NATURAL ODOUR REMOVER & SURFACE DISINFECTANT

 
Ever since Cleo was diagnosed with her heart problem etc, we have been trying to find natural alternatives as cleaning products in a bid to minimise any impact that the harsh chemicals cleaning products might have on her.

Earth Choice & Orange Power cleaning solutions and laundry liquids

We have been using Earth Choice (by Natures Organics) & Orange Power (by Planet Ark) for a while now as they are cruelty free, eco-friendly; and both companies try to use as many natural ingredients as possible in their products.

What we like most about these products is that that you only use a very small amount of these solutions and they actually work!; while being really mild on your hands etc, and also the environment.

These products are quite hard to come by and is perhaps slightly more expensive than ordinary cleaning solutions, but then again they last longer cause you don't use quite so much of it... so I guess it's possibly cheaper in the long run.

We have also discovered recently that you can also make your own concoction of rather effective cleaning solutions using 2 basic components: i.e. vinegar & water! You can then add a number of other things like dishwashing liquid or perhaps some essential oil to turn this basic solution into a floor or surface cleaner, surface disinfectant or air-disinfectant.

Most of you may already know of this, but this discovery has just blown us away. And our favourite thing is our own blend of odour removing cleaner!

Our Cleo & Lucky, who live indoors, are (thankfully) fully potty trained. We built them an indoor bathroom which they use religiously, but this also means that this bathroom requires some serious cleaning on a daily basis. Otherwise the smell will just permeate through the entire house!

So what we have done to ensure that their bathroom is always clean, is channel the water from the washing machine into their bathroom. So it means that every time the washing machine is turned on, their bathroom gets a wash too... And this way we don't see the used water from the washing machine just going down the drain before serving a second purpose.

Additionally, we have been purchasing Hartz Stain & Odour Remover for years and while it does the job nicely, it is very expensive! RM45 per bottle which lasts about a month!

Nowadays, what we do is make a solution of white vinegar and water with some dishwashing liquid.

White vinegar & dish washing liquid for home-made cleaning solutions

To make 1litre of solution, use 450mls white vinegar, 450mls water and 100mls dishwashing liquid. (This costs me about RM5 in comparison to RM45!!!)

This solution cleans the bathroom tiles really, really well and there is no smell at afterwards. It keeps their bathroom quite fresh eventhough I only wash it once a day with the solution, while the rest of the times we just use water to hose down the pee. (Previously, we had to use the Hartz spray everytime we washed their pee away). So perhaps this is something you might want to try?

You can also use this solution (9 parts water, 1 part vinegar and a drop of dishwashing liquid) to mop your floors and it will leave your floors squeaky clean. It is however not suitable for all floors, so please test a small area of your floor before trying it. Apparently it's not very good for marble floors, so we unfortunately don't use it to mop our floors. We use a very small amount of Earth Choice's floor and surface cleaner instead.

The other thing that we now use religiously is our all natural surface disinfectant - which is just a 50:50 solution of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. So now anytime the kids slobber on the floor or make a mess eating their raw meat, we just spray this and wipe off. And we don't have to worry about them licking the floor afterwards and getting a whole load of chemicals into their systems. We also use this to wipe down our kitchen counters and table tops etc. It can also be used as a glass & window cleaner

You can use the same solution and add a few drops of essential oils such as lemon or tea tree in a spray bottle and use it as an air freshener too.

Just thought we would share this with all of you as we have just made a new batch of solutions for the house.

For more tips on how to use vinegar, check out Vinegar Tips