How to Make Your Own Environmentally Friendly Household Cleansers

Despite your worries about harsh chemicals around your precious babes, the house still needs to be cleaned (bummer). One alternative is to go green and get the house spic n' span without any commercial cleaners. (Or you could always try the husband or kids-as-housekeeper route, but we have a pretty good idea of how that's gonna work out.)

So how does a mama go green? Sure, you can run to the store and buy a bunch of pricey eco-friendly cleaners, or you can DIY and make you own environmentally friendly household cleansers out of super cheap stuff you have lying around the house! Here are some great environmentally friendly concoctions you can mix up:

• All-Purpose Cleaner: To make an all-purpose cleanser that'll clean just about anything, mix a ½ cup of vinegar, ¼ cup of baking soda in a ½ gallon of water. Or, for a less-pungent alternative, dissolve four tablespoons of baking soda in a quart of warm water.
• Disinfectant: Mix 2 teaspoons of borax, 4 tablespoons vinegar and 3 cups hot water to combat all those nasty germs your kid carts home from the playground!
• Drain Cleaner: Forget Draino! For an environmentally friendly alternative, pour ½ cup of baking soda down the drain followed by ½ cup of vinegar. Let it sit for 15 minutes to break down the soap and whatever else is clogging things up down there (yuck!), then pour in about 4 liters of boiling water to flush it out.
• Furniture Polish: To clean wood furniture, mix a few drops of lemon juice into half a cup of warm water. Your tables will smell divine and have super shine!
• Scouring Powder: Use straight baking soda on a wet sponge and add a little elbow grease and voila, those tub rings will disappear. No Comet necessary!
• Toilet Bowl Cleaner: Pour ¼ cup of baking soda and 1 cup of vinegar into the potty. Let it sit and then scrub with a toilet brush.
• Window Cleaner: For streakless windows mix 2 teaspoons of white vinegar with 1 liter or warm water. Add a couple of drops of lavender or rosemary essential oil if you don't want your windows to smell like pickles!
• Floor Cleaner: For an environmentally friendly floor cleaner, mix equal parts white vinegar and warm water. To add shine to wooden floors, you can add an equal part of vegetable oil and rub in well. Take that, Mr. Clean!