Mrs Frugal Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 These are my bibles! Always off the shelf ready for use!! "Clean House, Clean Planet - Clean your house for pennies a day, the safe, nontoxic way" by Karen Logan ISBN 0-671-53595-1 "Better Basics for the Home - Simple solutions for less toxic living" by Annie Berthold-Bond ISBN 0-609-80325-5 "Natural Stain Remover - clean your home without harmful chemicals" by Angela Martin ISBN 1-84092-419-5 "Natural Solutions - recipes for health, beauty, home and garden" by Jackie French ISBN 1-86396-152-6 "Household Wisdom" by Stephanie Donaldson ISBN 1-85585-802-9 "Natural Housekeeping - rediscovered recipes for home care" by Beverly Pagram ISBN - 1-85675-024-8 Does anyone else have any they'd recommend too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen & co. Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 They sound good! thanks for the list. Karen x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Thanks Kate I will look out for some of those books. I am a novice to all this green cleaning, but have just armed myself with vinegar, lemons and a bag of soda crystals. I have just been on the soda crystals website and found out some of the uses. If they are half as good as they sound, I will be very pleased. As I run out of non-green cleaning products at home I am replacing them with Ecover, but I will try making my own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 12, 2006 Author Share Posted May 12, 2006 Well done Debs. Hope you find them as effective as I do. I now only carry a few things round the house with me:- *a spray bottle of soda water for windows, mirrors and tiles *a spray bottle with 3tbsp Ecover washing up liquid, 1tsp lavender oil, 1tsp tea tree oil and topped up with water for basically everything like toilet seats, sinks, floors etc *either a tub of borax or a tub of bicarb for scouring the bath, sinks and toilet bowls *a spray bottle of vinegar for anything limescaly like the shower cubicle door and taps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 *a spray bottle of soda water for windows, mirrors and tiles A stupid question about the soda water - I assume it needs to still be fizzy?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 12, 2006 Author Share Posted May 12, 2006 Mine starts off fizzy but gradually flattens and still works fine. It's the ingredients in it which does the trick and my windows look really sparkly with minimum effort (when I can be bothered to do them ) with just soda water and some newspaper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 Cool! I have always used newspaper on the windows (my nana taught me that!), but still use soapy water first, so will give soda water a go the next time I wash the windows (sometime around 2010.......) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kannie Posted May 12, 2006 Share Posted May 12, 2006 We've used just newspaper & plain water! Seemed very effective! (If a bit messy!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel (& Paul) Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 And a word of warning - if you have a number of the spray bottles with different concotions in, as well as one with plain water in to spray naughty woggles (yes, Minky, we ARE talking about you and your anti-social humping habbit), please ensure you pick up the right bottle. Minky has, at times, smelt like fish and chips (vinegar for the limescale) and, rather nicely, of lemongrass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 13, 2006 Author Share Posted May 13, 2006 Yes, true. Jenny smelt suspiciously of lavender water the other day ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel (& Paul) Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 I wonder if it works on husbands too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 13, 2006 Author Share Posted May 13, 2006 From experience, no . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel (& Paul) Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 shame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PurpleHen Posted May 19, 2006 Share Posted May 19, 2006 "Natural Stain Remover - clean your home without harmful chemicals" by Angela Martin ISBN 1-84092-419-5 I now have that one too and it is great I would like to add these to the list, I have only got them recently but so far so good...... "Baking Soda, Over 500 Fabulous, Fun & Frugal Uses You've Probably Never "Thought of" by Vicki Lansky, ISBN 0-916773-41-8 "Vinegar, Over 400 Various, Versatile & Very Good Uses You've Probably Never Thought of" by Vicki Lansky, ISBN 0-916773-53-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted May 19, 2006 Author Share Posted May 19, 2006 Darn ! Now I've got to get the card out and go for a visit to Amazon!! Thanks Purple Hen ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PurpleHen Posted May 19, 2006 Share Posted May 19, 2006 It was Amazon that did it for me - I went to buy the natural stain remover one, and it came up with those as well in the "people who bought this also bought....." bit - very cruel tactic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 The OH & I are determined to go greener when it comes to cleaning as we're fed up with buying all the products in the supermarket that claim to be 'super clean' at this and bring 'brilliant shine' to that. It make some difference but does not do what it says on the tin! Also green is the way to go!! *a spray bottle of vinegar for anything limescaly like the shower cubicle door and taps. I am presuming this is the stuff you put on your chips - malt vinegar? Not the white wine stuff or anything fancy like that?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted July 11, 2006 Author Share Posted July 11, 2006 No it's the white distilled vinegar. There's always a worry that the brown malt vinegar will stain so for all the recipes, use white distilled. They have it in most supermarkets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Thanks for that Kate - you are a wealth of knowledge about all things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 I just have an ancient copy of "Home Ecology" by Karen Christensen, that I bought in the mid-eighties when I first got interested in green issues - it's a US book and only on amazon.com these days: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1555910629/104-8007902-7693506?v=glance&n=283155 (Mine has a nicer cover ) I really ought to get something up-to-date and UK-centric - but not until after next payday! Eglu + chickens + kitten-neutering fees all in one fortnight = empty bank account Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
