Clean Up Cleaning

Here's a challenge: Go to the bathroom or kitchen and look under your sink. How many bottles, cans, and containers of stuff are under there? For most Americans, there are a bunch: dish detergent, general-purpose spray and powdered cleansers, specialty cleansers (such as brass polish, furniture polish, or oven cleaner), maybe even some bug spray. That small space epitomizes our infatuation with chemical concoctions.

This month the environmental group Women's Voices for the Earth released a report, Household Hazards: Potential Hazards of Home Cleaning Products, on some of the health concerns associated with these products. For example, monoethanolamine, a surfactant found in some laundry detergents, all-purpose cleaners and floor cleaners, is a known contributor of occupational asthma, and glycol ethers, such as 2-butoxyethanol, are solvents commonly found in glass cleaners and all-purpose spray cleaners that have been linked to reduced fertility and low birth weight in exposed mice.

So, what can you do to keep your house clean, but protect yourself from these chemicals? First, begin winnowing out the stuff under the sink. If you haven't used it in a long time, just get rid of it. Next, when you go to the store, start looking for safer cleaning products: companies like Seventh Generation and Ecover have consciously reduced toxic chemicals in their products. Or learn some of the tricks your grandmother knew: use vinegar and baking powder (which are both also really cheap) instead of synthetic products.

Cheapy white vinegar (I buy it by the gallon) mixed one to one with water and a teaspoon of salt in a spray bottle makes a great general-purpose cleanser that readily cleans most surfaces, and is perfect for removing soap scum from around sinks and fixtures. A cup of pure vinegar poured in the toilet and allowed to soak for an hour or so is great for cleaning the toilet and makes brushing out alkaline deposits a cinch. Add half a cup to the rinse cycle in your washer, where it acts as a fabric softener.

Baking soda works in place of abrasive cleansers, but it won't scratch shiny surfaces. If something is spilled on the carpet, pour some baking soda on, work into the spill with a paper towel, let it dry, and then vacuum it up. Use it as a polish for aluminum, chrome, jewelry, plastic, porcelain, silver, stainless steel, and tin by moistening a little on a soft rag.