My Simple and Effective Non-Toxic Cleaning Routine
There’s something about the month of January that fills me with the urge to scrub down the entire house and set a clean slate for the spring season ahead. I guess I’m pre-cleaning for spring cleaning haha. And let’s be real here in Canada spring is still like four whole months away. Sigh.
Our master bathroom is currently shining from a scrub-down this morning, laundry is in, lavender, rosemary and sweet orange essential oils are diffusing, dinner is in the crockpot, I’m sitting at my desk with a steaming cup of tea, and I feel inspired to share some of my cleaning routine with you guys.
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Throughout 2019 we made drastic changes to our household in terms of the products we use on and around our bodies. That included all skincare, haircare, bodycare, and cleaning products. To make a long story short, I was diagnosed with Alopecia in early 2019, switched to all-natural haircare because of that, and then realized how many toxins were present throughout the rest of our home as well. To give you a visual, I walked around the house armed with a garbage bag and the Think Dirty app and basically tossed everything that was above a level 2 on the app… which was everything to be honest. And then our house was very dirty for a month while I tried to find natural, non-toxic solutions that actually worked for us. After a lot of trial and error, I finally found a routine that I enjoy (as much as one can enjoy cleaning I guess) and effective products that smell nice (naturally) while making the job easy.
While I won’t go through my whole house cleaning routine today, I am going to go over some products that I use most often to do the heavy duty jobs like:
scrub bathtubs, sinks and toilets
keep tile clean and grout looking fresh/mold-free
mop the floors
deodorize the air (naturally)
MY MOST USED PRODUCTS:
Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds Biodegradable Cleaner: This is a cleaning concentrate and not a soap so it’s different than the rest of the Dr. Bronner’s line of Castile Soaps (which I also love and buy on repeat). I love Sal Suds for its versatility and pine and fir scent.
Baking Soda: I use this often as a scrubbing agent when cleaning toilets and tubs, and it makes an awesome paste when paired with vinegar or the Sal Suds.
Rosemary Essential Oil: Naturally anti-septic and deodorizing (plus I just love the smell of rosemary)
Tea Tree Essential Oil: Naturally anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and deodorizing
Distilled Water: I opt for distilled as it doesn’t leave behind a residue or streaks
Amber glass spray bottle: I have a few of these in various sizes. I like to use them mix up my own surface cleaners, and I have one that is just for distilled vinegar. These are awesome because they can be reused over and over again.
A glass cup: For rinsing our sinks and tubs
Good scrub brushes: Right now I have several versions of this plastic scrub brush throughout the house and they work great; however, I do plan on switching to more eco-friendly alternatives in 2020. I’ve been eyeing up the Fox Run wooden horse-hair brushes.
Micro-Fiber Cloths: I have a ton of these and dedicate different colors to different spaces. For example, green cloths are used for bathrooms, orange for the kitchen, yellow for dusting, etc.
A FEW RECIPES AND CLEANING ROUTINES:
BATHTUBS AND BATHROOM SINKS
Tools Needed:
Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds
Baking Soda
Scrub brush
How To: Run some hot water into the tub or sink, add a drop or two Sal Suds (seriously, a little goes a long way), 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and just start scrubbing away.
TOILETS
Tools Needed:
Sal Suds OR Rubbing Alcohol (Isopropyl Alcohol)
Baking Soda
Toilet brush
How To: Add a drop of Sal Suds OR a capful of rubbing alcohol directly to the basin of the toilet, along with a small scoop (think a teaspoon) of baking soda. Use your regular toilet brush to scrub away, and then flush to rinse.
TILE AND GROUT SCRUB
Tools Needed:
Sal Suds
Baking Soda
Scrub brush and/or an old toothbrush
How To: I like to take my glass cup and make up this paste/scrub in that. I add a few drops of Sal Suds along with a teaspoon of baking soda to the cup and stir to combine using an old toothbrush. Using that same toothbrush I gently scrub the paste along the grout lines in our showers. After application is done, I let the paste sit on the grout for about 10 minutes. Then I add some hot water to the tub, dip my large scrub brush in that and use it to scrub over the grout lines and over the surface area of the tiles. I just keep scrubbing and adding more hot water from the tub as needed until the grout is back to white and the tiles are spotless. Then I just drain the tub, use the shower head to rinse the tile and grout on the walls, and I’m done!
FLOOR CLEANER
Tools Needed:
Bucket
Mop (I use a Vileda Microfiber Spin Mop)
Sal Suds
Rosemary Essential Oil
Warm water
How To: In your bucket add 1 teaspoon Sal Suds, 10 drops rosemary essential oil, and 1 gallon of warm water. Then mop away! This mixture is perfectly safe on our hardwood floors so I use it all throughout our home.
AIR DEODORIZER
When I’m doing a whole house deep clean I always like to start off by popping rosemary and tea tree essential oils into the two diffusers in our home - we have one on the main floor and one on our top floor. This just helps to quickly deodorize the air in our house and almost immediately makes our space feel fresher.
And I think that’s where I’ll leave it for today. I do plan on creating a free printable with all my favorite DIY non-toxic cleaning recipes and routines, so be sure to sign up for my email list below if you’d like to receive that when it launches. Happy cleaning friends!
