Safe cleaners that are guaranteed to give your windows that extra sparkle!
This is a toxic world we're living in. Every day we endure a barrage of harmful pollutants such as car emissions, cigarette smoke, dust, pollen, and mould spores!
Regular house cleaning is imperative not only to make our space neat and organised. More importantly, we clean the house to keep ourselves and our family healthy and free from toxins and pollutants. Yet if you look close enough at the cleaning products that you use, you’ll notice a lot of red flags and warnings about how potentially hazardous these cleaning products are! Not healthy at all, not even close!
You need a new approach to house cleaning if you're really serious about the health implications of it. You'll need a new approach so drop that toxic cleaner with false promises of making your home a healthy place and step back a little. Why would you keep using something that could actually make you sick? When there's a better alternative to store bought chemical products -- your very own safe and cost-effective cleaning solution.
Chemical Warfare
Different people react to toxic chemicals differently. Some may be more sensitive than others but the end is still the same, repeated exposure to toxic chemicals increase the risk of illness or worse, fatality.
Take ordinary an ordinary window cleaner for example. Have ever taken time to inspect the label to check what's in a typical window cleaning product? Here's a list of ingredients that make up a common, everyday commercial window cleaning product:
- Hexoxyethanol
- Isopropanolamine
- Ammonium Hydroxide (Ammonia!)
- Lauryl Dimethyl Amine Oxide
- Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate
- Fragrance (A long list of artificial fragrances)
- Liquitint Sky Blue Dye
Most of these things are totally Greek to me, but one thing's for sure, they look utterly formidable! Imagine these things coming in contact with your children. It may be painful to imagine but it can't be good though since children are more at risk to chemical toxins as they haven't fully developed their immune system yet.
HOW TO
Thankfully, it isn't too hard to make your own safe and eco-friendly window cleaning solution. It's also cheap to produce since the ingredients are relatively cheap or you already have them around the house.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol ( replaceable with vodka 😉)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 cups distilled water
10-15 drops essential oil
Instructions:
Pour all the ingredients in a dark coloured glass spray bottle. Shake well to mix and prevent lumping. Spray the solution onto the glass surface and let it sit for a few minutes. Use a microfiber cloth to wipe the surfaces clean. No lint, no streaks and no squeegee required! Just a sparkling window that seems invisible!
HOW DOES IT WORK?
What makes this homebrewed concoction so effective?
Vinegar - It's no secret that vinegar's acidic properties lend itself well to dissolve grease, dirt, and grime.
Alcohol - Like vinegar, alcohol is also potent at dissolving dirt and oil. Another feather in the cap of alcohol is that it's a solvent that quickly evaporates leaving no residue.
Essential Oil - Different essential oils have varying effects. Depending on the type, they are great in eliminating fungi, bacteria, and mould and mildew. They are also excellent antiseptics and very effective at cleaning. What's common among essential oils is that they smell great!
Cornstarch - The cornstarch in this cleaning solution is actually the main reason why no streaks are left on your window. Cornstarch prevents surface water from bonding with more water which leads to window streaks.
Microfiber Cloth - Microfiber cloths are a thing of beauty. They can be used to clean just on their own or with just a little water. The fibres are excellent at scrubbing dirt and grime but are gentle on glass and other surfaces. No streaks or lint left behind!.
Safe, cheap, simple and effective! This homemade window cleaner ticks all the boxes. Try it on mirrors and glassware to achieve the same excellent results. Other surfaces you can use this on are
- Glass Appliances
- Stainless Steel
- Chrome
- Aluminum
- Ceramic
- Plastic
Notes:
Make sure to give it a good shake before using as the cornstarch tends to settle to the bottom or otherwise clog the spray nozzle.
Be careful to use only a dark coloured spray bottle that's made of GLASS. The essential oil in the solution is sensitive to light and might lose potency when exposed to light. While some essential oils can break down plastic so store it in a spray bottle made of glass.
Others recommend the use of newspapers or paper towels to clean the window. Overly wet newspapers leave lint and streaks. Paper towels also leave lint but worse of all is the toll it takes on your wallet and the environment as you consume more and more paper towels. Microfiber cloth is more effective and durable and can be used multiple times.
Never use ordinary tap water as it may contain minerals that can scratch the glass. So stick to distilled water.
For corn allergies in the home, it’s advisable to skip the cornstarch. The essential oils can disrupt hydrogen bonding just as well for that streak-free sparkle.
If you're iffy with alcohol as being unsafe, you can substitute that with vodka. Vodka's safe to drink, so it should be safe for cleaning as well. So, cheers mate!
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