"Natural" cleaning

Lilith1980

Hi, sorry if there is already a thread on this. If there is a thread and someone could post the link that would be great.

Otherwise, I am looking at ways that I can use "every day" ingredients to clean so that it's eco-friendly but also cheaper than buying all these cleaning products. I'm talking of just cleaning floors, the bathroom, kitchen etc.

I would love to be able to buy an eco-friendly range of cleaning products/washing tablets etc but I don't have the money so wondered if I can do it cheaply and naturally

Thanks

Volcano

There's a huge thread here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=4098550#post4098550 which I found from this thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1830123&highlight=cleaning

from the old-style money saving board. Most of the old-time stuff like vinegar, bicarb, borax etc breakdown easily in the environment into pretty harmless stuff. Stardrops isn't environmentally friendly but is a lot better than most detergents and is very cheap.

supersunshine

I use vinegar for limescale and windows - they come up fab and shiny and I use olive oil with a little lemon juice for wood.

belisha-beacon

I use e-cloths (eg. http://www.ecloth.com/) - they are quite inexpensive and you can get floor cloths, glass-cleaning ones and general use ones. All you have to do is put water on them and their texture means that they pick up dirt. I was really sceptical but I had a £10 discount voucher for an online green products website if I spent over a certain amount so I thought that I might as well give them a go. They are amazing. They really work, even on some marks that I hadn't been able to get off with chemicals, and they've lasted ages (you can put them in the washing machine when they get a bit tired)

Fire_Fox

e-Cloths are just branded microfibre cloths, which you can buy cheap from £1 shops. They are very effective but you must not use fabric conditioner on them! The other type of cloth I use is a bamboo 'string' type cloth - the cheapest I have seen is at Wilkinsons.

Other cheap eco-friendly cleaning products are white vinegar, soga crystals, etc. Laundry tablets are always more expensive than powder - most supermarkets do an own brand 'green' range for laundry that is much cheaper than the branded stuff and regularly on special offer. Home Bargains also have 'green' cleaning products in stock fairly regularly - sometimes they have Footprint washing powder and fabric conditioner in for 50p each! The powder is a small tub but you are only supposed to use one little spoonful so lasts ages.

stumpycat

If you want a range of cleaning products, try Astonish:
http://www.astonishcleaners.com/

I'm sure they scored highly on the Ethical Consumer's Which-like rating and they are very cheap & readily available. I've been buying them from SuperSaver or whatever that discount chemisty-place is called and they're 89p each. The tub of oven & cookware cleaner is the dog's doo-dahs and you can use it on just about anything.

cactuspotty

To clean stainless steel use a tiny sprinkling of bicarbonate of soda, rub in with newspaper, works like a dream!

Volcano

madam_eco wrote: »

i also use bicarb for cleaning everthing from kitchen to bathroom, it's brill to shake on carpet to rid all animal smells. It can be expensive though, I buy it in bulk from ecoshopdirect on google

I've checked them out and they're REALLY expensive! Far better to get it from somewhere like ebay, that also doesn't make you spend a minimum of £10.

This is FAR cheaper: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sodium-Bicarbonate-5kg-Bath-Bombs-Cleaning-Fine-Grade_W0QQitemZ330345738891QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090719?IMSfp=TL090719159001r31374

gem599

I love 'method' products... only recently discovered them... I'd been disappointed with the cleaning power of supermarket own eco-friendly brands so was pleased to find something that worked. I wrote to method to give them feedback and they sent £4 worth of vouchers... affordable and guilt free!:D

Seakay

link for Method products as mentioned above:

http://www.methodproducts.co.uk/

lexa34

Asda's stuff is pretty good but hate buying from them as wal-mart trying to run world! You can use half the amount of any washing machine power and it still works fine. Soap nuts are good too. I don't like Method stuff as they use SLS/ SLES in their stuff. Not good for human- banned in something like 36 states in the US. It seems to be a carsonagen (or however you spell cancer causing stuff!). Try not to use stuff with parabens or parafin in too!