Most commercial household cleaners are toxic to you and the enviornment.  The Enviornmental Protection Agency estimates that polutants are 2 to 5 times higher inside the home than outside.  Chemicals used in the home end up in our streams, rivers, and oceans damaging our ecosystems. 

To reduce the use of toxic chemicals in your home, there are very simple recipies you can make to clean the kitchen, bathroom, laundry, furniture, windows, and dishes.  If you don’t want to make your own cleaners, there are companies that make enviornmentally friendly household cleaning products. 

The natural cleaners also take far less energy, and thus fossil fuels, to manufacture than the synthetic ones, which are often direct derrivatives of petroleum.

Here are the basics for home cleaning.

• Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) - Softens fabrics, deoderizes, an all-purpose cleaner, removes stains. 
• Borax (sodium borate) - A bleach alternative.  It boosts the cleaning power of soaps, removes stains, and deoderizes.  A natural mineral that kills mold and bacteria.  
• Castile soap - Can be used to clean everything.
• Cornstarch - Absorbs grease and oil, also starches clothes.
• Lemon juice - A bleach alternative, removes perspiration and other stains from clothing.