7 Green Cleaning Tips to De-Stress Your Life

They say cleaning is therapeutic; removing clutter from your house gives you a feeling of relief and relaxation! I for one never found this to be true. For me, cleaning was always a task that I feared and tried to run away from as long as I could. When I finally got tired of procrastinating and hating the chore, I decided to reevaluate my techniques and see if there was something that I wasn’t doing right. After extensive research, I was able to discover my mistakes and devise some fantastic tips and hacks that have made my life easier. In this article, I will be sharing some of these cleaning tips that will help you de-stress and are great for our environment as well so keep reading!

Make a List of Chores and Follow it

Every house has chores that need to be done daily, weekly, bimonthly or monthly. Instead of worrying and panicking about getting things done at the last moment, streamline your cleaning by creating a checklist. Prioritize tasks by the list and get things done one by one. It will also help you delegate tasks to other members of the family thereby saving time. Assigning age-appropriate chores to kids is an excellent idea as it encourages healthy habits and helps build self-efficacy.

Organize Everything

Try your best to get everything in place but don’t set unrealistic expectations. You can start with the hidden spots where you gather all the available stuff. De-clutter and organize all items keeping only the ones that you will be using. Keep the ones that you frequently use in easy to reach areas and don’t I repeat don’t create piles or stacks of items. Whenever you notice objects pile up on a table or surface, set-up a drawer or organizer near the specific area for storing items. Label drawers and try your best to place everything where it is supposed to be kept instead of randomly stacking belongings.

Reuse, Recycle and Upcycle

Instead of storing old stuff that you love but won’t be using consider upcycling. Get creative and think of different ways of utilizing old household items. Have a couple of old t-shirts lying in the closet? Look for DIY techniques of turning them into scarves, accessories or creating home décor items such as pot hangings, etc. You can even reuse corks, cans, wrapping sheets and practically anything that you don’t want to give up.

Avoid those Chemicals

Fighting dirt with those harsh chemicals with a Brooklyn house cleaner isn’t safe for your home or the environment. Instead of buying multiple cleaning solutions loaded with harmful chemicals consider making homemade cleaning agents. Yes, it might seem like a tedious task, having to prepare everything from scratch and then using it for cleaning, but it isn’t since most of these only require one or two substances to be mixed and above all these are entirely natural.

Make Your Cleaners

If you want to go the extra mile, you can even make your DIY cleaners at home. It isn’t that difficult; honestly, just a few things from your kitchen can make fantastic cleaning agents that are safe for use around kids and pets. If you have pets and kids in the house, you will find yourself cleaning pet messes, your furry companion’s delicious meal spilled all over the floor, stains on your furniture and what not so you need to make sure you have the necessary supplies and cleaning agents available.

Vinegar, for instance, is a great multi-purpose cleaning product that can be used to clean carpet spills, glass surfaces, countertops, bathroom tiles, shower curtains, tubs, etc. To clean glass surfaces, you can use a mixture containing a quarter of water mixed with 1/4 cup vinegar. One tablespoon vinegar mixed with a teaspoon of baking soda and two cups warm water can make a fantastic carpet deodorizer. Another substance that is popular as a house cleaner is “baking soda,” coupled with vinegar it works as a disinfectant for cleaning bathroom tiles; apply the mixture, scrub and rinse with warm water. It is also useful for whitening porcelain surfaces, removing grime from bath-tubs and for cleaning toilet bowls. Other cleaning supplies include borax (as a disinfectant coupled with four tablespoons vinegar, ¼ tsp. liquid castile soap and 3 cups hot water,) essential oils (as air fresheners,)  rubbing alcohol (to make cleansing wipes for countertops), etc.

A significant problem for homes with pets is the hair spread everywhere. A solution to this is apple cider vinegar. It can work as a preventive against flea and tick bites which in turn can reduce shedding. Vinegar can be used to clean up most pet accidents and to clean pet bedding along with lemon juice and baking soda.

You can even create basic recipes once and store the mixture in spray bottles to be used later.

Don’t hoard things You Won’t Use

No matter how much we disagree, most of us do stock up items that we love and are too emotionally attached to give up or something that we spent a considerable amount of money on and now don’t feel like throwing away. Well, it does happen and what we end up with is a lot of clutter which makes cleaning even more difficult. The best way is to keep donating or giving out things that you won’t be using. You can also swap items that you don’t consider useful with friends or family. Make it a policy not to buy new things till you utilize or get rid of an old one, so you don’t end up with cabinets and cupboards full of barely used clothes, shoes, accessories, decorative pieces, etc.

Avoid Using Paper Towels

Instead of spending on paper towels and contributing to the waste consider using washable cloths. Even an old piece of clothing can be utilized for the purpose by cutting it into squares.