Do you know what is lurking around our homesteads and, in turn, in our families’ bodies? Our good intentions to keep a clean and sanitary home environment for our families may be doing them more harm than good, depending on how we choose to go about it. Did you know that many of the cleaners marketed to us, as homekeepers, are chock full of toxins, laden with cancer causing chemicals, and doing far more harm than good when it comes to killing bacteria in our homes? Did you know that since World War II well over 50,000 synthetic chemicals have been invented? Most are manufactured from petroleum and coal tar for purposes we’d rather close our eyes to. Many go into our cleaners, food, and water without our knowledge or consent!

I was amazed to discover the ingredients that go into some of these very common cleaners. Chlorine is one. Not only is it pumped into our drinking water (by our tax dollars and government officials who are “doing what’s best for us”), but this chemical is in swimming pools, Jacuzzis, most cleaners, dishwasher detergents, and much more, and it is linked to breast cancer. Another common chemical, just as damaging, is fluoride. Do your own research if you doubt! Fluoride is linked to brain damage, Alzheimer’s, hip factures, tooth issues in our children (do your research before choosing to give pediatrician-prescribed fluoride drops to your child!), birth defects, Down syndrome, immune system deficiencies, uterine cancers—the list, sadly, goes on. Fluoride is another chemical pumped into many city water systems, added to most toothpastes, and used in many dental practices.

Did you know that a large portion of these cleaners, even some toothpastes, laundry soaps, and shampoos contain formaldehyde?

If scientists will handle these chemicals only with facemasks, gloves, and ventilators (sometimes hazmat suits!) and the label reads “Fatal if swallowed,” I have to wonder why in the world I am spreading this stuff around my home! (To find out exactly what is lurking in your home, look up your household cleaning products by name at householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/index.htm.)

I shudder to think of what my children pick up on their skin, what they are breathing, what gets onto the dishes they eat from, and what goes into their little systems from their clothing—all from my effort to keep them clean! It gives a whole new perspective on the adage “you are what you eat” (absorb and digest too!).

Take heart—we can stop surrounding our families with all of these dangerous chemicals! We do not have to buy what is being sold. There is a better way.

In doing even the smallest amount of Internet or library research, you can find a multitude of recipes for keeping our homesteads clean, sanitary—and nontoxic (quite simply, I might add)!

How do you start? First, make a shopping list. These starter “cleaning staples” will clean more than you even dreamed, without chemicals and toxins, and will clean better, safer, and healthier!

1. Baking soda (It cleans so many things so well, and it’s cheap!)
2. Lemon and/or orange essential oil
3. Lemon juice
4. Vinegar
5. Hot water

Did you know that pouring vinegar instead of a chemical weed killer on weeds on a nice summer day will do the same job without poisoning the ground and getting into our water systems? It will.

I love this one! Rather than using the chlorine-laden can of toilet scrubbing powders, take a pint- or quart-size canning jar and fill it ¾ full of baking soda. Using a straw, make a well in the middle of the baking soda. Put around 20 drops of lemon essential oil into the well, put the lid on the jar, and shake to combine. Then, using a small nail, punch about five holes in the lid. You now have your own “shaker” of cleaner that contains no chlorine and works even better!

These are just a few examples of the myriad of homemade, nontoxic cleaners that you can try on your homestead.

One of the simplest yet most significant changes I have made to our family’s “clean routine” is laundry soap. Everything we wash touches us in some fashion, and the chemical residue is absorbed into us through our largest organ, our skin. This was one of the first big changes we made some time ago—and it’s been healthier, simple to do, and cheap!

This simple recipe produces great results, and I can adjust it as needed for my family. (I tend to add a dash or so more borax and washing soda because my husband comes home with grease on his clothes more often than not, and borax and washing soda are great degreasers!) It is also foolproof, because no matter how I’ve messed up the recipe, it’s always gotten our clothes clean. If you look on the Internet or in the library, you will find a variety of homemade laundry soap recipes. You just need to find what works for your family and make up a batch.

Start with a big old pot that you don’t use for cooking. I have an old one used specifically for making soaps and cleaners that I have labeled “CLEANERS” with a Sharpie marker and put up high on a shelf in the laundry room—no mistaking it and accidentally cooking food in it!

Add 4 quarts water and heat on a burner at medium heat, adding the following:

To cool the detergent, pour it into a big (3 gallon) bucket. In approximately an hour, fill the remainder of the bucket with HOT water and stir thoroughly. Then pour the detergent into three old 100 oz. laundry soap containers. (I have three old ones I reuse since they are so convenient. An old funnel makes the job even easier.) Top off with hot water, leaving an inch or so headspace.

That’s really about it. This recipe will generally “gel up” and become quite thick, so putting it into old laundry jugs with their tight-fitting lids allows me to shake it up or add more hot water if needed. Old gallon milk jugs or an old bucket (with lid!) will work too. You really can’t mess this soap up—it IS that easy.

I occasionally add a little rose water or a favorite essential oil for a little light fragrance. (Otherwise the detergent has little fragrance, which can be nice too!) I usually “eyeball” my measurement into the wash, but approximately half a cup works very well and cleans the clothes nicely without the chemical residue that commercial brands leave behind. This amount will last us a month or more, give or take, as I don’t strictly measure for each load, and it ranges in price from 1 to 3 cents per load!

(REMINDER: Although these ingredients are natural, they still need to be treated with caution as you would any other cleaner—keep them all away from young ones, and never mix vinegar and bleach!)

There are tons of places to find recipes for homemade cleaners. I’d suggest going to Homestead Blogger, at www.HomesteadBlogger.com, where you will find a VERY helpful community of folks with lots of ideas. Besides, it’s nice to know if something has worked for someone else first.

We can make a difference. We can keep the chemicals out of our families’ bodies and out of our homesteads, and we can help God’s creation stay a little cleaner in the process!

Lisa Barthuly resides in Washington State with her husband, Marc, daughters Mercy and Cassandra, Cooter the dog, and Beauty the kitten. The Barthulys look forward to a new blessing joining them in January! They are a Christian homeschooling family who work from home for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine as well as in their cottage business, Homestead Originals, that makes hand-poured all-natural soy and hand-rolled beeswax candles along with various other homemade creations and gifts! Email Lisa at Lisa@HomesteadOriginals.comor visit them at www.HomesteadOriginals.com.

To remove lint from dark clothing, add ½ cup vinegar to your rinse cycle.

To remove grass stains, blot clothingwith a mixture of 1/3 cup vinegar and 2/3 cup water. Repeat as needed.

To remove stubborn grease, make a paste with water and baking soda to pre-treat clothing before washing.

To remove mildew, dab some vinegar on the area with the mildew, set clothing in the sun for a few hours, and wash separately.

Want a sparkling tub? Use fullstrength vinegar on a sponge to clean the tub—it will be clean and shiny! To remove water spots from the shower, do the same and rinse with plain water.

To keep your drains unclogged, pour ¼ to ½ cup baking soda down the drain and follow up with a thorough rinse of hot water.

Clean your windows with an equal solution of water and vinegar—it works great!

To remove bad scents from carpeting, sprinkle baking soda on the area, let set for 15 minutes or so, and vacuum up!

Remove your pet’s “wet dog” smell by sprinkling some baking soda on your dog and brushing it out.

Want to keep the microwave smelling like new? Microwave ¼ cup vinegar in 3 cups water to boiling.

Keep your coffee pot clean (and your coffee tasting its best) by running a full strength pot of vinegar through it, followed by a few full pots of water to rinse it well.

To keep your freezers and refrigerators smell free, always keep a small box of baking soda in them.

One of my personal favorites—I like to keep an old pot on the woodstove with water and a few drops of essential oils (or use an aroma lamp—they are pretty and they do the same job). They fill the house with lovely aroma!

Happy (safe) cleaning!