Are you looking to have less chemicals in your home, reduce the amount of plastic you throw away and save money?

Assistant Manager Justine shares her recipes for cleaning products with ingredients bought in bulk from Get Loose.

Indoor Pollution

The US Environment Protection Agency has found the average US house contains 2-5 times more air pollution than the air outside, and in some cases up to 100 times more. This is largely due to household cleaning products, air fresheners and pesticides. Furthermore a University of York / BBC study showed that “Limonene”, found in many scented products, interacts with ozone in the air and produces Formaldehyde.

Saving money

The great news is that by changing your cleaning products you can reduce indoor pollution and save money. The average UK household spends £140 per year on products.

Against animal testing

However he shocking truth is that after all the anti-animal testing cosmetic campaigns of the 90’s most mainstream cleaning products are still tested on animals. To ensure you are using animal free tested products look for the leaping bunny logo on the packaging.

Making my own cleaning products

A cheaper solution to buying commercial products is to make my own. My cleaning arsenal is very simple; lemon, white vinegar, bi-carb, Bio-D washing up liquid and tea-tree oil. I have spray bottles from when I used to buy cleaning products and refill them with the appropriate combination of items as I need to.

Here are my cleaning product recipes:

Floor mopping spray – 1/4 cup of vinegar to 1 cup of water.
Shower spray – 1/4 cup of vinegar to 1 cup of water, a few drops of essential oil.
Window cleaning – mainly water with a bit of vinegar and a drop of washing up liquid.
Anti mould – 1/4 cup vinegar, few drops of tea-tree oil (anti fungal properties), 1 cup water.
Lemon to remove water marks and lime scale. Brings a shower head back to sparkly! Keep lemon halves from cooking in the fridge or use a bottle of lemon juice. I leave it on for around 20 mins before rinsing.
Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) – a mild abrasive, for anything a bit stubborn. Make into a paste to clean baking trays, the oven and get labels off jars!

Get Loose sell the following:

Bicarbonate of soda
Lemon juice
White vinegar
Washing-up liquid
Laundry liquid
Fabric conditioner
Multi surface sanitiser
Toilet cleaner
Steel & glass cleaner
Floor cleaner
Dishwasher rinse aid

Bring your own bottle or check the Jar Bank.

For the ready-made ones I love getting Bio-D or FILL in bulk as it is natural, does not pollute the water system and is not tested on animals. The company is also an Ethical Consumer Best Buy. See our Producer Spotlight on Bio-D and FILL for more information.

So why not consider what products you would like to make in your home? I’d love to hear how you get on and your recipes and tips.

This post was adapted from an original post on Little Green Duckie; https://www.littlegreenduckie.com/sustainability/clean-cleaning-products/