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Cleaning House the Permaculture Way

In permaculture design we look at the inputs and outputs of various components, and try to connect things to each other so that the supply from one thing meets the demand of another. We can grow our own food, and thus meet the nutritional needs of the family, and the organic waste is looped back into the system. Any waste is seen as a resource that can re-enter the system without causing harm or damage.

What about Zone 0? How can we minimise the pollution of our household space and still keep it clean? Since becoming more aware of the chemicals that are around us; in our air, water, food, household chemicals, office supplies, furniture and just about everything else, I have become a compulsive reader of labels. I may be on the extreme end of the spectrum, but a walk down the cleaning aisle of a supermarket feels like a visit to a toxic waste facility — and the smell is unbearable. I shudder to think of the lethal cocktail people take home in tubs, jars, cans and bottles. Despite the warning labels, these items end up in millions, if not billions, of homes around the world.

How, then, does one clean a house without poisonous household cleaning agents?

The first step is not to believe the advertisements of mass marketing. The overwhelming message in commercials is ‘You have to buy this… your house will not be clean without it!’ – and that’s just not true! We are led to believe that clean laundry has a particular scent, that a clean house will smell in a particular way and when we visit the bathroom we use the an aerosol spray that is possibly more toxic than the human waste being flushed down the toilet!

So what am I to do? I want a clean house, but I don’t want to poison myself and my family, and I don’t want the waste water from my cleaning to be harmful to the earth, and most certainly not to poison the land where I live. My rule of thumb is ‘if I can’t pronounce it, I probably don’t want to ingest it’. Nowadays I can buy an increasing array of ‘green’ household cleaning materials but I would far rather save my money and buy another nice book or plant. And so, I have found alternatives that are simple, cheap and functional.

My household cleaning kit consists of aroma therapy oils; lemon, tea tree, lavender and rosemary, fresh lemons, bicarbonate of soda, salt, vinegar, alcohol, olive oil, an old toothbrush, a few rags, a mop and bucket, a scrubbing brush and a vacuum cleaner. Oh, and a kettle.

Laundry

Our washing machine water is channelled into a mulch pit in the garden, so we don’t want any nasty chemicals going down the drain. Our laundry is washed with a washing ball; it even takes out most of the mud from our very red soil on gardening-day clothes. For emergencies we keep some biodegradable washing powder, which we rarely need to use. During winter when our clothes are full of static, and only when I remember, I add a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda to the rinsing cycle. It works just as well as fabric softener. If I want the linen to smell lemon-fresh (such as when my mother-in-law is coming to visit) then I’ll dissolve some lemon oil in either hot water or alcohol and add that to the rinsing water.

Floors

We have no carpets in our house; we have some stone floors, some polished cement and one room has novilon covering the floor. I don’t sweep the floor; I vacuum it. We have a vacuum cleaner that sucks the dust into water – dust makes me sneeze and blocks my sinuses (which is why we don’t have a carpeted floor). The water from the vacuum cleaner is tossed into the mulch pit. After vacuuming I wash the floor without any soap. I use very hot water in a bucket (changed frequently) and a mop that can be squeezed with a lever. Once in while I’ll add lavender or lemon oil to the hot water, but that’s more for my own need to have the house smelling fresh and clean. If ants have been making an unwelcome entrance into our house we’ll make a tansy decoction and add that to the water.

If there is anything stubbornly sticking to the floor I’ll use a scrubbing brush and water from a boiled kettle on that spot. If there’s been a spill or accident that needs disinfecting (even just for my own peace of mind) I’ll mop it up, and sprinkle a few drops of an oil that has disinfectant properties (tea tree, lavender, rosemary, lemon), pour a little boiling water over the area, leave it for a few minutes, then mop it up.

Windows

When I have washed windows the house smells like a fish and chip shop! I use vinegar diluted in water, and newspaper to shine the glass. If there are bits of crusty dust stuck to the window I’ll use a rag and sponge to wash it off first.

Kitchen surfaces

I use bicarbonate of soda as a scouring agent. If it’s crusty and stubborn stuff (such as something that boiled over onto the stove) I’ll make a paste using bicarbonate of soda, some salt and some vinegar. I’ll use that to cover the dirt and by the time the paste has almost dried, the muck comes off with minimal elbow grease. The same mixture works to clean the bottom of pots. If I want to disinfect kitchen surfaces I’ll either add a handful or two of bicarbonate of soda to some hot-to-the touch water, and use that to wipe down surfaces, or, if I feel there’s a need for something stronger, I will use one of the oils dissolved in very hot water.

Toilet

I guess this is everyone’s least favourite household area to clean. I put bicarb into a container that will let the powder come out through small holes; a shaker. Shake the powder around the bowl. If I want the added disinfectant of tea tree or lavender, I sprinkle a few drops on top of the bicarb. I use a toilet brush to clean, and then flush. We have a septic tank, so I am cautious about not flushing too much anti-bacterial stuff down the toilet.

Bathroom

A bicarb paste works well, with a light scourer if needed. For some parts I take half a lemon, cover it with bicarb and use that as a scourer, then rinse. For the nooks and crannies that are hard to reach I use an old toothbrush dipped first in lemon juice and then in bicarb.

Smelly drains

If hot water and a plunger don’t work, then I add vinegar and bicarb to boiling water and pour enough into the drain so that some of it will ‘sit’ in the drain, and then use the plunger. If that doesn’t work then I’ll pour bicarb down the drain, followed by some vinegar, and leave it to foam. Then I pour boiling water down the drain, and use the plunger. I have heard that the liquid from a bokashi bucket works wonders on a smelly drain but haven’t tried it yet.

Grouting

It helps to dry the shower after it has been used to prevent mould from developing in the first place (such as using a window cleaning squeegee). I use either lemon and bicbarb in a paste, or, for stubborn areas, scrub it with a toothbrush. I also use half a lemon with bicarb on it as a general scrubber. When I lived in a house where the grouting in the shower developed mould quite quickly I made a spray with alcohol and either rosemary or lavender oil and sprayed it into the bottom corners and edges (not where it would make the floor slippery).

Linen storage

I swear fish moths crawl in out of the ether! Sprinkle lavender oil on the surface of the storage area (shelves, wooden chest or cardboard boxes). Sprinkle additional lavender onto old bits of cloth and put these between layers of stored items.

Books

We live in a library with thousands of books, some of which are very old and out of print and I am paranoid about the books being eaten. We sprinkle lavender oil on the bookshelves every time we move or once a year. I vacuum the bookshelves regularly. So far it’s kept the fish moth population under control.

Air freshener

We burn incense quite frequently, and if there is a need to make the house smell better, we light some. However, that doesn’t work all the time in every part of the house. A bowl of bicarb in the fridge helps to absorb bad smells. If that isn’t enough, I put vanilla essence into the rinsing water to wash out the fridge. I dissolve some nice-smelling oil in alcohol, put it in a spray bottle, and use that if needed. When we have visitors we leave an incense stick and a box of matches in the bathroom.

It may seem like a small adjustment to make – changing a household cleaning routine. Permaculture teaches us ‘make the least change for the maximum benefit’. Besides the obvious money-saving and health preserving benefits of green housekeeping, the potential long term benefits for the planet’s water resources are enormous. It’s a matter of choice.

11 Comments

  1. Excellent advice, The only thing to keep an eye on is the use of Bicarb soda and salt as these will add sodium to your grey water and too much could alter the structure of your soil and damage plants.

    Cheers

  2. I have seen boiling water work wonders on clogged drains. Such a great tip! The green cleaning service that cleans my home has used that once when I had a problem with the kitchen sink.

  3. Some great ideas here to help people get off commercial cleaners. However to look at this from a permaculture perspective we need to go a bit deeper and consider the cradle to grave aspects of what we use.

    Baking soda is an excellent cleaner, but most world supplies of baking soda are not sustainable. I’ve found it difficult to find out exact details, but wiki tells us that baking soda is either an industrially produced chemical, or is mined. We also know that there are significant product miles attached to baking soda.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate#Production

    Oils like lavender and tea tree are essential oils. Most essential oils are produced from monocrops without regard for the attendant land use problems that creates. Many essential oils are also industrially produced, often using chemicals for extraction. Higher quality oils are expensive which makes them prohibitive for many people for everyday use. Essential oils are very strong extracts with significant effect on microbial life, so need to be used with care. People with multiple chemical sensitivities often have similar reactions to essential oils as they do to synthetic perfumes or other volatile products like petrol.

    I’ve not seen an in depth analysis of the end use impacts of either baking soda or essential oils. As Michael notes above, there may be issues with baking soda and grey water use. We don’t know the impact of essential oils yet, although they are strong enough chemicals that disposal of unwanted essential oils needs to be done with care. Essential oils are also often harmful to ingest and should be kept out of the reach of children.

    Alternatives to essential oils include herbal vinegars or water-based herbal infusions, or the dried herbs themselves. I’ve not found a good substitute for baking soda, but remain in hope given that our not too distant ancestors managed without it. In the interim we can make choices around how much we use of products, as well as asking questions about their sources and how they are produced. Many of the suggestions in the article mean we can limit use of baking soda and essential oils. Techniques often replace the need for chemicals (eg using very hot water).

  4. Great comments! I will experiment with some herb vinegars! @ pebble; you have me pondering on something. My mom grew up on a farm, miles from anywhere, and they used to make their own soap using wood ash and lard (I think). It may be that a combination of these ingredients, together with herbs, might be a good substitute. I will experiment and report back!

  5. For all of my chemical free cleaning needs I use Enjo which is a microfibre based cleaning system. Whilst the products may seem expensive at first glance I have been using the same bathroom glove for the past 7 years and it cost me $30 back then. I just replaced it at a cost of $50 but if it last for another 7 years it’s money well spent and I still use the old one for the harsher areas. I have a dishcloth which I have also had for 7 years still going strong wash after wash. I use the orange dusting glove which makes the dust stick to the glove. We recently just got the floor mop and duster which is also proving to be quick and easy. I have not used any cleaning chemicals for many years and once you get the hang of how to use it, it will save you heaps of time cleaning and let’s face it who wouldn’t rather be out in the garden! I’m sure you can find a local person in your area who sells it. Sure there is transport and energy used in production etc but at least it’s a chemical free stystem and you’ll never have to walk down the chemical isle in the supermarket again.
    Happy cleaning!

  6. My sister bought me koh cleaner, which turns out to be a very weak solution of lye; a committed DIYer should be able to obtain a similar result by draining water through ash, but it works out cheap enough that i don’t mind paying for it. It’s fantastic for anything greasy (turns the grease instantly into soap, which then wipes straight off!) After many years of scrubbing kitchen grease with dishwash, vinegar, eucalyptus oil, etc, etc, I’ll use Koh for that job every time, though i’m disinclined to use the wonderful atomiser and inhale the stuff or get a mist of it over my face – just a splash on a cloth will do. It’s rough on your hands, of course; a smarter person than me would use gloves.

    As a strong alkali, lye (treated very, very carefully – it’s super-dangerous in stronger concentrations!) could be used in miniscule amounts to replace bicarb, and i guess ash-water would also do the job here. Note that mixing the bicarb and vinegar together before use cancels their benefits – add them one at a time, or mix 10-20 parts bicarb with 1 part citric acid and let them react on a damp surface (saucepans, sinks, drains, etc).

    I can’t imagine cleaning without eucalyptus oil; if you’re concerned about its production, it’s one of the easiest oils to DIY. Smells clean, deters (and apparently kills) cockroaches, kills germs, cuts through dirt and grime. Wonderful stuff. I like to throw a bit into the washing machine, too, especially if i’m washing towels or anything else that’s inclined to breed germs. Eucalyptus citriodora has a lemony scent and does much the same job. I clean my floors with hot water and a splash of eucalyptus, and it does the job thoroughly, even if the floors are yuckier than they should be.

    Kitchen benches also get a wipe down with eucalyptus, while bicarb with a pinch of citric acid shines the sink magnificently.

    Orange oil will remove fruit stains and blood in the wash, and can be mixed with detergent to make it go further.

    The book “Fresh Clean Home: Make your own Natural Cleaning Products” by Wendy Graham has been a game changer, too. Everything we’ve tried from it has worked! The toilet cleaner is superb – way better than any commercial ones we’ve tried, and of course a clean, natural scent. that not only kills germs but lifts your mood, too. Until my sister gave me the Koh cleaner, i used to keep a separate bottle of Wendy’s toilet cleaner to clean the stove with (I’ve also repurposed the recipe – using different essential oils and more glycerine – to make a useful anti-itch lotion for myelofibrosis and psoriasis).

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