Ditch your usual cleaning products in favor of a ‘greener’ solution and you’ll not only save the environment, you also save money! Green cleaning products are made from natural products and many of them work just as well as the store bought cleaners. With these cleaners you won’t have to worry about dangers of skin contact and your kids and pets will be safe. Plus you’ll have a few more pennies in your pocket!

Lemons and oranges are excellent cleaning tools. Limes can be used if you find them cheap enough. The citric acid is the secret ingredient. It is even a great way to clean grease. Mixed with water, lemon and orange juice is strong enough to clean yet gentle enough not to hurt most finishes.

Make a room deodorizer by mixing 5 parts water and 1 part fresh orange juice in a spray bottle. This will get rid of smoke, cooking, pet and other nasty odors.

Want a secret on how to clean your microwave? Mix 4 parts water with 1 part lemon juice. Microwave in a microwave safe cup or bowl for 2 minutes. Let it stand for a few minutes you will find that all of the grease and splatters are easily wiped away.

Vinegar can safely be mixed with lemon juice to provide some very strong cleanser, while both are completely save for the environment.

Use baking soda and vinegar mixed together to clean up pet and other stains as well as mold and mildew. Most of your tough cleaning jobs can be made much easier by using a baking soda/vinegar cleaner.

Run a cycle on your coffee maker with little vinegar and a full pot of water. After the coffee maker has run the cycle, toss out the vinegar water and run one more cycle with just water. If you smell vinegar after this cycle, do another cycle with just water and don’t use as much vinegar next time. This will clean out the plumbing of the coffee maker.

Vinegar is also a great grease cutter. Try it the next time you have to clean a greasy stove.

Remove brown stains stove by soaking a rag in vinegar. Cover the stains with soaked cloth for 10 to 15 minutes and the stains will just wipe away.

Use rags when you are cleaning rather than disposables like paper towels whenever possible. Rags can be thoroughly cleaned in the washing machine and reduce your grocery bill. Try to wean yourself off of disposables as much as possible. If you do have to use paper towels, purchase recycled paper towels to reduce your carbon footprint. If you are using paper towels be sure to throw them away in paper bags rather then the plastic ones most of us get at the grocery store. The paper will breakdown in the landfills and the plastic won’t.

These cleaning tips, if combined with using alternative energy can help drastically reduce your families carbon footprint.