Quick Kitchen & Laundry Detergent Alternatives
Here is a list of detergent and soap alternatives if you are in a rush, want to limit your use of harmful chemicals seen in detergents, or simply want to save on money while gaining the same benefits of more expensive solutions. If you would like to learn more about appliance tips visit Bluemonte Appliance.
These alternatives are natural and cause no harm to anyone including your health. This makes it perfect as a cleaning solution and a good way to save on money and time when you don’t have the right supplies.
1. Vinegar
Using vinegar as an alternative to wash your clothes in the washer isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Vinegar is a weak acid that can eliminate bacteria and unwanted stains and bad odors for both dark and white-colored clothing. This also means that the acid isn’t strong enough to ruin your clothes.
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- If you are worried that your clothes will start smelling like vinegar, this might be the only downfall. It won’t leave a strong vinegar smell but by putting it to your nose it won’t be that obvious.
- Now if you don’t want to use it in your washer that is perfectly fine, you can also use vinegar and water as a cleaning solution for your countertops, cooking top, and appliances like refrigerators and ovens.
2. Baking Soda
A great solution to almost anything related to cleaning is baking soda. It is a white colored powder so you know it won’t stain your clothes. Because baking soda is a ‘base’ (opposite of acidic) it will eliminate acidic stains on your clothes. For example if you accidently stained your white shirt with food, baking soda will eliminate it. We’ve heard of homeowners combining baking soda with vinegar to gain maximum effect for cleaning.
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- Here are some examples of what baking soda can clean for you
- Just like with baking soda, let’s see how a weak acid like vinegar or lemon can clean for you.
3. Vegetable Oil
Oils such as canola, vegetable and olive oil are not necessarily good for removing tough to remove stains but acts as a polisher for scratches and dents and almost like a second coating. Our recommendation is remove your tough stains first and add these oils as a coating for polishing your appliances like stainless steel.
4. Lemon Juice
An acidic solution that provides a nice smell and gets the job done. This acidic solution works well with baking soda as well, and is perfect for dirt stains, poor odors like sweat, and if you’ve spent a long day painting or have rust on your clothes, this can work as well in solution.
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- Just like vinegar, lemon is a weak acid that can provide a more pleasant smell and is perfect for cleaning refrigerator stains, ovens, cooktops, microwaves and many other cooking products.
5. Baby Wash
Baby wash is the last thing we expect to be harmful to our young ones, which is why it is a perfect solution to clean those tough stains you find in appliances like microwaves, cooktops, and ovens.
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- Baby wash contains organic detergents and natural chemicals that both work towards washing your baby without causing harm like the many adult products we see today.
6. Tooth Paste
This would be the best solution for cleaning bacterial stains or fungus. This is especially the case in refrigerators where bacterial build-up is more prominent. With stainless steel appliances this can help with smoothing out the surface when you see dent and scratches. Place tooth paste onto your toothbrush and start cleaning infected areas that have bacteria and fungi such as your dishwasher and refrigerator.
7. Liquor
With most of the cleaning solutions we use such as lysol and hand sanitizer, we forget that all of these products have alcohol, such as ethanol which is what we use to drink in liquor. Of course it isn’t the same level of concentrations, but who said we can’t use liquor to clean our kitchen?
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- Here’s what you can do. Get a spray bottle or place clear liquor in a cup and fill it half with water. Dip paper tower in the cup or spray it onto the surface you want cleaned such as a cooktop.
8. Essential Oils
Preferrable plant-based essential oils such as tea-tree oils are good when cleaning. The problem with a lot of cleaning solutions is that not only is it harmful to your overall health, a lot of chemicals get absorbed through your skin and can disrupt your endocrine/hormonal system. By using essential oils we can prevent this, because these natural oils are meant for creating healthier skin.
9. Bar Soap
I usually leave this as a last option in case I have nothing left, but a bar of soap can be very effective even when cleaning your dishes. I wouldn’t recommend putting it in the dishwasher! But if you need to clean your dishes it can definitely work. Some bar soaps are bad for your skin so do be careful. Try to look for bar soaps that are not “endocrine disruptors” which won’t affect your body’s hormonal system.
10. Hydrogen Peroxide
A perfect disinfectant for your appliances that can be used as an alternative to cleaning alcohol. Mix it with water in a spray bottle and clean away. If you don’t want natural smells like lemon, vinegar or baking soda this is a great alternative.
11. Borax
Generally used to clean dirty and stinky areas such as your dishwasher. Use this as a paste on a toothbrush or paper tower and start cleaning those hard to reach and stinky spots.
Conclusion: You want to stay away from harmful products like dishwashing soap, detergents and other products that claim to be ‘natural’ when they are actually filled with other harmful alternatives.
This list provides an amazing solution to not only cheap and affordable, but gets the job done even better than some of these expensive harmful products. If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, and not affect your family and pets this is a recommended list.
