When it comes to cleaning our home, most of us have a cupboard dedicated to a vast array of cleaning products that will help clean up any mess. What you might not know, though, is that hidden away in our food cupboards are lots of items that can also be used to clean our homes. Indeed, many of these household foods can actually clean our homes far better than some of the chemicals we buy.
So, to help make your cleaning a little more environmentally friendly and save you some money, here are some common foods you can use to clean your home:
Everyone has salt in their home, it’s just an everyday essential for making food tastier. Even better, salt can also be used as a wonderful cleaning product. When mixed with warm water, salt will help remove grease from pans and cast-iron skillets and can even be used to clean and eliminate odors in a sink.
If you’re a wine drinker, pour salt on any accidental stains and it will help soak up the liquid and stop staining.
As much as we try to use coasters, it seems to be inevitable that some of our wooden furniture gets stained by water. Now, before you reach for the sandpaper and paint, there might be a simpler solution to your water stains – just get some mayonnaise! Using a spoon, cover any water stains on wood liberally with mayonnaise and leave it to work overnight. Come morning, your wood will look as good as new. You can even use the leftover mayonnaise as a natural polish for wood.
Everyone has one most-hated item to clean and, for many us, it’s the annoyance of washing out a vase. Sure, at the time, those flowers looked lovely but, now that your flowers are past, you’ve been left with a vase covered in residue that no amount of cleaning seems to remove. That is, unless you mix rice with some soapy water and use it to scrub your glass. Those stains will be gone in no time! You can even use rice to scrub other household items – just be careful on things that might scratch like stainless steel.
Better known for getting put in a cocktail, by instead adding some vodka and water to a spray bottle, you’ll have a brilliant cleaner for your windows. You can even spray vodka on stubborn spots of mildew and use it to remove the sticky tack left by stickers.
Perhaps more associated with comedic falls, a banana peel also makes for a useful cleaner. In particular, banana peels can really polish up tarnished silver. So, no matter if it’s an old ring or your granny’s favorite silver teapot – if you want to make it shiny, use a banana peel.
Banana peel also works wonders on the leaves of household plants, which can become dull and dusty over time. Just take a bit of peel and shine your plant, it will even smell good too.
These are just some of the household foods you can use to help clean your house and, by choosing more natural products, you’ll be helping remove the amount of toxic chemicals used in your home.