Cleaning With Herbs

Herbs can be great to use for cleaning and they’re much better than using gross chemicals which can leave dangerous toxic residues as well as pose a health and safety hazard for children and pets who spend lots of time on the floor, touching things, putting things in their mouths and what not. Having chemicals sprayed all over these surfaces can be very unhealthy so it’s wise to use a more natural remedy to clean your home and many of those include herbs. Herbs can be very powerful cleaning agents and often contain antibacterial and antiviral properties that are just as effective as commercial cleaners but with out all the chemicals and toxic stuff. Some cleaners you may have to wait a bit longer for them to set in and be as effective and others may require that you use a little more elbow grease but for the most part they are just as good as anything you can buy in the store and much much safer.

A good recipe to use for general cleaning is as follows:

two ounces of isopropyl alcohol
one half a teaspoon of sandalwood essential oil
one teaspoon of tangerine essential oil
one half a teaspoon of peru balsam essential oil
one eighth a teaspoon of lavender essential oil (or more if you like the smell of it)
one eighth a teaspoon of spruce essential oil
two ounces of distilled water

Put all the ingredients in a spray bottle and mix them together. Test the spray on a bit of the surface you’re cleaning first to make sure that it won’t do any damage because some furniture or flooring might have a unique finish that the essential oils could hurt. Once you’ve tested it and are satisfied that it works well then go ahead and clean with it, enjoying your safe and good smelling cleaner.

Vinegar and baking soda are also well known cleaners with less harmful effects than many store bought products. You can add herbs and essential oils to these products to make sprays or scrubs that are also antibacterial, antiviral, and very good smelling. You can also use things like lemon, lime, and grapefruit juice which are also antibacterial and smelly very good to clean things as well. There is, after all, a reason that most cleaning products have some of these fruits in them. You can even add herbs to castile soap to make a kitchen hand soap or a general antibacterial cleaner. Flavor it with some lime juice to make it smell even yummier as well. Olive oil is great for shining and polishing wood and beeswax works for this as well. You can also use beeswax to turn other mixtures into a paste for waxing and shining. You can use other natural products as well like clay powder or pumice to add an abrasive for heavy duty cleaning jobs.

Overall there are plenty of ways that you can get your home clean without using a bunch of chemicals that could be dangerous as well. Use herbs and essentials oils and you’ll be much better off.