rant.

I have never used jet dry so I don't know about vinegar as a substitute, but I use vinegar to stop my hard water from clogging my dishwasher. The person who owned my dishwasher before me used to run it empty with CLR every few weeks. Instead, I add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to every third or fourth load and I've never had problems with hard water buildup. I figure it's like cleaning out a kettle.

[msbunnicula]

I'm bumping up this really old thread because once I run out of my chemical cleaners, I would like to switch to natural, homemade ones.

I just put "Clean House, Clean Planet" on hold at the library and I'm hoping to get ideas from there and from this thread.

[catswym]

i used vinegar to mop my floor and it worked wonderfully--better than commercial cleaners.

i use baking soda to scrub my bathtub and sink and that works very nicely too.

and it's so cheap!

[Rene]

i love using vinegar and bicarb :)

bicarb for the bath/sink/tiles/to de-oderise puppy pee accidents

vinegar/lemons/eucalyptus oil for the floors/furniture/blinds

vinegar and bicarb to unclog drains