Products and DIYs to Elevate Your Clean Nourished Home

These days it’s a struggle to find products not filled with chemicals and companies not devoted to woke agendas. Voting with your dollars often requires research, regular switches, testing, and more. It’s frustrating. But we’re resourceful. During our Nourished Month of Spring Cleaning, we wanted to share some products and DIY recipes to help you elevate your clean routine without having to do extra research or worry about trusting a company.

Swedish Dishcloths

A lot of places now sell Swedish dishcloths, so you can easily pick your favorite local retailer that sells them and grab a few. For anyone who doesn’t know, Swedish dishcloths are dry cloths made from wood-derived cellulose and cotton. They start out stiff and dry, but when they are wet they absorb 20x their weight and soften into a dishcloth that can be used for dishes, messes, as paper towels, or even washcloths. They dry quickly so they don’t become a breeding ground for bacteria and are also 100% biodegradable which means you can toss old ones into your compost! Added bonus: they come in really cute patterns and designs.

Glass Jars

Glass jars are just nice to have around. There are spray bottle tops that are made to attach to glass jars, but they are also great for storing other cleaners and powders. Plus, because they are glass, they last a long time and help eliminate some plastics from your life and home!

Castile Soap

Castile soap is an olive oil-derived soap that is a clean alternative to things like Dawn, body wash, and household cleaners. It’s incredibly strong so usually needs to be diluted, but it’s a great all-purpose answer to most household needs. There are a few companies out there that make Castile Soap, but a good one is Vermont Soap.

Laundry Powder

As we’re learning, anything that touches your clothes goes on your skin and is absorbed into your body. So laundry powder is a good place to start if you’re looking for just one item to start making yourself. The recipe is incredibly easy and only needs three ingredients! Feel free to add your favorite essential oil and sea salt, but with just these three you’ll have clean, fresh clothes, towels, and sheets! Full recipe from Make Your Own Zone.

Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups Washing Soda
  • 1½ cups Baking Soda
  • ½ cup Epsom Salt

Kitchen Degreaser

Kitchens might be the hardest place to give up those chemical-filled, tough on grease cleaners. You want a truly clean kitchen, but without the gunk that might transfer to your food. This kitchen degreaser only uses three ingredients that work hard to degrease without leaving chemicals in their wake. Full recipe and others from Melissa K Norris.

Ingredients:

All-Purpose Cleaner

Does it feel like a hoax to have a cleaner for every different area of your home? Well, some things like hardwood floors and certain stone countertops need special products, but you should be able to clean the rest of your house with an all-purpose cleaner. We grabbed this recipe from Homestead and Chill because it repurposes citrus rinds and only needs two basic ingredients: lemon rinds and vinegar! You can add other oils and some water if you like, but this cleaner will tackle almost everything for pennies on the dollar!

Ingredients:

  • Lemon rinds (or orange and lime)
  • White vinegar
  • Optional: rosemary, thyme, or mint herbs

DIY “Clorox” Wipes

We all just got through a pandemic where Clorox wipes were king and kind of took over our lives. But there’s no way they are even kind of good for you and your family. So here’s a great alternative! Bonus: these are reusable, too. These disinfectant rags or cloths just require a decent sized jar, old tee shirts or cloths, vinegar, and some oils! Full recipe is from Passion for Savings.

Ingredients:

Dishwasher Tablets

Your dishes are a huge part of your home and daily comings and goings. And you definitely don’t want chemicals lingering on the surfaces you eat off of, so this is another easy and essential change up. These tablets only have four ingredients and can be kept in a jar under the sink. You will want a measuring spoon to put the powder in your dishwasher, so keep that in mind and find the full recipe at clarissarwest.com.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup baking soda
  • 1 cup washing soda
  • 1/2 cup coarse kosher salt
  • lemon juice (or, 1/2 cup citric acid)