Ten simple "green" cleaning substitutes for borax

Try lemon juice or food-grade hydrogen peroxide to disinfect and baking soda to whiten laundry. (Credit: Lindsay Coulter)

Last week I suggested you ditch borax -- a salt of boric acid -- as a "green" home cleaning ingredient. (I used to call it "a less toxic but not least toxic" ingredient.)

Six reasons to go borax-free:


Your home is already pesticide-free (borax kills ants)
You can clean well with food-grade ingredients only -- baking soda, salt, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide (treat stains, too)
You can use borax-free "green" cleaning recipes -- here are nine
You won't risk poisoning your child or pet
You can clean risk-free while pregnant
Your children can help make the cleaners AND do the cleaning!


Simple substitutes for borax to clean "green"

To disinfect, use:


Lemon juice, a mild antibacterial acid that bleaches and disinfectants.

TIP: Rub half a lemon on a dirty cutting board, then wipe clean. (Add salt for extra cleaning power.) Place the other half in a bowl, microwave for one minute then use it to rub down the inside of your microwave. Let sit for a few minutes and wipe clean.

Vinegar, which can tackle household bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and other "gram-negative" bacteria. Mix equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle.
Food-grade hydrogen peroxide . Use a three per cent solution in a spray bottle.
Essential oils such as lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, tea tree, lemongrass, thyme, lavender, rosemary and eucalyptus, which have antibacterial, antifungal and grease-cutting properties. Add them to the concoctions above.


To whiten, use:


Baking soda, as in these three laundry soap recipes. Or, add half a cup (125 ml) straight into a load.
Lemon juice, to fight stains.
Washing soda (sodium carbonate) -- right in a load or in a laundry soap recipe. It's more caustic and has a higher pH than its cousin, baking soda.
Oxygen bleach, in liquid or powdered forms. Follow product instructions. Safe for cloth diapers.


To fight mould and mildew, use:


Salt, as in this borax-free laundry soap!
Vinegar, carefully on tub and tile.

Finish off your last box of borax. Sign up for my monthly digest for other assessments and/or cleaning substitutes.

Sincerely,

Lindsay Coulter, a fellow Queen of Green

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