hubby wants us to be more green

he loves all the cloth nappies and wipes and i was telling him about how people on here make there own cleaning products, and he shocked me by turning round and saying you should do that as i think it will be nice.
im all for the greener living but i have a few consurns,
at the moment i use just a bog standerd anti-bac spray for my kitchen sides/sink/fridge/bin ect would a home-made spray be as anti-bac as the stuff i use now?
for my floors i use ecocover multi-purpose cleaner (which i think smells lovely)
also id like to try out a natural bathroom cleaner but biggest worry is that in a few weeks time when i have my baby im not going to want to go out and buy ingrediants for natural cleaners and so will run out and the house will be a stink pot (i clean everyday and cannot stand dirt)
can a solution be made up to last or do you need to re-make it every week?
any tips and advice would be great
xx

p.s will still be using fairy washing power as i cant see anything natural cutting threw hubbys work clothes

I use Aquados for washing, works well for us and is supposedly greener than Ecover, but then I've heard Ariel is as well. This works ok on my 3 boys clothing! The best way to get rid of stains is to dry in the sun.
I use white vinegar for everything else. I don't hold by using antibacterial anything tbh as it stops children developing their immune systems if our houses are too sterile. The only chemical I do use in the house really is bleach down the loo and then only once a week. I buy vinegar spray bottles from Wilkinsons and then top up with vinegar from the supermarket and then use old flannels to clean with it, then wash the flannels. Oh and I also use bicarb for various things (mainly stripping nappies and sometimes in the drains) and soap flakes do a good job at cleaning out drains too.

We recycle as much as possible and use a bokashi bin to compost ALL of our food waste.

First things first, you *won't* be cleaning every day with a new baby (at least I hope not!!) I agree with not anti-bac-ing everything, also the perfumes in most commercial cleaning products just hurt my nose! I have a bunch of ikea garden spray bottles in different colours and keep 1 with a couple of drops of lavender oil in as a surface and floor cleaner (and plant bug spray), one with plain water and one with bicarb in water (could use soda water for that.) I would use one with vinegar in but everyone else moans about the smell I have some citric acid for cleaning the toilet and if I need a scrub I use bicarb. Body scrubbers make excellent bath cleaners too, and then I'm not stressing about bathing in manky cleaning products.

I also don't use products with SLS (or SLES if I can avoid it) on me, though dh and the bigger kids do use manky shampoo and toothpaste still. Blergh.

What most people think of as things smelling clean is actually things smelling of the perfumes in the cleaning products, IMO.

I don't know about making up your own cleaning products. But it is actually supposed to be more enviro friendly to use a bio powder than a non bio as they are more effective at removing stains and therefore you can wash at lower temps and don't have to re-wash.

Like Shadow, I use Aquados bio now and find it gets stains out fine.

We don't clean things with anti-bac and the bathroom and kitchen only get a proper clean once a week (when the cleaner does it ) with a multi-purpose cleaner (apart from some bleech down the loo) for similar reasons as Shadow - I do think you can be too clean and we all need some bugs to build up our immune system.

thanks for the replies will show hubby when he gets in and see about picking up some spray bottles and things when im out at the weekend,
thanks again
xx

hiya, sorry bit late at joining this post but computer screen been flickering horribly all week. do you use the squirteco product from ecover, that's what i use in the bathroom and it works well (though i have to say i like trogette's idea about the spray bottles, will get some of those next time i'm at ikea). also second the aquados recommendation, it works brilliantly and i have one messy baby and two messy older children (plus dh who likes tinkering about with motorbikes!)

we dont have any "real" anti-bac spray in the house (i was so excited i emptied out the bottles to put my new natural stuff in lol) i never tried Ecover things as they werre quite expensive, and most of these things are so cheap!

for general purpose anti-bac spray i fill a bottle with cold, boiled water, add 1 tsp soda biccarb and about 10 drops tea tree oil (lavender is good too) and 1tsp liquid soap/washing up liquid. put in a spray bottle

also i have a general purpose cleaner i made by boiling a few soapnuts and adding lemon oil to (smalls lovely!)

to clear sinks and drains - put 2tbsp soda bicarb, and 2tbsp salt in the drain. pour 1/2 cup vinegar in and let it bubble and leave for 30mins before rinsing with boiling water

to clean floors - anything really...liquid soap or shampoo, washing up liquid...but if you prefer something more natural then add 1/2 cup vinegar to thw water (a bit smelly but it goes quickly) if you are really stuck you can use some cold water-steriliser but thats not really "green" (i just have 2 bottles of it languishing in the cupbaord!)

to make washing up liquid go farther, add a tsp of washing soda crystals too the water

use vinegar instead of fabric conditioner - and your clothes wont smell like vinegar! or 1/2 cup water with few drops essential oil (not orange, it stains)

i also make laundry gloop too which washes most things well but havent tried it on any violently dirty clothes yet!

there are websites you can buy things like soda bicarb, vinegar etc in bulk and have it all delivered, although i havent tried them. i just add a bottle of vinegar and tub bicarb soda in my weekly shop and i havent run out. even if you do its no big deal - theres nothing wrong with soap and water for all your cleaning. not that cleaning is something i do often...."oh, we have nothing to clean the floor with...oh well, il leave it for another day " lol, great excuse to not have to do it xx

Wow that is amazing, thanks Mr CM! Think I need to buy a huge tub of vinegar.