Do you want to adopt a healthier household routine for yourself and the environment? Here are 5 essential recipes for making your own household products and getting rid of industrial cleaning products that are toxic to health and the planet.
We cannot say that the household is the most fulfilling activity that there is, it is however essential for ensure good home hygiene. Manufacturers have understood this by offering us more and more products with proven antibacterial efficacy and fresh and delicate scents, all in a single sponge! Unfortunately, under the guise of making our job easier, these cleaning products for the most part have a toxic composition for oneself and for the planet. However, there are simple recipes based on natural products to make effective and non-toxic cleaning products yourself. A healthy, economical and ecological solution! The health benefits are immediate (goodbye allergies and indoor air pollution). And in the long run, it also has a positive effect on the ecosystem and our food by stopping the rejection of toxic products in water and groundwater (not to mention the use of plastic packaging which will be greatly reduced).
To help you pass the milestone of manufacturing homemade household products, we have selected you the simplest recipes to put in place for the maintenance of the whole house. But before revealing the secrets, discover the essential natural products to have in your closet for daily cleaning.
The essential natural products to have in your closet
Baking soda : it is the essential natural product. Its virtues are numerous! It will be useful both in cooking, in cosmetics and for the manufacture of household products. In general, it can be found in the supermarket food section next to the salt.
White vinegar : It is the essential product to have for a healthy household! White vinegar will naturally disinfect all your surfaces. Completely natural, it is a non-toxic cleaner. It can therefore be used to clean your vegetables as well as your refrigerator or your surfaces, without you having to worry about your health. However, its smell is strong and can interfere the first times when you are not used to it. To reduce this, leave a few orange peels to macerate for a fortnight in a bottle. This will give it a pleasant citrus scent. Note, however, that the alcohol vapors dissipate very quickly. It is a very easy product to find, in supermarkets or organic stores, not far from other vinegars or cooking oils.
Marseille soap : You must choose THE real Marseille soap, composed of 72% olive oil. Be careful because many soaps called "Marseille" do not follow the composition of the original recipe. Among the traditional French soap factories, you can trust Marius Fabre, Fer à cheval and Alepia soaps and among manufacturers, Briochin offers a completely respectable alternative. With a natural composition based on olive oil and soda, Marseille soap is a perfect degreaser. Used pure, it will do wonders for cleaning dishes. It is also an essential ingredient in many laundry and cleaning product recipes.
Organic Marseille pure olive soap, 230g, € 8, for sale on Alepia
Marseille soap in olive oil 400g, without box, € 4, Marius Fabre
Soda crystals : They have many cleaning and anti-lime properties. They will be perfect for restoring shine to your white laundry and softening it before washing.
Soda crystals, Briochin, 500g, € 3.70
White clay : An essential product both in cosmetics and for the manufacture of cleaning products. Combined with Marseille soap and a few drops of essential oil, it turns into a stone of clay, an essential glass cleaner or scouring product for surfaces.
White clay, Cattier, 200gr, € 3.95, for sale on Amazon
Essential oils : Never abuse essential oils. They are precious and above all have therapeutic properties which will not be essential in the household. No need either to use them for their smell because it is extremely volatile, you will hardly feel the effects. They are also insoluble. They will hardly mix in your recipes and could even end up polluting the waters and unbalancing the ecosystem. However, some oils are cleansing like tea tree or lemon. You can add it to your recipes sparingly when necessary.
You will find most of these products in organic stores or in certain supermarkets.
The easy liquid laundry recipe
Melt 40 g of shavings Marseille's soap in a liter and a half ofboiling water. Remove from the heat, add 1 tablespoon of baking soda and if necessary a few drops of sanitizing essential oil (lemon for example). Wait for it to cool down a bit before pouring the liquid into a glass bottle. After a few hours your laundry solidifies. Be careful, depending on the quality of your ingredients, it can harden a little too much. In this case, stir before use with a stick or shake the bottle to liquefy the detergent. Guaranteed efficiency against stains. Your laundry will be clean for sure!
The recipe for a mild and healthy fabric softener
To soften your laundry, mix a volume ofwater with a volume of White vinegar in a glass bottle and if necessary, add a few drops of sanitizing essential oil like lemon.
If your water is very hard, add one or two tablespoons of soda ash directly into the drum of your washing machine.
The recipe for a multi-use maintenance spray
In a spray bottle, pour a third of White vinegar and two thirds ofwater. Gently add a tablespoon of baking soda. Be careful because the mixture of baking soda and white vinegar foam very quickly.
You now have your product to do everything! Spray it fearlessly on any surface to disinfect it.
To strengthen its disinfectant effects, add a tablespoon of alcohol (70 ° minimum) in this multi-use spray and a few drops of tea tree essential oil. If you used to use bleach, this mixture will be just as effective and much less catastrophic for biodiversity. Because if bleach eliminates viruses, it also eliminates the good bacteria that help us fight against microbes.
The recipe for a floor cleaner
Pour 3 tablespoons of liquid black soap in a large container with 100 g of baking soda. Mix well. Then gradually pour 10 cl of White vinegar while mixing. Add a few drops of lemon essential oil if necessary. Your floor cleaner is ready! Now just dilute a cap in 3 liters of hot water.
The recipe for cleaning toilets
Mix in a large bottle, 1 glass ofcitric acid with 1 glass of baking soda. Your toilet powder is ready!
Regularly pour one or two tablespoons into your toilet bowl. Leave to act for 30 minutes before rubbing and flushing.
To complete your daily routine, a regular spray of multi-purpose cleaner with white vinegar is enough to sanitize your toilet.
Most of these recipes will not take you more than 5 minutes to make and will allow you to make great savings!