Cleaning, of course, is our business. As we often say, all the water we use is recycled and we try always to use only eco-friendly products, not just in our work but in everyday life. We’re always on the lookout for products that work but at the same time limit any damage to the environment.
One of the most chemical-laden products is often oven cleaner, but it is possible to make your own for a fraction of the cost and with no chemicals involved. There is a product you may not have heard of called xanthan gum. It’s used in gluten-free baking and is available at most supermarkets. To clean the oven just mix it to a paste, spread it on, and leave overnight. All you need to do is wipe away and rinse the next morning. Clean oven, no chemical smells.
Then there’s the toilet! Yep worse than cleaning the oven or even the bins, but it must be done. Toilets are a magnet for limescale which looks unpleasant but really isn’t that terrible, although it is difficult to remove. Bleach just won’t work; you need a product that will break the limescale down. We’ve discovered citric acid powder, a naturally occurring biproduct of citrus fruit.
The method is simple, just pour some hot water into the toilet (not boiling) add approximately 125g of citric acid powder, and leave for at least an hour, or overnight even better. The limescale should then easily fall away when scrubbed with the toilet brush.
For kitchen cleaning, we use a repurposed glass bottle filled with a mixture of 1 part white vinegar, 3 parts filtered water, and little lemon juice. Put everything in and give it a good shake, you’re ready to go. This mixture can also be used to clean the bathroom.
There’s even an ecological way to dust. We use again a glass bottle with a mixture of water and white vinegar with 2 teaspoons of olive oil added and a few drops of an essential oil of your choice.
If all this sounds like too much hard work, although it really isn’t, there are companies who sell ready-made ecological cleaning mixtures along with recyclable glass bottles that you can use again and again. Purdy and Figg are one such company, and we sometimes treat ourselves to one of their cleaning oils which smell amazing.
We hope you’ve found this helpful and will enjoy your home smelling of citrus and essential oils rather than chemicals.