Bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, lemon juice and lavender are just some of the natural and inexpensive ingredients for cleaning our homes. Plus these eco-friendly products are kind to the environment and support a healthy, chemical-free environs.
Two of our favorite shops for timeless and functional tools and environmentally friendly products share their tips for a clean start to 2021.
Casa González & González
Maria Rosa and Javier, founders of Madrid’s Casa González & González, recently shared their preferred tips to a clean start for 2021 on Instagram.
“At Casa González & González one of our aims for this coming year is to convince more and more people to use lifelong tested products for cleaning their homes. In addition to their efficiency, the advantages of their use in terms of impact on our health and the environment are evident, not to mention its economy, the speed and simplicity of its preparation, durability of cleaning and positive impact on our drains. It is surprisingly simple to make efficient cleaners for the whole house with just three products that you can find on our shelves: baking soda, white vinegar and black soap.
Firstly, baking soda was already used by our grandmothers and it is undoubtedly known for its whitening, deodorant, hygienic and stain remover properties. By combining a teaspoon of baking soda with a spoonful of black soap and 5 liters of water, you’ll get a perfect cleaner for floors, countertops and stoves that doesn’t need any rinsing. Baking soda is also perfect used as a bleach for clothes by mixing in two liters of very hot water with two full spoons (50 grams) of our Marseille soap in flakes.
Secondly, another star ingredient for cleaning our houses is white vinegar, traditionally known for its antiseptic properties, stain remover, disinfectant, deodorant, etc. It is the perfect ally for cleaning “hard” surfaces, removing dirt and lime in faucets, tiles, glass and mirrors without harming the environment. The vinegar is also a natural softener for clothes that you can use directly in the drawer of the washing machine (approximately 70 ml per wash) which also prevents the accumulation of lime.
Finally, we would like to talk about black soap. As we have already mentioned, it can be used diluted together with baking soda as a general cleaner for the house, or directly as a powerful degreaser and anti-grease for all types of surfaces, nourishing your hands during use.”
Farm Soap Co.
Silvana de Soissons founder of the small batch, handmade soap Farm Soap Co. shares how she keeps her studio fresh and her tips for a clean start to 2021.
Eco-cleaning the workshop
In keeping with the ecological ethos and good manufacture practices of Farm Soap Co., we use a short list of ingredients when cleaning the workshop. For readers who don’t want to use harsh chemicals in the home, here are some useful ingredients and methods we use to sanitise the workshop every single day.
Hot water and soap remove pathogens like microbes, germs and viruses from your hands, clothes and surfaces because they dissolve the fat membranes, or lipids, that hold the latter together.
Other natural and useful products that are also effective in keeping surfaces sanitised are:
Vinegar and lemon juice – acetic and citric acids are useful for all manner of stain, mould and dirt removal as well as being powerful limescale removers and window cleaners.
Rosemary and sage – naturally antibacterial and antimicrobial, rosemary and sage infused in a bottle of vinegar create an effective sanitiser.
Lemon, lavender, tea tree essential oils – naturally antibacterial and fragrant.
Hot water and biodegradable washing up liquid – for washing down all surfaces including walls, floors, sinks, tables and doors.
Bicarbonate of soda – when mixed with lemon juice or vinegar it makes an effective destainer and chopping board cleaner.
Table salt – sodium chloride is a reliable disinfectant for sinks and chopping boards because it removes oxygen and moisture.
Linen cloths – for drying and cleaning as well as covering the soaps that are curing on the drying racks. To wash cloths we soak them overnight in hot water and our own soap flakes – soap bars that we have grated to make laundry cleaner. DriPak washing soda is also a good natural alternative cleanser for laundry.
Brushes – scrub dirt away. Wash them in hot water, soap and leave to dry in sunlight. UV rays kill bacteria.
Here is our recipe for our all-round cleaning spray which can be used on most surfaces (except marble and granite). It is germicidal and anti-microbial – we use it on all surfaces last thing at night, after all the workshop equipment is washed and dried.
We take a clean litre spray bottle and in a jug we mix the following:
Strained juice of 1 lemon
500 ml of white vinegar
5 drops of rosemary, lemon, lavender or tea tree essential oil
1 teaspoon table salt
A squirt of washing up liquid
400 ml of tap water
We mix all the ingredients and then pour into the labelled spray bottle – we spray and wipe all surfaces with a clean wet cloth.