Like most homeowners, you probably have an entire cupboard full of cleaning products: toilet bowl cleansers, bleach, shower cleaners, disinfectants… But the truth is, you don’t need most of these chemicals to get your house clean. In fact, many of the chemicals you regularly use to clean your house can be dangerous to breathe as well as negatively impact the environment. For the safety of your family and the preservation of the planet, try switching to green cleaning.

In addition to chemical cleansers, you probably have a number of green cleaning compounds lying around the house already. Substances such as baking soda, vinegar or lemon juice, and ammonia make great cleaning products without attacking the earth. Instead of reaching for an abrasive cleaning powder, try mixing a stiff paste of baking soda and water the next time you need to scrub your range. Or, for streak-free window-cleaning, rinse your windows with an ammonia solution and dry with old newspapers. You can even clean out slow drains with a combination of vinegar and baking soda: sprinkle a little baking soda down the drain and then pour vinegar on top, just like the elementary school “volcano” experiment. One of the benefits of the green revolution is that you can also buy eco-friendly cleaning products at most major stores. You’ll be amazed at how effective and easy it is to clean your home in an environmentally friendly way!

Or, even simpler, enlist the help of a professional home cleaning service to take care of your green cleaning. A number of national cleaning franchises and locally owned housekeeper services advertise green cleaning, but be sure that you choose a maid service that uses only Green Seal certified cleaning products. Green Seal is the nation’s leading independent eco-label, dedicated to identifying substances that are safe the environment and advocating their use to reduce global warming and limit pollution. By ensuring that your cleaning service uses Green Seal products, you’ll know they’re committed to ecological safety. So even if you don’t have the time (or energy) to clean your home yourself, you can still contribute to a healthier planet by hiring green cleaning services. These companies provide safe cleaning products, use HEPA vacuums, and provide trained housekeepers to get your house clean and protect planet Earth at the same time!