It’s trendy to focus on using natural and wholesome tools for everyday uses, like cleaning your house. This means using ingredients that have the same effect, but without the harsh chemicals. Knowing these quick tricks can help with your spring cleaning.

Here are five ways to clean your house using household ingredients:

Citrus

You can make an all-purpose citrus spray cleaner with just a few lemons and other commonly-found ingredients. It’s effortless to make and leaves a lemony-fresh scent after it’s used. It won’t damage clothes and is non-toxic. Since spring has sprung, this will be a great addition to your cleaning arsenal.

Table salt

Salt has many helpful uses, but the most interesting is that it can get rid of those pesky rings left on wooden furniture from vases and cups without coasters. If you apply a layer of oil and salt to the stain, rub it and let it sit, the stain should come right out!

Baking soda

This miracle powder has a whole plethora of uses, from deodorizing a fridge or other bad-smelling area to using it to brush your pet’s teeth. My mother mostly uses it to remove cooked-on residue by shaking a generous amount on pots and pans. It really helps to remove the marks that are making the pan nasty.

Vinegar

This all-around super product can be used to help clean many things, plus it’s super cheap. My favorite is using it to help purge your laundry from all the grime and oil you collected during the day. It can help you remove tomato stains, mildew stains and a wide variety of others that may mark up your clothes.

Cucumbers

If you’re a clumsy person like me, you may find your walls covered in marks. Luckily, cucumbers have proven to help remove marks on walls and tables. Also, rubbing the cucumber on a mirror can prevent it from fogging up in the bathroom.

Many of these ingredients have properties that are utilized when cooked, but they are useful in a variety of ways besides fueling your body. Being able to use them to clean expands their utility and increases your cleaning arsenal for when you decide to actually start your spring cleaning.

Taylor Lucero is a sophomore information management and technology major who is hoping to pursue a career in cybersecurity. His other passions include tasting food, sipping coffee, hugging dogs and taking the occasional power nap. He can be reached at tlucero@syr.edu.

Published on April 10, 2018 at 11:36 pm