What healthy and natural household products can be used to replace conventional chemical products? Is making your own household products a good or bad idea? We tested it, and we have plenty of advice to remove the (bad) chemistry from your life!
Why get out of chemical products?
Household products sold in supermarkets are more than toxic. For you, for the fauna, and the flora. According to 60 million consumers, the mention of the composition of household products on their packaging is not mandatory. And unfortunately, we have a little right to great nonsense. The magazine of 60 million consumers was interested in common products in our closets, such as Ajax, Ariel, Canard, Carolin, Cif … Febreze, Mir, Sanytol, … And again, there I omit many brands. But be sure that if you have “traditional” household products at home, they will likely be part of the magazine’s blacklist.
Among the joys of these products, you have irritating, allergenic, corrosive, environmentally risky substances. Just by looking at all the little logos on the back of a household product, you can get scared, highly flammable, for any type of product, but also for those intended for ovens. Not to be poured into the water for products used in the WC. Not to be used in closed rooms for products intended for the bathroom. Or polluting the air, as for example with air fresheners for the house…
Even better, the eco-friendly products in supermarkets are rarely eco-friendly, composed of perfumes or aggressive substances. They claim to be natural, but often contain at least one or two chemical substances that are as bad as you like.
Natural and healthy alternatives exist!
However, don’t worry, you won’t have to scrub your toilet with a toothbrush to keep it clean. Many people have studied the subject, and today we’re giving you some simple recipes to replace traditional household products and go back to something much simpler, without giving up on cleanliness.
The ingredients you absolutely must have at home
As you can imagine, before making recipes for household products, you need a few ingredients. We went looking for them for you.
The white vinegar
So this one, we could only put it at the top of the list. It is a product more than natural obtained from the alcohol of beet or corn, therefore, not only is it natural, BUT IN ADDITION, we can manufacture it in France without worries, as we have the plantations for it. Colorless but not odorless, the smell should not worry you, it evaporates very quickly. But what can it be used for? Everything but coffee…
White vinegar makes an excellent anti-limescale, to be used without moderation on your taps, sinks, carafes, tiles, and even kettle. The little trick for a kettle full of limescale? You put white vinegar in it, and boil it. So concretely it stinks, but in 1 minute, goodbye limestone.
It is a perfect disinfectant with its acidity, so you can clean your worktop, bathtub, and toilet.
It can be used as a fabric softener, and unlike the kettle it doesn’t smell. In addition, you kill two birds with one stone, since you won’t need Calgon anymore, and yes, vinegar attacks limescale.
It will also serve as a stain and mildew remover.
It is also an excellent cleaner, I do my windows with water and vinegar, nothing else.
You see the bottoms of your pots and pans, with burnt remains at the bottom that you must work on for half an hour to see the metal? Personally, I just put water and vinegar in it, let it soak overnight, and the next day, it’s gone in two sponge strokes, well, 3 at the most.
You can even clean and disinfect baby toys with it, it’s safe, and vinegar is suitable for food use (but it’s far from the best on that front though).
You can also use it as a weed killer (I have never tested it yet).
Well then, a little precision, for all those who use baking soda with vinegar, it’s useless! They are very effective independently, but they cancel each other out between them, and you get… Saltwater… Yes… That’s all… So it makes an excellent chemical reaction and sparkles, but in reality, no interest in your household.
Baking soda
If you can use it to :
Whiten your teeth.
Make fizzy lemonade (true),
You can also use it for your household.
Bicarbonate is a great deodorizer. Whether it’s for your fridge (in a small dish), in your shoes (in an old sock, but without holes), on your carpet (directly on it, just vacuum it up afterward), or in your garbage can, bicarbonate is an excellent odor remover!
You can also use it as a laundry stain remover or a stain remover for burnt pan bottoms (leave to soak overnight, but I prefer vinegar for that).
As a water softener.
Sodium percarbonate
Bleach is an absolute disaster for the environment, but it’s good that sodium percarbonate replaces it very well. It’s even better than that. It is solid oxygenated water. It is made from salt, water, and chalk. So it’s all very natural. It is particularly effective for two things.
You can already use it as a stain remover, with hot water (at least 60°), on any kind of stain, like wine, tea, coffee, chocolate, blood, or sweat…
But you can also use it to whiten your clothes, by putting one or two spoons in your washing machine (directly in the drum) and by making it turn at 60°, it will avoid you the greyness due to the limestone.
Why is percarbonate better than bleach? Firstly, because it is much less aggressive for the environment.
Then because it has the advantage of being used on colors, so all the stains on your favorite shirt can be gone in a flash, even if it is red, as long as the fabric you want to stain is dyed in a deep color, no worries (like most clothes). The only drawback is that to know the type of dye, and you have to try it. If the garment is not dyed, you will end up with white spots on it.
Other uses of percarbonate :
A great descaler, see your vases or other containers completely stained? Fill them with hot water and percarbonate and let it sit for half an hour or an hour if the damage is severe (but I’ve also tested it on toilets, and it’s no good).
Plastic stain remover: If your tupperware is stained, percarbonate will make it disappear. You can also use it for a litter box or any other plastic. You can also loosen some wood with it, like a cutting board, or a spoon that would have been used to make mulled wine.
It can also be used as a textile deodorizer (curtain, carpet) as long as you rinse well afterward.
It can’t be used on wool or silk, and is useless against rust (on the contrary, metal doesn’t necessarily like percarbonate…).
Well, the size is a bit big, but it can be used all the time, and it’s very practical!
Soap shavings
On their own, they won’t do you much good, unlike the previous ingredients. On the other hand :
- They will go into a bunch of recipes, including the laundry one. So they are ESSENTIAL!
- Liquid black soap
- Ideal for cleaning parquet, stone, and terracotta floors.
- In fact, you can use black soap in a good part of the traditional household.
- It is effective, it smells good, and moreover it is nourishing according to the matter on which you use it.
- I have this one at home too, and all my floors are cleaned with it!
Soda crystals
Useful in many household recipes, soda crystals are pretty effective in the following:
- Dissolving grease.
- Enhance the effects of other cleaning agents associated with it.
- They can also be used to clean enamel and unclog toilets, bathtubs, and sinks.
- Citric acid
- Like soda crystals, citric acid is used in many recipes.
- Among other things, it is a very effective anti-limescale agent.
- Recipes for your new 100% homemade household products
Ingredients are good, but it helps to have a few recipes to use them. So we’ve done a lot of research to bring you the recipes for the household products you’ll be using the most. So, if your new products are much healthier than the old ones, they are not edible. So no, a little percarbonate tea is definitely not a good idea. Also, don’t forget that many ingredients can be used directly, without mixing anything.
The detergent
Simple to make, we have prepared a complete article on this subject. Take advantage of it, and we also put you the softener recipe.
Dishwashing liquid
A thing that we use every day, and which, in industrial form, is often very bad for the planet. Here, we propose you the recipe for Antigone21, which is super easy to make and super effective!
The ingredients :
- 1 soap of Marseille / Aleppo (without palm oil) – 100 g.
- between 0.8 and 1 L. of water
- 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of soda crystals – not to be confused with caustic soda! (or, failing that, organic dishwashing liquid)*.
- (opt) about 20 drops of essential oils, of your choice: tea tree, lemon, eucalyptus, thyme, orange…
- (opt.) 1 tsp of soy or sunflower lecithin
Recipe:
- Start by pouring the soap shavings and water into your basin.
- Stir a little to help the soap melt.
- You can then add the vinegar and soda crystals.
- Afterward, it’s like bread, you leave the mixture alone for several hours (but in the open air).
- Your liquid will stabilize. If the mixture does not become liquid enough for your taste, nothing prevents you from adding a little hot water to dilute it (but it loses some of its degreasing power).
- It is now if you want to add a little essential oil (not compulsory) to perfume.
- After that, you must pour the whole thing into a bottle.
- Don’t forget that it’s a homemade product, so it’s not full of chemicals that can turn your house into a foam party, but it works just as well as your old lemon juice.
The liquid washes glass
The window cleaning liquid… Do you know that the blue stuff you use to wash your windows smells like chemicals? Well, you need to replace it with :
- a sprayer
- some water
- vinegar alcohol
- Mix one-third of vinegar alcohol with 2/3 of water, and that’s it!
- Your mixture is ready. Vinegar is very effective against dirt, lime, and all kinds of marks, and it also shines.
If you really have some stubborn lime marks on your shower walls, you can clean your windows with a mixture of one liter of hot water and 5 tablespoons of citric acid. You will then have to rinse with water, which is not necessary with vinegar. The citric acid irritates the skin (nobody is perfect). I advise you to wear gloves.
The toilet disinfectant (and cleaner)
Well, again, you can make your mixture for the windows. Yes, yes, it’s not more complicated. Vinegar has cleaning and disinfecting properties. So it is enough to clean your toilets. On the other hand, you will have to let it act for 10 minutes before passing a blow of brush.
If your toilets are particularly dirty or clogged, the 0 waste family gives us a tip.
- You can sprinkle a little flour on top.
- Sprinkle a little citric acid over the flour.
- Leave it on for 30 minutes.
- Flush the toilet and only then brush it.
- The flour does not have any cleaning properties, it is just to fix the citric acid.
Dishwasher pads
Here you will need several ingredients that were mentioned above. This is the most complex recipe, and it is frankly simple.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons baking soda
- 3 tablespoons of soda crystals
- 1 tablespoon of citric acid
- 1 tablespoon of coarse salt
The recipe
- Put everything in a small bowl.
- You spray the whole with a bit of water to moisten enough so that the ingredients stick together.
- Pack the wet sand into the holes of an ice cube tray and let them dry for several hours (a little more if you are heavy on water).
- To preserve them, you must store them in a jar (well closed to avoid humidity).
- As a rinsing liquid, you can add a little spirit vinegar (I told you it was used for everything), it will avoid a whitish trace on your glasses.
Thanks to mescoursesenvrac.com for this fresh recipe, which makes about 9 dishwasher tablets.
A product for the floor
Here we are on the hyper basic. Be careful, hold on tight.
- You take a bucket, and you pour hot water in it
- One or two caps of black soap
- Half a glass of vinegar AND…
- That’s it! Nothing else.
Not only will the black soap clean and nourish your floors, but the vinegar will also disinfect them and make them shine if they are tiled. Be careful, if your floor is made of terracotta tiles or old parquet, avoid vinegar, it may attack these materials and for terracotta tiles to deposit a whitish veil on them. It would be a pity.