by Marissa Lenting

Cleaning green.

These days everyone is cutting back on extra costs in their lifestyles. Keeping your home clean shouldn’t cause a pain in your wallet, but the cleanliness of your home shouldn’t suffer either.

A great new way to clean your home is through these handmade recipes, and there is no chemistry set needed! Just mix a few simple ingredients together and you’ve got your very own green-clean team! It is a great way to look out for the environment and your family, as they are kid and pet friendly! These homemade recipes are also a lot more cost effective than your typical chemical-based cleaners.

Try using vinegar for many of your home cleaning remedies. Don’t worry about your home smelling like vinegar, the smell disappears when it dries. A bottle of vinegar will cost around $3.80 for 128 oz. and a 26 oz. bottle of window cleaner can cost $4.79! That’s more than a $20.00 difference! Some simple and common uses for vinegar are:

Bathroom - Clean the bathtub, toilet, sink, and countertops. Use pure vinegar in the toilet bowl to get rid of rings. Flush the toilet to allow the water level to go down. Pour the undiluted vinegar around the inside of the rim. Scrub down the bowl. Mop the floor in the bathroom with a vinegar/water solution. The substance will also eat away the soap scum and hard water stains on your fixtures and tile. Make sure it is safe to use with your tile.

Kitchen - Clean the stovetop, appliances, countertops, and floor.

Laundry Room – Use as a natural fabric softener. This can be especially helpful for families who have sensitive skin. Add cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle in place of store bought fabric softener. Vinegar has the added benefit of breaking down laundry detergent more effectively.

Use lemon juice to clean your surfaces and rid of smells. Lemon juice can be mixed with vinegar and or baking soda to make all sorts of cleaning pastes. A bunch of 5 lemons will cost you around $2.50 and one lemon can cover an entire house! A 12.5 oz. bottle of furniture polish will cost you $3.99 the savings are simple. Simple and common uses for lemons are:

Bathroom – Lemon juice can dissolve soap scum and hard water deposits. Soak your showerhead in a bowl of lemon juice or rub a mixture of lemon juice and water on your sink or bathtub.

Kitchen – A great way to shine brass and copper. Cut a lemon in half and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section and scrub dishes or pans. Put a few slices of lemon in a bowl of water and place in microwave. Cook for 2 minutes and remove bowl. Then easily wipe off any food particles or grease from microwaves surfaces. Put a whole lemon peel through the garbage disposal, it freshens the drain and the kitchen.

Baking soda can also be used in an all-purpose way of cleaning. Mix it with vinegar or lemon for an abrasive super cleaner! An all-purpose cleaner can cost around $3.00 for only 32 oz., while a 48 oz. box of baking soda costs $2.25 and will last you a lot longer!
If you really want a great way to freshen up your home, add a few drops of lavender essential oil to your cleaning mixture, a 10ml bottle goes for $5 – $10, and can last you a year.

Here are some more really great recipes and ideas for all your homemade cleaning needs!

Furniture Polish: Combine 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of distilled vinegar, and 2 tsp. lemon juice and shake well. Dip a clean and dry cloth into polish and rub wood in the direction of the grain. Refrigerate any remaining polish.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner: Sprinkle bowl with baking soda and drizzle with white vinegar. Let soak 30 minutes, and scrub with toilet brush. For tough stains, let soak overnight.

All Purpose Cleaner: Combine 2 cups of white distilled vinegar and 2 cups of water. Use on counter tops, kitchen floors, windows, mirrors, and any other hard surfaces. For tough jobs, warm the cleaner in the microwave.

Happy Cleaning!

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION!

Original Article:  http://earthorganization.com/clean-green

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This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit Cheap, Clean and Green! is a post from:

Ten Simple Steps to Greener Living

As awareness of the civilization’s impact on the environment increases, people are becoming more willing than ever before, to accept clean lifestyles. But some aren’t exactly sure where to begin.

One doesn’t have to start out with leaps and bounds.  Installing a full solar power system on one’s home or switching to a hybrid car would be great. But large steps require planning and financing.  Small steps can be taken right now.

In some cases, your choices might depend on several factors: where you live, the natural resources available to you, your lifestyle, and others. Therefore there is probably no “one-size-fits-all” solution to going green (or at least, greener).

But there are many simple things you can do to live a greener life, through your day-to-day activities, and most of these apply to just about anyone.

1. Learn more about sustainable living

This is the first and most important step in going green. You should read up on the subject of environmentalism, and how your personal carbon footprint can affect global pollution levels. There are plenty of resources available online, and you can visit your local library for books on related topics.

2. Save energy

The most effective way to cut down on your carbon emissions is to conserve on energy in your home. Install energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs, turn off the lights when they aren’t in use, ensure your house is properly insulated and windows are properly sealed, and keep your energy consumption to a minimum. You will save energy and money at the same time.

3. Conserve water

Every drop of tap water you use consumes energy – for transport, filtering, and purification. It might just be water, but a lot of fossil fuel is consumed in processing it. In some places, water itself is scarce. You can turn the tap off while brushing your teeth, switch to more efficient washers and dryers, and collect rain water for use in your garden.

4. Use less fuel for transport

If a hybrid car is not an option at the moment, you can take other steps; walking or biking to work, or whenever you have to travel a short distance. If your work place is too far for a daily bicycle commute, consider using mass transit. You can carpool with a friend or coworker if that works. For long trips, consider the fuel efficiency of your different options.

5. Eat greener food

Eating is one thing everyone has in common. But did you know that eating the type of food can make an impact in the environment? The food industry contributes substantial carbon emissions in the process of shipping their products around the world. When you eat seasonal, local, and organic food, you help to conserve the environment – as well as improve your own health.

6. Buy smart

Instead of buying brand new wooden furniture for your home, you can search for good used furniture online, or even visit garage sales to find what you’re looking for. Think before making a purchase, no matter how big or small it is. Buying grocery items in bulk can save money and conserve on energy and packing materials. Also, be sure to buy high-quality products that will last for a long time and not just wind up in a landfill a year from now.

7. Shop Online

Shopping online is another good way to conserve on fuel. When you receive a purchase by post, the amount of fuel used to ship that purchase is no where near the amount of fuel you would have used to drive to a store and buy it offline. Furthermore, you can also save a considerable amount of time and money by shopping online, and many online stores offer free shipping.

8. Proper waste management

Years ago, many considered waste management to be the main environmental issue of concern. As long as you reduced, reused, and recycled, you were a friend of the environment. Things are not that simple these days, but waste conservation is still a big part of living green. It takes a lot of energy to process and dispose of waste, whether it’s recycled or dumped in a landfill. So conserving on waste is important, even if you do recycle. You should also compost your biodegradable waste materials.

9. Wear the right clothing

Your choice of clothing can make a big impact on the environment. One of the most heavily sprayed crops across the globe is cotton. Chemicals which are used as insecticides harm the environment, and harm people’s health. Fortunately, there are other alternative fabrics available in the market; such as organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, and flax. Try to find and purchase clothing that uses these natural and nontoxic materials. Wearing such clothing is also better for your health.

10. Avoid toxins and chemicals

If you look carefully at many of the products you use every day, such as cleaning and personal care products, you might be quite surprised at the harmful chemicals they are made from. Use products made from natural and nontoxic ingredients.

They aren’t hard to find – even Amazon has an entire section dedicated to green products. This section is called Amazon Green and it includes many household, personal care, home improvement, office, clothing, and grocery items. By shopping at Amazon Green you can find nontoxic and environmentally friendly products more easily, while also saving money and conserving resources by doing your shopping online.

This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit How to Go Green in Your Day-to-Day Life is a post from:

As we head into August, it’s finally feeling like summer. The sun’s out, we get to enjoy meals outside, go swimming and tend to the garden. However, summer is also the time that we’re irrigating our lawns and gardens, cooling off in sprinklers, filling up pools, and washing the cars. On a daily basis, most of us probably don’t think about the number of gallons of water we are using, but there-in lies the problem. Our access to what can seem like a never-ending supply of potable water means that water conservation is typically on the back of anyone’s mind until faced with drought. Truth is, in the United States, about 340 billion gallons of fresh water are taken out of rivers and reservoirs every day to support our residential, commercial, recreational, agricultural and industrial needs.

As environmentally aware individuals, most of us are used to turning off the faucet when we’re brushing our teeth, or knowing that we should take shorter showers. However, there are changes we can make to our water-consuming fixtures that will help us save water every day. Here are some of the best solutions to be more efficient with our water use:

Low-Flow Faucets and Aerators
An easy (and cost-effective) method to save water is to install low-flow faucets and showerheads. If you already have your fixtures in place, consider installing aerators on the kitchen and bathroom faucets and your showerheads. Low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators can reduce your home water consumption by as much as 50%. Though aerators are available at pretty much any hardware store, you can also find them as well as other water conservation products at AM Conservation Group’s website.

Low-Flow or Dual-Flush Toliets

Buying a dual-flush or low-flow toliet can also save you an incredible amount of water. The EPA reports that “Indoor use accounts for roughly 60 percent of all residential use, and of this, toilets (at 3.5 gallons per flush) use nearly 40 percent…More than 4.8 billion gallons of water is flushed down toilets each day in the United States.” As water shortages seem to pop up more frequently, we need to re-consider sending billions of gallons of potable water into our sewer systems every day. Some conventional toliets use as much as 3.5 – 5 gallons per flush. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 was put into effect to require that new toliets for residences must use 1.6 gallons per flush or less. Many low-flow toliets or dual-flush can have even lower flush rates. Graywater can be used for flushing, but if altering your plumbing is cost-prohibitive, installing low-flush toilets is a great way to conserve water.

Use Rainwater
Many Americans use the most water to keep their lawns and gardens irrigated. A simple solution to maintain your outdoor space is to simply set up a cistern, or any vessel that can collect water when it rains. You can then use this to water your gardens, lawn or even wash your car. Though the rainwater is not suitable for drinking, it is perfectly fine to irrigate with and will save gallons of potable water.

Run Appliances When Full
This may seem like a no-brainer, but only run the dishwasher and clothes washer when they are full. This will not only save you water, but lower your energy bill as well.

Water conservation is going to become more and more important as the population expands and as our water needs increase. Using some of these solutions in your home can save you money on your water bill, can save you energy, and can make sure that our aquifers are re-filled so we have plenty of fresh water well into the future.

This post was first published on The Green Bean Blog. To continue reading, please visit Water Conservation: In-Home Solutions is a post from: