DIY GREEN Kitchen Cleaners

Making your own cleaning products for the kitchen is both economical and good for your health. When you're using baking soda, vinegar, and water, you can feel pretty confident that the cleaning you're doing isn't hurting you or the environment.

What You Need:

Ingredients:
Vinegar
Baking Soda
Lemon
Essential Oil (optional)
Water
Dish soap
Ammonia

Equipment or Tools:
Spray bottle
Bowl
Sponge
Scrub brush
Measuring spoons

Instructions
All-Purpose Cleaner:
 Using funnel, put 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon dish soap, and 2 tablespoons vinegar into your spray bottle. Give it a stir/shake. Let it sit for a minute, now fill bottle with warm water and shake it up. Give it a few more minutes to calm down, and add a few drops of essential oil if desired.

Garbage Disposal Freshener:
Take the pulp from a lemon (preferably one you've squeezed to use for something else) and toss it in the garbage disposal, along with a few thin strips of the peel. Run water and turn on disposal.

Sink or Stovetop Cleaner:
Put a 1/3 cup baking soda in a bowl. Mix in enough warm water so that you get a nice moist paste. Put paste on sponge or brush and scrub away. Make it as you need it.

Microwave Cleaner:
No need to reinvent the wheel. We always follow's Jonathan's advice.

1. Put one or two cups of water in a large, heat-proof glass or ceramic bowl. and add one tablespoon of white vinegar.
2. Microwave until about half the water has evaporated.
3. Wait about 10 minutes and don’t open the door. This lets the water cool off a bit and the steam penetrate any baked-on crud in the oven. Remove the bowl carefully; the water will still be hot enough to burn, so wear hot mitts.
4. Scrub the walls of the microwave with a sponge sprinkled with a bit of baking soda; baked on stains should come off with relative ease.
5. Wipe down the microwave with a reusable cloth dampened in clean water and the oven will be sparkling clean and free of odors.

Oven Cleaner:
Begin by preheating the oven to (70C or 150F degrees (or your LOWEST setting available). While the oven is heating, put on a pot of water to boil. Once the oven has reached (150F OR 70C), TURN IT OFF and pour 1 cup of ammonia into a heat safe bowl or baking dish and place it on the top rack of the oven. Place the pot of boiling water on the bottom rack, close the oven door, and leave them both in the oven overnight.

The next morning, open the oven and remove both the bowl of ammonia and the pot of water, keep the ammonia – you’ll use it later. Remove the racks and leave the oven door open to air out for 15 minutes. Add 1-2 teaspoons of dishwashing liquid to the ammonia, along with 4 cups of warm water, and using a heavy-duty nylon scrubbing pad dipped in the ammonia mixture, begin to wipe away the softened grease and grime along the sides and bottom of the oven.

 It should be a fairly easy job at this point. Wear some rubber gloves, since ammonia can be caustic to skin. Rinse/wipe clean with a damp cloth. Wear a mask if the ammonia bothers you…

Do you have any tips?