Green Clean

I've been working on some recipes for cleaning without chemicals. Some I have found on the internet and they work great. Others need a little tweaking and readjusting. Some I have been using for a long time and others are new. I'm trying really hard to green up my life and home. But I'm still having a little bit of an issue not using bleach. I love bleach. It just smells so clean and I know that it is killing nearly every flu/cold bug that it touches. So I'm still working on a disinfectant that doesn't involve my beloved bleach. This is what we use on a normal cleaning day in our "greener" home.

Window Cleaner...GOODBYE WINDEX!
2 T White Vinegar  + 1 Gal Water
I use newspaper or coffee filters instead of paper towels (less streaking and a little better on the environment) I'd love to find some kind of rag or towel that works on glass and can be washed and reused! But I haven't found one yet that works as well as newspaper. I'll keep looking though!


Hardwood Floor Cleaner
1/2 C. Vinegar + 1 Gal. Warm Water
Most of my home has hardwood floors. I've always used this mixture to mop them. It stinks like vinegar for a little while, but the smell goes away and I have beautiful, glossy, hardwood floors when I am finished!


Kitchen/Bathroom Counters
Dishsoap + Water
Baking Soda
Lemon Juice
Usually I just use dishsoap and water (like dishwater) to wipe up my kitchen counters, stove and sink. Sometimes if they are really dirty I sprinkle some baking soda and scrub with a wet dishrag. Lemon juice works pretty good on sticky/yucky stuff.  But I still use Bleach as my dsinfectant after chicken, eggs, meat, etc touch the counter tops.


Bathtub/Shower
Baking Soda + Water
Vinegar
Most of the time, I rinse out the shower and tile walls, Sprinkle baking soda, Scrub it down and Rinse again. If the tub is particularly grimy I will spray some vinegar, let it sit for a minute then scrub and rinse. Works really well!


Toilet
I still use bleach!
I spray a mixture of 2 T bleach and a spray bottle full of warm water in and all around the toilet, then scrub/wipe clean. I also use this same spray on the floor around the toilet as I have all boys in my house and they tend to miss....A LOT!


Laundry
2 T. Homemade Laundry Detergent (recipe can be found here)
per normal load. A little less for less dirty loads, a little more for whites and heavily soiled loads


I'm still looking for a good dishwasher detergent recipe that I like that doesn't leave film and junk on my dishes.... So for now, I'm still using commercial detergent. But we do use vinegar instead of jet-dry!