The Natural Cleaning Handbook

by natalie Wise

  CRISP COLLARS LIQUID SPRAY STARCH

  If you love the feel of crisp collars and sharp cuffs, you probably use spray starch when you iron your dress shirts. But spray starch from the shelves is—you guessed it—full of toxic and unnecessary chemicals. It is possible to mix up your own spray starch that keeps your clothing looking freshly ironed no matter how long it hangs in the closet before you wear it. If you find you prefer a stiffer starch, add a bit more cornstarch to your next batch.

  • 2 cups water

  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch

  • 5 drops lemon essential oil

  Bring the water and cornstarch to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring to dissolve. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Once cool, stir in the lemon essential oil. Pour into a 16-ounce spray bottle.

  To Use: Spray on damp laundry that you want to have a nice crisp finish. This is particularly popular for dress shirt collars, cuffs, and plackets, but you may also wish to starch dinner napkins, placemats, or even sheets for a hotel-style feel. Iron regularly.

  LEATHER CLOTHING CLEANING AND CONDITIONING

  Leather clothing and shoes require a different approach than upholstery leather. I recommend cleaning your leather coats and clothing once a year, say, at the end of a season of wear, or when you get a spot on them. There’s no need to do much maintenance other than that. Test any product you put on your leather, even this solution, on an inconspicuous spot such as the interior of a pocket or the lining before using it on the entire piece.

  • 1 teaspoon castile soap

  • Warm water

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

  Mix the soap with enough warm water to create a nice soapy solution. Use the edge of a rag dipped in the solution to gently clean the clothing item, using circular motions. Take another clean rag (or a clean corner of this one) and dampen it with clean water so it is wet but not soaking. Go over the item one more time to remove any soap residue. Then, dip your rag in the olive oil and buff it in gently and sparingly. You will likely not use the entire tablespoon of oil, so don’t worry about that. Let the oil soak in overnight, then buff again with a clean, soft cloth.

  SUEDE CLEANING

  Suede . . . we all seem to have a love-hate relationship with it. If you love it, you don’t love cleaning it, that’s for sure. Suede’s long leather fibers have a way of collecting dirt and keeping it. That’s why a good brush is necessary for cleaning suede. Stiff but flexible, a suede brush will rub off the top layer of suede like an eraser. In fact, for marks like ink, a pencil eraser or small emery board works well. Use this only for small areas and do so lightly. Suede brushes raise the nap and get rid of built-up and rubbed-in grime, refreshing the texture of suede almost instantly.

  Suede brushes work on all colors of suede, too, and are easy to find in shoe shops. Keep one in your mending kit so you’re always prepared to give suede belts, shoes, and jackets a quick scuff to get off any marks.

  Wet suede needs a bit of TLC. For wet shoes, stuff the shoes with absorbent towels to keep their shape and soak up moisture. Belts can be rolled in towels. For jackets, place towels inside and outside and weight down so the towels soak up any wetness. These may not be enough to save your suede if it is truly soaked . . . try bringing it to a professional leather cleaner.

  Color fades quickly in suede, so it is best to store suede clothing and furniture out of sunlight.

  Suede shoes can benefit from the addition of heel and toe tips, which will lift the bottom of the shoe slightly off the ground and keep the delicate suede from being scuffed by regular wear.

  HAND-WASHING LIQUID FOR SILK AND WOOL

  There are products on the market made just for washing wool and delicates, and they work great, but they’re not cost-effective or natural. In fact, they’re full of chemicals that shouldn’t be touching such delicate items that will then be touching our skin. Not to mention they have synthetic fragrances, which are irritating to the skin. If you’d like a scent, simply add a drop or two of essential oils to this mixture. Otherwise, the lanolin will coat and restore wool fibers and soften silk ones, while the soap attracts any dirt. Be sure to rinse well.

  • 1 cup distilled or boiled and cooled water

  • 1 teaspoon castile soap

  • 2 teaspoons liquid lanolin

  Mix the ingredients together in an 8-ounce bottle. Add ¼ cup to a basin of hand-washing clothes and fill with water. Swirl gently and let sit for 30 minutes. Then agitate gently again. Rinse several times to be sure the solution is out of the clothing items. Let dry.

  WINTER BOOTS SALT STAIN REMOVER

  Leather boots are great year-round, especially in winter, given their sleek look and naturally protective properties. But winter can get to even the best of leather boots because of the salt chemicals that are used to melt ice on sidewalks and roads. These leave unsightly white marks on boots. Try a bit of good old vinegar and some elbow grease. Don’t use too much vinegar because you don’t want to change the pH level of the leather, but shoe leather is sturdy enough to handle small amounts of vinegar.

  • ½ cup cold water

  • 1 tablespoon vinegar

  Mix well in a small bowl.

  To Use: Use a soft cloth to gently clean the leather with the mixture, being sure not to oversaturate the leather. Wipe dry, then let dry overnight naturally. Don’t place your shoes in front of a heater to dry, tempting as it is, as heat damages leather.

  Extra Tip: This solution also works for wood and laminate floors with tracked-in salt spots. Use a rougher washcloth soaked in this mixture to clean the residue.

  STINKY SHOE SOLVER SACHETS

  Stinky shoes are just part of life. Summer flats, heels, boat shoes, sneakers . . . any shoe worn without socks (and those worn with socks for some sweaty activities and certain people, ahem) will naturally begin to stink. Don’t forget about winter shoes and boots, which can get stinky because of wool or heavy sock-wearing feet getting overheated. These little stinky shoe solvers are great because they are self-contained and can be tucked into any shoe that needs a little scent help, then passed along to the next pair. The charcoal powder is optional, but it helps absorb odors magnificently. Look for it in the bulk section of your local co-op; mine has it in the beauty section, too. Do not use these in damp shoes or boots; wait until the shoes are dry first.

  • 12x12-inch fabric squares for regular shoes, 24x 24-inch fabric squares for boots

  • Twine or ribbon

  • ¼ cup cornstarch

  • ¼ cup arrowroot powder

  • 1 teaspoon charcoal powder, optional

  • Tea tree essential oil

  Mix powders and oil together in a small bowl. Place 1 tablespoon in the center of each 12x12-inch fabric square, and 2 tablespoons in the larger squares. Gather up the edges to encase the powder and tie securely with twine or ribbon. I prefer twine because you can get it nice and tight. Place 2 drops of tea tree essential oil on the top of each sachet, then tuck them into your stinky shoes. Leave overnight. Super stinky shoes might require two sachets per shoe, one tucked into the toe and the other left in the heel.

  Extra Tip: These also work in handbags to keep them fresh and moth-free when in storage.

  CLOSET MOISTURE ABSORBER

  Keeping moisture out of your closet will cut down on mildew scent in shoes and clothes, as well as add a light scent that gently refreshes clothes. For best results, hang this near a vent if there is one in the closet, or from the top-middle of the closet if there isn’t a vent. Using peppermint oil adds additional moth-repelling power to this little closet-cleaning bundle. You can make several of these and space them out if you have a large closet.

  • 1 package white chalk sticks or 4 ounces ground chalk (if you have it handy)

  • Peppermint essential oil

  • Small muslin bag that closes

  Place a few drops of essential oil on the chalk sticks and place them in the muslin bag. Tie with a ribbon and leave one end long to hang in the closet
.

  Ahh, the kids’ stuff. There’s just so much stuff. There seems to be no end to the stuff. And the stuff always seems to be sticky, stinky, or dirty. I’m not sure how, but applesauce ends up in doll’s hair and crayon ends up on lunchboxes and permanent marker ends up . . . well, everywhere. Sometimes the messes kids make will really put our natural cleaning skills to the test. I can’t cover every scenario you’ll come up against (I’ve heard some horror stories), but I’ll do my best. Here are some tips to keep the kids’ stuff (and the stuff they might make a mess of) clean. And maybe somewhat organized, at least for a little bit.

  The Process: Purge, Clean, Organize

  It’s up to you to determine if you want to involve your kids in the purge, clean, and organize process. Either way, it might take a while to go through every single thing in the kids’ spaces, but it’s the only way to truly purge and start with a clean slate, which is what you want. Go through the closets, drawers, toy box, and everything on the floor, as well as playrooms, bathrooms, and any other spaces where the kids’ items accumulate.

  Kids’ rooms manage to accumulate toys and papers in places we didn’t even know existed, so the best way to fully purge is to take everything out of the room and sort. Again, use the box system for stay, trash, and give away. Then everything in the stay box must find a home where it will always live, and the things in the trash and give away boxes must actually leave the house. This may involve some tears from the children, but you can explain that the reward of a tidy and manageable room will be worth the pain of letting go. Giving them some say in what stays and what goes and where items will be kept may make it easier on them (though not necessarily on you) and will teach them organizational skills that will serve them well later in life. Once you’ve gone through every item, it’s time to do a deep clean.

  Don’t put anything back in the room until you’ve fully cleaned. For kids’ rooms, I recommend using a steam cleaner to clean the carpets, since they always seem to be full of glitter, tiny beads, and crumbs—basically, they can always use a deep clean. There’s no need to use a chemical-laden commercial cleaning product, though; the steam alone will greatly restore and refresh carpets. You can add 10–15 drops of grapefruit seed extract per gallon of water if you feel comfortable using this ingredient (see page 17). Then clean the baseboards, wipe down the walls, and clean fans and windows. Finally, move the major furniture back and begin organizing.

  Organizing kids’ rooms may feel futile. The best way to keep things organized is simply to have fewer things. Hooks, hooks, and more hooks are one of my favorite organizing hacks for kids rooms. Hooks make cleaning up dress-up clothes, bags, backpacks, and anything else that can possibly be draped easy. And having things hung up means clean floor space, which instantly makes the room appear cleaner. A hanging pocket organizer that hooks over a closet door is another great organizing tool for kids. They can easily sort toys into categories, by color, or simply stuff them in there during clean up time to get them out of the way. These are also handy for baby clothes when your loved ones are little; keep burp cloths, swaddle cloths, bibs, pacifiers, and more in these fabric pockets.

  Really utilize bookshelves and bins to your advantage. Stack games, puzzles books, and bins of art supplies on the bookshelves. Use cloth bins that fit onto the shelves to hold various toys, blocks, stuffed animals, and clothing accessories. Color-coordinating storage can help children remember where to put things back, such as all blocks go in yellow bins and all stuffed animals go in green bins. Find a system that works for you and do your best to keep it up.

  TOY STORE RESTORE: TOY CLEANING WIPES AND SPRAY

  Toys get gross! There’s no getting around it, since they’re played with on the floor, kitchen table, put in mouths, handed around to friends, brought outside, etc. But since they’re mostly made of plastic or wood, the good news is they’re easy to clean with clean ingredients. Small plastic toys, including many bath toys and bath mats, can be sanitized in the dishwasher, too, or cleaned with a little castile soap in the sink or bathtub. This spray uses the natural cleaning properties of vinegar, which is all you need. Some recipes for toy cleaning use essential oils, but I prefer to leave those out as a precaution for toys being put in mouths, and also because essential oils eat away at plastic toys. You can also use hydrogen peroxide in place of the vinegar, but the hydrogen peroxide tends to eat at painted toys. This method will make toys look like they just came from the toy store.

  • ½ cup vinegar

  • ½ cup distilled or boiled and cooled water

  • 8 small, thin rags made from T-shirts or similar material

  Mix the vinegar and water in a 1-quart jar. Add the rags and shake to get them saturated. To use, simply pull out a rag, wring out any excess moisture, and wipe down toys. You can also mix together well in an 8-ounce spray bottle. Shake first, then spray any hard toys and wipe down with a cloth.

  STUFFED ANIMAL “WATERFALL ADVENTURE” WASH

  Stuffed animals are dust, mite, and mold spore collectors, despite their cute exteriors. They also harbor germs whenever your child gets ill. Washing them regularly is a good idea, and most stuffed animals, unless they are wool, can enjoy an adventurous trip through the washing machine and dryer. In order to get your kids to give up their favorite lovies and stuffies, tell them the animal is going on a waterfall adventure and that they will tell them all about it when they return.

  Machine washable: Stuffed animals can be washed in the regular washing machine with your regular laundry. However, placing them inside a pillowcase and tying a knot, or placing them in a mesh lingerie bag, will help avoid any snagging or undue hardship in the machine. Add ½ cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle if you’d like to keep the stuffed animal soft. Use only cold or warm water and a gentle cycle. For the dryer, if it isn’t already, place your stuffed animal in a pillowcase. This softens the impact of the dryer, prevents overheating that could cause any glued-on decorations or seams from coming undone, and should the stuffing happen to come out, keeps the mess contained. Dry on cool or gentle until thoroughly dry.

  Spot-clean only: Mix up a drop of castile soap and enough hot water to make a slightly soapy solution. Use a washcloth to spot clean the stuffed animal, scrubbing if necessary, but lightly. Lightly scrub with a clean tooth-brush on extra tough spots. Air dry by hanging from a hanger with a skirt clip to attach to the animal’s ear or tail in a room with plenty of light and warmth (but not direct sunlight), so the animal doesn’t stay damp too long and begin to mildew.

  SNEAK-EM-IN-THE-WASH SNEAKER & BACKPACK CLEANER

  Kids’ sneakers and backpacks seem to pick up dirt like magnets. From grass stains to spilled chocolate ice cream, there’s no telling what some of those nasty streaks and smudges are from. Some sneakers and backpacks can be thrown in the washing machine if they don’t have suede, leather, or glued-on adornments. Any items with extra-fancy adornments, such as patches, gems, light-up bottoms, or wheels should be hand-washed, as should those with suede and leather finishes. Of course, these cleaning methods work for adult sneakers and backpacks, too!

  Washing machine: Many sneakers and backpacks can be thrown in the washing machine in a zippered lingerie pouch or a tightly tied king-size pillowcase. Sneakers are sneaky, though, and want to escape, so don’t be surprised if they work their way out of even the toughest zippered pouch. Be sure to remove laces, as these will get destroyed in the washing machine if they get caught, and could potentially damage your machine as well. Securely close all zippers, buckles, and fasteners. Sprinkle the interior and exterior of the shoes or backpack with baking soda and let sit for at least 30 minutes before washing to absorb odors and surface stains. Wash on a cold water, gentle cycle. Do not ever dry sneakers or backpacks in the dryer as this will break down all of the foams and glues that hold them together. Reshape the shoe or bag gently after it is washed and stuff tightly with towels, rags, or paper towels and let sit in a warm, but not sunny or hot, location. Avoid drying shoes in front of t
he radiator or woodstove, or in direct sunlight, because these heat sources will also damage the shoe’s integrity.

  Hand-wash: Hand-wash any more delicate items, such as those with light-up bases, lots of fasteners, or any extra adornments.

  • 1 cup warm water

  • 1 drop castile soap

  • ¼ cup baking soda

  Mix ingredients together in a small bowl. Remove the shoelaces if there are any. Use a soft washcloth to brush off any surface dirt. Then dip the washcloth in the above mixture. A clean toothbrush will help you clean the entire surface and bottom of the shoe, too. If the shoelace holes have become discolored, use a cotton swab dipped in the solution to clean. If your shoes are white, you can also use a cotton swab dipped in hydrogen peroxide to clean this particularly stubborn area. To get scuffs off white soles, use a regular pencil eraser. Reshape and stuff each shoe with clean rags or paper towels. Let air dry out of heat and direct sunlight.

  Extra Tip: Soak ink, permanent marker, and highlighter stains in rubbing alcohol before laundering. They might not completely fade, since the fabric is textured and if the mark has been there awhile it will seep into all of the fabric’s pores, but it will help.

  LEFTOVERS-IN-THE-LUNCH BOX AND DIAPER BAG WASH AND WIPES

  Lunch boxes get grimy fast, especially if messes aren’t cleaned right away or they’re left to sit over the weekend, or heaven forbid, over a week’s break. Stinky doesn’t even begin to cover the stench that can be released when you unzip the dreaded lunch box that’s been sitting for too long! Diaper bags are the same story. Use the deep wash when you encounter that problem instead of being tempted to throw the whole shebang in the trash. Then, use these daily wipes to combat stink regularly.