What natural things do you use to clean?

[Kaydove]

Specifically your kitchen and bathroom? Extra points if you have hard water.
I.e., vinegar, castile soap, etc. I'm not feeling like only vinegar and water is cutting it for me. Thanks!

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[WittyNameHere]

-Newspapers and a water/vinegar spray for windows and mirrors

-Baking soda for scrubbing the tub and bathroom tiles. With vinegar to make a paste for tough spots; let sit for a bit and scrub.

-Vodka for cleaning faucets, glass, crystal... just make sure the area is ventilated.

[crunchy_mommy]

Baking soda & salt work well if you can also put in some elbow grease. Sprinkle on after spraying with vinegar, let sit awhile, then scrub clean. Works well on tub, sink, etc.

I cannot for the life of me find something to remove the stains from our toilet bowl though. The above helped a bit but it's still badly stained (in a moment of desperation I even tried bleaching it, to no avail).

[mkksmom]

I wasn't feeling the vinegar water 50-50 mix until I added mint oil to the mix. Now that makes it small fresh to me, and I like it better. But I will admit to using bleach when I need to break out the big guns. However, I am trying to use peroxide more and more for that.

[AmandaT]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

Baking soda & salt work well if you can also put in some elbow grease. Sprinkle on after spraying with vinegar, let sit awhile, then scrub clean. Works well on tub, sink, etc.
I cannot for the life of me find something to remove the stains from our toilet bowl though. The above helped a bit but it's still badly stained (in a moment of desperation I even tried bleaching it, to no avail).

Have you tried using lemon juice? I had good results with letting vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice sit for about 30 mins in our toilet bowl.  Then I did  a quick scrub and flush and the stains were gone.

[Oread]

I pretty much just use vinegar water, and scrub the hell out of whatever I'm cleaning. If I need to do a good scrub on a scummy tub or tiles, I sometimes use any variation of vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda and/or salt and let it sit for a while. Sometimes I scrub it with half of a lemon, it works really well on cutting boards, kitchen counters, etc. After I scrub with lemon and baking soda, I'll usually go back over it with vinegar to get any lemony residue off.

And really, with scummy things its all about the elbow grease, just vinegar water works but after letting it sit on something, you really have to scrub the hell out of it (our old bathtub and tile is my nemesis)

[Shantimama]

I use Enjo cloths to clean everything in my home. They only need water and they clean better and deeper than anything else on the market. There aren't any chemicals embedded in the fibres, the cloths are specifically designed to clean right into the pores of surfaces and they do a fantastic job. I love how clean my home is, that I just use water and don't have any smells to deal with (even vinegar bothers me) and that these cloths are still going strong and haven't needed to be replaced after three years. They don't look as good as they did brand new but  I love how durable they are and that when they do wear out to the point of no longer being effective, I can return them and they will be recycled. It doesn't get much greener than this!

[mommariffic]

I use Thieves  cleaner - I just dilute with distilled water (a TON of it) with a dash of the Thieves cleaner. 

[Katie T]

I use vinegar for everything but in the bathroom I add tea tree oil. I feel it gives you that extra boost. Now I have very hard water and can not find anything that works to clean my toilet but "the works" toilet bowl cleaner : ( 

[Mama505]

For the kitchen (esp counters) and the toilet I wipe with vinegar.  But if it needs more, then I sprinkle baking soda over everything and squirt some lemon juice on it (lime works as well).  I swirl it into a paste and let it sit.  Then I scrub with the rind of the lemon (to really press the oils out) and that has gotten out all kinds of tea, wine, and sauce stains!  Sometimes on the pot I scrub first with a squirt of Dr. B's, then let some baking soda and lemon sit in there for awhile.  That works the best, but there are a couple of spots in our toilet where I think the enamel is abraded because it never goes back to white (even at its cleanest it looks like a scratched pot...so...?). 

For glass I use vinegar and a rag. 

For mirrors I use Dr. B's and water (and a lot of elbow grease).

For tubs and tile I use baking soda and Dr. B's (make it into a paste if it is really grimy).

Oh!  And I just washed our clear plastic shower curtain in vinegar in the washing machine and that worked like a dream (to my surprise)!!

[WittyNameHere]

What would you ladies recommend for wood laminate flooring or just floors in general? Our landlord installed the laminate before we moved in and gave us no instructions or advice other than "whatever they sell at the store." I have two young kids and a cat roaming around, so I don't want to expose them to harsh chemicals nor do I want to destroy the floor. What natural things do you use for your floors?

[Mama505]

We have fake wood in our rental as well... I use a drop or two of Dr. Bronners in warm water or a splash of vinegar in water.  If I use too much it gets streaky and then I just go over it again with plain water.  Seems to work pretty well!

[WittyNameHere]

Dr. Bronners is amazing! I never thought to use it for the floor. Thanks for the tip, Mama505.

[straighthaircurly]

For tough scrubbing jobs, I keep a container of premade baking soda paste (I made it by just stirring small amounts of water into large amounts of baking soda until it all holds together, I usually stir in a few drops of essential oil also). Then I just wipe my rag into the container and start scrubbing. Great of greasy stove top gunk, bathroom deposits, etc. For lighter cleaning and disinfecting I have a spray bottle with 1 part vinegar to about 8 parts water plus a little bit of essential oil.