Jumping on board

[clicksab]

Hi! I only just joined the mothering boards to check out the cloth diaper scene but found myself looking all around. This week my DH and I talked about all the nasty stuff that's in our cleaning products and are really questioning how healthy all of it is...I think having a baby on the way is really making us look at things differently! Plus, I hate cleaning partly because my skin gets really irritated, sometimes hurts and burns, b/c of our cleaners. So we decided we'd like to phase our cleaning products out and replace them with natural products. I'm not quite sure where to begin though! I need a bit of guidance here. I'll take all the advice I can get- just please keep in mind that we are really poor
Thanks!

[mgilleran@earth-co]

That's another great thing about natural cleaning... it is all pretty cheap. I would start out by buying the following items, with these on hand you can clean just about anything you need to
-Borax (20 Mule team in the green box on laundry aisle)
-Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer brand also on laundry aisle)
-Baking Soda (buy store brand, it is cheaper)
-ammonia
-White Vinegar

You can use the borax & baking soda in place of ajax or Comet to clean bathrooms. Add water to it & make a Soft Scrub-like paste. You can make an all purpose spray cleaner : Combine in a spray bottle: 1/2 tsp Washing Soda, 1/2 tsp Borax, 1/2 tsp vegetable oil-based soap, 2 Tbsp vinegar and 2 cups of hot water. Add the soap last. Shake well until all the solid bits have dissolved. For extra cleaning power increase Borax to 1 tsp. Spray and wipe clean with a damp cloth or sponge.

You can also make your own laundry detergent, it works great & is gentle on baby items. You can find the recipe in the sticky at the top of the forum. Vinegar is also a mild disinfectant, to using it diluted with water works great. I spray some in my toilet before I sprinkle the borax/baking soda in. You can also clean hard floors with vinegar & water. Good luck with finding what works for you. You are definitely on the right track!