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COPYRIGHT 2002 Mothering Magazine
My friend Rachel is pregnant with her second child. Like many pregnant women, she is distilling all of society's free-floating anxiety about exposure to toxic chemicals into nine months of serious worrying. Rachel asked me to teach her how to do nontoxic cleaning, and she was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy and effective it can be.
There are five basics that I use for nontoxic cleaning: baking soda, vinegar, a good soap or detergent, washing soda, and tea tree oil. I believe you can clean everything in the house with these items. Rachel liked the simplicity of having to learn about only five ingredients. She also felt less vulnerable the more she took charge of the number of chemicals coming into her house.
My rule of thumb about nontoxic cleaning is this: use only ingredients that have been used without harm for so many years that they are "generally regarded as safe"; otherwise they would have long since been abandoned.
Baking Soda
A commonly available mineral full of many cleaning attributes, baking soda is made from soda ash and is slightly alkaline (its pH is around 8.1; 7 is neutral). It neutralizes acid-based odors in water and adsorbs odors from the air. Sprinkled on a damp sponge or cloth, baking soda can be used as a gentle, nonabrasive cleanser for kitchen countertops, sinks, bathtubs, ovens, and fiberglass. It will eliminate perspiration odors and even neutralize the smell of many chemicals if you add up to a cup per load to the laundry. It is also a useful air freshener and a fine carpet deodorizer.
Washing Soda
A chemical neighbor of baking soda, washing...
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