The “Green” Spring Clean!

I love this time of year!  Days are slowly getting longer; the sun is warmer (when it does come around), and everything is ’springing’ to life.  It’s time to fling open some windows, let some fresh air in and get down to spring cleaning and organizing!

In order to get down to cleaning, I need to have things organized, first.  As a homeschool family, I believe we are extra challenged to keep clutter at bay!  All those projects, papers, supplies, books, and wait – why is there a clay canoe in my bathroom sink? (As my youngest daughter admitted, “I wanted to see if it would float”.  Hmm, well…okay, she IS learning, I tell myself!)  If you are a homeschool parent, you may know exactly what I am talking about!

As much as I love all of my children’s beautiful writings, projects, creations, copy work verses, math lessons, craft projects….I know you’re nodding your head right now… reality though is that I just can’t keep it all, keep my sanity and keep our home organized! Keeping our homeschool projects and such organized can be a challenge.  So, as we go about our learning we keep record and memory of projects and such by taking pictures.  This works for us!  Don’t get me wrong, we keep some special things such as a poem, special story, etc. in a scrapbook that we have for each child, along with pictures of what they’ve done as well.  Not only does this serve as a very special ‘Memory Book’ of sorts, but it keeps things organized in a manageable way that is very simple.   Once the clutter of paperwork is cleaned out, we go through our curriculum.  This is a great time to take stock of what we have on hand for next year!  What worked?  (What didn’t?) What will need to be purchased? What is my oldest child done with that I can reuse with a younger child? What needs to be tossed?

We do the same with clothing; winter clothing gets tucked away for next year and out comes spring/summer clothing.  Things that need to be passed down to the next child get moved, things that need repair go into the sewing area, and things that are beyond repair go in the ‘rag bag’ for use in cleaning if they have no other use.  I like to have 3 boxes or large plastic containers available when I start this process.  I use one for things to donate, one for things to sell (or give away) and one for things
that need to be tossed, along with a large canvas type bag or ’stuff sack’ I use as the ‘rag bag’. These come with me through the house as I embark on this process. I go to each room or area until all has been gone through. When I do my Spring Cleaning, I get brutal and toss, toss, toss! Once I’ve combed through each room, it’s time to get down to cleaning!

A Few “Green Spring Clean” Recipes:

Although it seems we clean all the time, this time of year we deep clean!  Everything gets dusted, wiped down, and cleaned off.  It’s just amazing how many dust bunnies can accumulate in such short order!  I use natural, homemade, non toxic cleaners for everything.  Not only are these ‘green’ but they are a huge money saver!  I use a variety of recipes depending on what I have on hand.  I love to use essential oils — not only their pure fragrances but also for their anti-bacterial properties!  But if you don’t have essential oils in your home at this time, you can simply make up your own natural cleaners without them.

Here is a short list of supplies to gather, right from your kitchen and laundry room:

Vinegar
Baking Soda
Lemons
Salt
Borax
Olive Oil

Now gather up some old sour cream containers (or used glass canning jars with lids), a couple of empty sprayer bottles, some of those old articles of clothing that are in the rag bag, and maybe a green ’scratchie pad’.
In just a few minutes you can have basic, frugal, non-toxic cleaners that WORK to clean your home.  Let’s get these items all together and get going on a “Green Spring Clean”!

Surface Cleaner

This works great on counter tops; I use it on the kitchen floor for spills and such too!  Take one of your empty sprayer bottles, and add 2 cups of warm water, 2 TBS of Vinegar, 1TBS Borax, and 1TBS Lemon Juice.  Shake it up well and voila; you have a multipurpose spray cleaner that is a great surface cleaner!

Bathroom Scrub

Grab another one of your old containers.  Add in a 1/2 cup of both Baking Soda and Borax, 1TBS of Salt and sprinkle in drops of Lemon Juice (about a TBS full will do the job).  Now, I say “sprinkle in” because you don’t want your liquid caking in to one big clump with your dry ingredients! Mix this slowly; as you add your lemon juice a drop or so at a time.  Once you have it all in the container, put the lid on tightly and shake it up to mix a bit more and you have a great non-toxic scrub for your toilets, showers and tubs! Now with some elbow grease and one of those green scratchie pads and/or toilet brush, you’ll have sparkling clean tubs and toilets!

Carpet Cleaner

Grab one of those handy empty sprayer bottles!  Pour in 2 cups of hot water & 2 TBS baking soda.  Shake well and spray over the carpets lightly, let it sit for awhile and vacuum up.  This freshens up the carpeting without those toxic, dusty powders or those terribly toxic carpet cleaners!  I like to add essential oils to this mixture to kill germs and add a nice scent too! 20 drops of Lavender essential oil will do the job (or any essential oil you like that has anti bacterial properties that you like).

Now that we have a few basic cleaners made up, how about a wonderful Spring/Summer Potpourri blend to bring a little ’spring’ into the home? I love to have our home smell nice and inviting, and here is a potpourri blend that you can easily make up and set out in a pretty dish, or toss a cup into a simmering pot of water!  You can even take a handful and put it into those single, old socks that you can never find the match for… tie the end in a knot and you have the most frugal sachets around! Tuck them into dresser drawers and closets for lovely fragrance throughout the home! (No one will ever see them and they use those mystery single socks that you’d just toss anyway!)

Spring & Summer Potpourri Blend

1 Cup Dried Lavender Buds/Flowers
1 Cup Dried Rose Petals
½ Cup Dried Rose Buds
1 TBS Whole Cloves
½ Cup Dried Chamomile Flowers
½ Cup Dried Calendula Flowers

Place all ingredients in a wide bowl, mix together well; you can also drizzle 20 drops of Lavender essential oil and 20 drops Geranium essential oil over the mixture and mix well.  The remainder you can leave sealed in a container or Ziploc type bag for about a week, shaking up and tossing around the ingredients every few days.  I store in Ziploc type bag and replace as needed.   This also works beautifully in homemade, hand sewn pretty sachets!

If you’re looking for more natural cleaning recipes, come on over to our website and check out our Homestead Simplicity: Natural Clean EBook.  It’s LOADED with naturally clean recipes!
As you can see, with just some simple organizing, basic ingredients and elbow grease you can have a ‘green spring clean’ too! 

Joyfully Home keeping,
Lisa

“She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.”  Proverbs 10:27, NASB