An Easy Homemade Cleaning Product

When it comes to household cleaners, many of them carry a toxic chemical ingredient list long enough to warrant a hazmat designation. These noxious chemicals pollute our water when they're washed down the drain, as well as being potentially hazardous to breathe while they're being used to clean. Fortunately there are some safe (safe enough to eat even) and very effective alternatives that you can find right in your own kitchen.

Vinegar is probably most well-known of natural cleaning substances and with good reason. It's a wonderful disinfecting cleaner and is great for rubbing down countertops and greasy appliances. When mixed with baking soda it can be used to unclog a drain, and you can even throw a little vinegar in with the laundry for a safe, natural fabric softener.

In my family we use it most often as a toilet bowl cleaner. Strange though it may sound to pour cooking ingredients into one's lavatory, we've been doing it for years. Pour a cup or two of vinegar into the bowl, let it sit for a little while, and then scrub it away like any other cleaner. It works just as well, if not better, than any store-bought cleaner and is so much safer.

Vinegar is also a fantastic window cleaner. To avoid streaks on the windows, use old newspapers instead of window rags to scrub them with vinegar. It keeps them clear and sparkling clean.

Other safe kitchen-made cleaners include baking soda and lemon juice (fresh from lemons, not the lemon juice that comes pre-bottled). What edible products have you found work great for cleaning?