By Lana Torre

Hate chemicals? Hate having so many spray bottles under your sink each solving a specific cleaning problem? Hate the thought of not cleaning ‘green’? Here are common household cleaners right from the fridge or pantry. They are green, safe, inexpensive, and you will not have to wear rubber gloves or ruin your manicure!

Baking soda is a natural scrubbing agent and deodorizer. Use it in your kitchen and bath sinks. Mix water with it to form a paste and scrub your tub and shower. Of course we use baking soda to rid the fridge of nasty smells, but sprinkle it on spills on the fridge shelves then just wipe clean with a soft cloth.

Mayonnaise! I am a snob and always use Hellman’s for my egg and olive salad. You can clean and polish your wood furniture with it, sans the eggs. The mayo will leave wood case pieces clean and shiny.

Lemon juice is your natural whitener. You can squeeze the juice and whiten any yellowed kitchen appliance. Soak your fingernails in the juice to make them sparkling white. Use halved lemons as scrub brushes sprinkled with kosher salt. Grind leftover lemon pieces in your disposal for a fresh scent, the lemon will help to sharpen the blades in your disposal too. Mix lemon juice and kosher salt to clean the cutting surfaces in your home.

White vinegar is the best and most universal of all pantry items. I use it to clean the coffee pot every week. Just pour diluted vinegar into the water tank of your coffee maker and allow it to run through. All the accumulated coffee oils and stains will disappear. Undiluted vinegar is the best product to get rid of soap scum in the tub and shower, it will naturally eat through it, leaving a clean, shiny surface. For nasty clogged showerheads, simply unscrew and soak in vinegar and they will perform like new.

Lemon Joy dish soap is an excellent glass and window cleaner. Just squeeze this yellow soap into a bucket of warm water and wash your windows with a sponge, then wipe dry with a micro fiber cloth, no rinsing and the glass will sparkle.

Tea bags steeped in hot water will make an amazing cleaner for your hardwood floors. Your floors will be shiny and clean. The tannic acid in the tea is a super cleaning agent. If you have a few scratches on your hardwoods, crack open a brazil nut and rub it into the scratch, it will miraculously disappear.

Kitty liter is an inexpensive deodorizer. If your kids have smelly sneaks, pour liter into them and let them sit overnight. If they are locker room stinky, fill them with liter and place in the freezer overnight. {I would use the freezer in the garage].

All these products from your kitchen are so safe your kidlets can join in the fun of cleaning ‘naturally’. Yeah, right!