I’ve made some moves to be healthier, which I previously blogged about.  I have also made moves to be more ‘green’.  The next step naturally was to embrace cleaning without chemicals.  I have been wanting to make my own laundry soap for awhile now, and have found several easy and cheap ‘recipes’.  I was wondering what else would be easy to replace…My old farmhouse bathroom is tiny…I mean really tiny.  I can’t stand up straight in the shower, and my head almost touches the ceiling.  Needless to say, the last time I cleaned using Lysol Cleaner with Bleach, I about made myself sick from the fumes. (We don’t have a bathroom window because the boys broke it while shooting their bows and arrows into the hay bales that are stacked against the outside wall to prevent the pipes from freezing).  Here is a picture just in case you guys think I make this stuff up….

Before I headed to Walmart, I did a little bit of ‘googling’ to see what was out there.  Vinegar is WIDELY talked about in chemical free cleaning, and natural alternatives to chemicals.  The Heinz Cleaning Vinegar page had a TON of information about why, when, what and how to use it to replace your other cleaning supplies!

Headed to town and found the Heinz Cleaning Vinegar, not in the cleaning supplies, but in the vinegar section!  I was puzzled at first, why wouldn’t it be in the cleaning section so others could see there was an option besides using harsh chemicals? Then I thought, maybe seeing it here would give people the idea that vinegar has MANY uses!  Regardless where they put it, I WILL be finding it! I thought it would be kind of cool if they had a little booklet with cleaning ideas attached to the bottle, just to help make other people aware of the cleaning properties of vinegar as well. My sister was excited about the shopping trip and more than happy to assist me! She cracks me up and we always have so much fun together! You can see our entire path to purchase in my Google+ Album.

Here are my before and after photos from the kitchen with #HeinzVinegar:

The stove was a difficult one. I don’t think the drip pans have been cleaned since I moved in. I let them soak for about 30 min, wiped out most of the grime and then covered them with aluminum foil. If I soaked them longer I am pretty sure that most of it would have come off. I think it looks amazing!

The one BIG cleaning job that I always use bleach for is cleaning my sink.  It was a Flylady ‘Shine Your Sink’ thing and I used bleach, comet and windex. It got GREAT results, but that is a ton of chemicals that I don’t want around the sink and by the dishes/silverware we put in our mouths.

The BEFORE sink and counter.  My sinks are not ceramic, they are actually a type of plastic, so they are difficult to clean. The sink head was pretty grimy, so I poured some vinegar into a sandwich bag and rubber banded it on for about an hour. My counter top had a couple nice red stains on it, courtesy of the kids and koolaid with Red #40.

 AFTER:   The sink was much shinier and I didn’t scrub much at all!  The faucet head was WAY improved! I ended up using baking soda and vinegar to get the stain off the counter top, but I am so pleased that all of this was done without using any harsh chemicals!

A very smart alternative, not just for your health and the environment, but for your pocket book as well!  The Heinz Cleaning Vinegar was only $2.98 for a gallon, and I am guessing it is over $30 for the chemical cleaners!

I’m headed to do the coffee pot, the bathroom and the floors next!  I will most definitely be telling my friends about this great way to get their house clean naturally and save money as a bonus!

DISCLOSURE: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and Heinz. #CBias #SocialFabric.  However, those of you who know me, know that I love doing things like this!  Never fear, you will always ‘hear it like it is’ from Sarea! -