5 Ingredients for 10 Natural Cleaning Tips

You don’t need fancy cleaners or harmful chemicals to clean your kitchen, bathroom, or other rooms in your house. All you need are these 5 ingredients from your pantry to clean and disinfect the way Mother Nature intended.

1. Baking Soda

Also known as Sodium Bicarbonate, Baking Soda is a multipurpose, powerful all-natural cleaner for your pots, pans, stainless steel, stained surfaces and more. It can even be used to put out grease fires, unclog drains and remove burnt on char from grill grates. Plus, it’s extremely affordable!

2. White Vinegar

Because it’s acidic, white vinegar can dissolve mineral deposits from all sorts of surfaces, such as glass, coffee makers, toilets and showerheads. Vinegar also has strong antibacterial properties, making it ideal as a multipurpose, household cleaner. In fact, one test by Good Housekeeping's microbiologist found that 5% vinegar is 90% effective against mold and 99.9% effective against bacteria.

3. Olive Oil

This natural fat, enjoyed normally by cooks and bread lovers, is also a natural moisturizer, great for adding that extra umph to your cleaning routine. You can use it on its own to clean and season cast iron pots and pans, to repair small scratches in leather furniture, shine stainless steel and even protect wicker furniture. Plus, when mixed with other ingredients, it helps to moisturize wood furniture, add some life to leafy houseplants, and can get goo off of surfaces and even clothes.

4. Essential Oils

Made by extracting the oil from plants, Lemon and Tea Tree essential oils can clean by helping to kill bacteria and even mold, when added to natural cleaning solutions. While lemon has that classic clean scent, Tea Tree essential oil goes a step further with its antiseptic, antimicrobial and antifungal properties. Either way, adding this all-natural ingredient to your cleaning solutions with vinegar can help clean while leaving a more palatable scent.

5. Water

Last, but certainly not least, is the most simplest of cleaning solutions: water. Many all-natural cleaning recipes call for water to help dilute the overpowering properties of other natural cleaning ingredients. For example, you’ll often find that when a recipe calls for vinegar, it will also call for water, helping to balance out the acidic cleaning power for a safe cleaning experience.