Cleaning - love it or hate it, it is something all adults seem to have to do at some point. I'm not really in either camp. I don't look forward to doing it, I dislike the time it takes in my life buuuuuut I do enjoy the feeling of having a clean room (cos ain't nobody here got time to clean a whole house in one go!)
Cleaning is big business, think of how many shelves/aisles are dedicated to it in supermarkets and shops. Mrs Hinch published a whole book on it! (Not coming here to bash her either... I will just keep my opinions to myself...) However, how many of those products do we actually need?! And what is the lasting cost of us having a bathroom that smells like pine? All you need to do is look at the warning boxes on the back of the bottle to realise the impact these cleaning products are having on our environment.
We came to realise that Mr Muscle and the army of other manufactured products were all pretty needless. We have just been conditioned by society and very clever companies to think that we need them. What will Linda from next door but 5 think of me if I don't have this plastic cage thing in my bog?! What will the supermarket delivery man think of me if I haven't shake'n'vac-ed my hallway... (OK, I will stop now)
Mother Nature, as always, has the perfect solution for us.
Firstly, never under estimate yourself. A bit of elbow grease is very effective in getting stuff clean. It is also great stress relief and (if it is your thing) a very good way of burning calories!
Secondly, make use of the best free cleaning device good ol' mother nature has - The Sun! Pegging clothes out, even on a grey day, is a great way of getting rid of food stains. We have found it particularly effective with our cloth nappies and general weaning stains.
Next up - Tea Tree Oil. Tea tree oil contains a number of compounds, including terpinen-4-ol, that have been shown to kill certain bacteria, viruses and fungi. This makes it a brilliant ingredient when making your own cleaning products. Hand sanitiser, cleaning sprays, or even a few drops in your washing machine with your wash load.
Then the big guns - citrus fruits and vinegar. These bad boys are the linchpin of natural cleaning. Natural and readily available. Both have so many uses I don't even know when to start!
Now, it is all well and good us having these these things available to us - but they still aren't as handy as the bright bottle from the supermarket... or are they?! There are heaps of different recipes out there for natural cleaning sprays, for all types of surface and purpose. I would hate to take credit for anything that isn't mine, so I will leave the link to the fabulous Naturally Mumma Jo (https://www.naturallymummajo.co.uk/) She is an absolute queen when it comes to natural cleaning. She is passionate about it, and is happy to chat to all and sundry on her socials about it.
Finally, I would just like to add that since trying to live a more eco-friendly life style, our family has made a lot of changes - for some reason, it took a long time for us to get round to our cleaning products. We made some small changes - switching to brands like Method and Ecover. However, like all journeys, this was more of an accidental detour on our journey to more eco friendly cleaning. (I'm not here to bash these brands either. But worth checking them out on sites like https://thegoodshoppingguide.com/)
As with everything mentioned on this blog, this has been and continues to be a journey. We are by no means perfect, and still have lots of areas that we would love to improve on over time.