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201 Everyday Uses for Salt, Lemons, Vinegar, and Baking Soda

Natural, Affordable, and Sustainable Solutions for the Home

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Paperback
$19.95 US
5.52"W x 7.48"H x 0.52"D   | 10 oz | 52 per carton
On sale Aug 23, 2022 | 256 Pages | 9781632174291
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Save money on home cleaning products with 201 natural cleaning solutions that use four simple, versatile, and inexpensive ingredients: salt, lemon, vinegar, baking soda, and olive oil. This is an essential reference for anyone interested in thrifty, natural, and sustainable living!

Clean is the new inexpensive green! Sustainable. Organic. Economical. Natural. Now more than ever, people are looking to create a nontoxic home by using products that are effective, economical, and natural.
 
This handy book focuses on living simpler, stepping away from all those expensive, chemical-laden products for cleaning the oven, washing windows, polishing silver, removing stains and instead leveraging the power of a few humble but mighty ingredients in the common pantry. You can do a whole lot more with vinegar than make salad dressing!

This practical book will guide you through 100s of recipes, broken down by the area of the house, with easy instructions. Home cleaning (both indoors and outdoors), personal hygiene and grooming, pet care—this is an essential reference for all parts of your life that you will reach for again and again! Natural cleaning and care solutions include:

The Kitchen
All-Purpose Cleanser * Stainless-Steel Cleaner * Copper Cleaner * Silver Polish * Cutting Board and Countertop Disinfectant * Natural Stone Countertop Cleanser * Broom Bristle Preserver * Kitchen Sponge Disinfectant * Oven Cleanse * Grease Fire Control
 
The Living Room
Rug and Carpet Shampoo * Wood Floor Polish * All-Purpose Glass Cleaner * Window Anti-Freeze * Vacuum Bag Deodorizer * Light-Duty Spackle * Lemon-Scented Wood Furniture Cleanser * Leather Furniture Conditioner * The Bedroom * Pillow Deodorizer * Closet Freshener * Baby Toy Disinfectant * Shoe Deodorizer
 
The Bathroom
Bathroom Sink and Bathtub Drain Clog Remover * Shower Door Cleanser * Shower Mildew Preventer * Toilet Bowl Cleanser
 
The Laundry
Stain Pretreatments * Laundry Softener * White Load Lightener * Vinyl Shower Curtain Liner Cleanse
 
And much more!

Learn how to use salt, lemons, baking soda, and vinegar (plus a few other versatile items) in hundreds of different combinations to clean the home and care for yourself, your family, and your pets. Just like these inexpensive but mighty ingredients, this book is good for the planet and your wallet.
Benjamin Mott is a professional cook, recipe tester, and editor with three decades’ experience in nonfiction and cookbook publishing. Based in New York City, he has focused his food practice on farm-to-table cooking and organic food choices since long before those terms became the routine calling card of restaurants and groceries around the world. And as a loving partner, a mindful parent of two children, and steward of two very hairy cats, he discovered the health benefits and awesome cleaning properties of a handful of natural, nontoxic ingredients, adapting them for use in his own home.
 
Chapter 2: The Kitchen
 
Perhaps the most time-worn cliché about the kitchen is that it is the heart of the home—but like most clichés, it is uttered so often because it’s true. The kitchen is where we wind up spending a lot of our waking hours, preparing meals, grabbing snacks, eating and drinking, and just hanging out. And because it often has a door that leads outside—or is situated close to the entrance to the home, whether a house or an apartment—the kitchen is also a heavily trafficked thoroughfare. Due to all this activity, much of it quite messy, the kitchen probably sees the hardest use of any room in the house. The recipes in this chapter will help combat the chaos.
 

All-Purpose Cleanser
Every cleaning arsenal requires a multipurpose cleanser capable of handling a wide variety of household cleaning challenges, from dirty stovetops to coffee tables, grease-stained clothing to bathroom sinks, and car interiors to most countertops (but not natural stone, many types of which are easily damaged by acids such as vinegar; see Natural Stone Countertop Cleanser, page 25, for this type of surface). This simple preparation makes a great-smelling, highly effective cleaning solution for countless situations.
 
NOTE: If you’re in need of a glass cleaner, see All-Purpose Glass Cleaner (page 70).
 
• Mix 3 large strips of lemon peel with 2 cups (500 mL) white vinegar in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Let this mixture stand for 4 weeks, giving it a good shake every couple of days.

• Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh stainless-steel strainer or cheesecloth and pour into a clean 16-ounce (500 mL) glass spray bottle.
 
NOTE: If you don’t have time to wait for the lemon peels to steep, substitute 5 to 10 drops lemon essential oil; the spray will be ready to use immediately.
 

Stainless-Steel Cleaner

Anyone with stainless-steel appliances knows how difficult it is to keep them clean—stainless steel shows fingerprints and other stains, but cleaning it with soap leaves an unsightly film behind. This simple solution takes advantage of baking soda’s mild abrasive qualities to make an effective cleaner that leaves no residue.
 
• Add 1 heaping tablespoon (15 mL) baking soda to the surface of a clean, damp sponge. Holding it over the sink, squeeze the sponge to release enough moisture into the baking soda to create a thick paste. Rub the paste onto the surfaces you are cleaning in wide circles. Rinse the sponge and wring it out, and wipe the surfaces clean with the damp sponge. Buff with a clean, lint-free cloth.
 

Copper Cleaner
Copper cookware is much loved by cooks everywhere—the metal is famously conductive, heating evenly and quickly, and it looks stunning. All this comes at a cost though: copper pots, pans, and bowls are very expensive and, because the metal tarnishes easily, require a lot of maintenance. Luckily you probably have the necessary ingredients for an excellent cleaner in your home right now. Oh, and don’t forget to polish your brass too (antique door handles, I’m looking at you)—brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, so this solution works just as well on all those doorknobs and sculptures.
 
• Cut 1 lemon in half and wrap each half in a small piece of cheesecloth. (No cheesecloth? No problem—it works almost as well without it.) Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 mL) of salt on each cut surface of lemon and use that side to polish your copper cookware. Add a little more salt as you go, as needed. Rinse and thoroughly dry with a dish towel.
 

Silver Polish
Silver flatware and dinnerware are among the most prized possessions in any home, passed down from generation to generation and trotted out for special occasions. Because of all the sulfurous chemicals that have been released into the environment since the Industrial Revolution, however, this beautiful metal tarnishes easily. Many consumer products have been developed to keep silver looking its best, but you have everything you need to clean it right now. (By the way, this works just as well on silver jewelry.)
 
• Heat 2 quarts (2 L) water to a boil and pour into a large, wide bowl. Stir in 1 cup (250 mL) baking soda until incorporated, then add a 2-inch (5 cm) by 12-inch (60 cm) strip of aluminum foil. Lay the silverware (and dinnerware that is small enough to fit) into the bowl and soak for at least 30 minutes.
 
• In a small bowl, prepare a mixture of 3/4 cup (180 mL) baking soda and 1/4 cup (60 mL) water. As you remove each piece of silverware from the large bowl, apply a small amount of the baking soda paste and rub thoroughly with a clean, lint-free cloth. Then wash the silverware by hand with mild soap, rinse, and dry.

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About

Save money on home cleaning products with 201 natural cleaning solutions that use four simple, versatile, and inexpensive ingredients: salt, lemon, vinegar, baking soda, and olive oil. This is an essential reference for anyone interested in thrifty, natural, and sustainable living!

Clean is the new inexpensive green! Sustainable. Organic. Economical. Natural. Now more than ever, people are looking to create a nontoxic home by using products that are effective, economical, and natural.
 
This handy book focuses on living simpler, stepping away from all those expensive, chemical-laden products for cleaning the oven, washing windows, polishing silver, removing stains and instead leveraging the power of a few humble but mighty ingredients in the common pantry. You can do a whole lot more with vinegar than make salad dressing!

This practical book will guide you through 100s of recipes, broken down by the area of the house, with easy instructions. Home cleaning (both indoors and outdoors), personal hygiene and grooming, pet care—this is an essential reference for all parts of your life that you will reach for again and again! Natural cleaning and care solutions include:

The Kitchen
All-Purpose Cleanser * Stainless-Steel Cleaner * Copper Cleaner * Silver Polish * Cutting Board and Countertop Disinfectant * Natural Stone Countertop Cleanser * Broom Bristle Preserver * Kitchen Sponge Disinfectant * Oven Cleanse * Grease Fire Control
 
The Living Room
Rug and Carpet Shampoo * Wood Floor Polish * All-Purpose Glass Cleaner * Window Anti-Freeze * Vacuum Bag Deodorizer * Light-Duty Spackle * Lemon-Scented Wood Furniture Cleanser * Leather Furniture Conditioner * The Bedroom * Pillow Deodorizer * Closet Freshener * Baby Toy Disinfectant * Shoe Deodorizer
 
The Bathroom
Bathroom Sink and Bathtub Drain Clog Remover * Shower Door Cleanser * Shower Mildew Preventer * Toilet Bowl Cleanser
 
The Laundry
Stain Pretreatments * Laundry Softener * White Load Lightener * Vinyl Shower Curtain Liner Cleanse
 
And much more!

Learn how to use salt, lemons, baking soda, and vinegar (plus a few other versatile items) in hundreds of different combinations to clean the home and care for yourself, your family, and your pets. Just like these inexpensive but mighty ingredients, this book is good for the planet and your wallet.

Author

Benjamin Mott is a professional cook, recipe tester, and editor with three decades’ experience in nonfiction and cookbook publishing. Based in New York City, he has focused his food practice on farm-to-table cooking and organic food choices since long before those terms became the routine calling card of restaurants and groceries around the world. And as a loving partner, a mindful parent of two children, and steward of two very hairy cats, he discovered the health benefits and awesome cleaning properties of a handful of natural, nontoxic ingredients, adapting them for use in his own home.
 

Excerpt

Chapter 2: The Kitchen
 
Perhaps the most time-worn cliché about the kitchen is that it is the heart of the home—but like most clichés, it is uttered so often because it’s true. The kitchen is where we wind up spending a lot of our waking hours, preparing meals, grabbing snacks, eating and drinking, and just hanging out. And because it often has a door that leads outside—or is situated close to the entrance to the home, whether a house or an apartment—the kitchen is also a heavily trafficked thoroughfare. Due to all this activity, much of it quite messy, the kitchen probably sees the hardest use of any room in the house. The recipes in this chapter will help combat the chaos.
 

All-Purpose Cleanser
Every cleaning arsenal requires a multipurpose cleanser capable of handling a wide variety of household cleaning challenges, from dirty stovetops to coffee tables, grease-stained clothing to bathroom sinks, and car interiors to most countertops (but not natural stone, many types of which are easily damaged by acids such as vinegar; see Natural Stone Countertop Cleanser, page 25, for this type of surface). This simple preparation makes a great-smelling, highly effective cleaning solution for countless situations.
 
NOTE: If you’re in need of a glass cleaner, see All-Purpose Glass Cleaner (page 70).
 
• Mix 3 large strips of lemon peel with 2 cups (500 mL) white vinegar in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Let this mixture stand for 4 weeks, giving it a good shake every couple of days.

• Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh stainless-steel strainer or cheesecloth and pour into a clean 16-ounce (500 mL) glass spray bottle.
 
NOTE: If you don’t have time to wait for the lemon peels to steep, substitute 5 to 10 drops lemon essential oil; the spray will be ready to use immediately.
 

Stainless-Steel Cleaner

Anyone with stainless-steel appliances knows how difficult it is to keep them clean—stainless steel shows fingerprints and other stains, but cleaning it with soap leaves an unsightly film behind. This simple solution takes advantage of baking soda’s mild abrasive qualities to make an effective cleaner that leaves no residue.
 
• Add 1 heaping tablespoon (15 mL) baking soda to the surface of a clean, damp sponge. Holding it over the sink, squeeze the sponge to release enough moisture into the baking soda to create a thick paste. Rub the paste onto the surfaces you are cleaning in wide circles. Rinse the sponge and wring it out, and wipe the surfaces clean with the damp sponge. Buff with a clean, lint-free cloth.
 

Copper Cleaner
Copper cookware is much loved by cooks everywhere—the metal is famously conductive, heating evenly and quickly, and it looks stunning. All this comes at a cost though: copper pots, pans, and bowls are very expensive and, because the metal tarnishes easily, require a lot of maintenance. Luckily you probably have the necessary ingredients for an excellent cleaner in your home right now. Oh, and don’t forget to polish your brass too (antique door handles, I’m looking at you)—brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, so this solution works just as well on all those doorknobs and sculptures.
 
• Cut 1 lemon in half and wrap each half in a small piece of cheesecloth. (No cheesecloth? No problem—it works almost as well without it.) Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 mL) of salt on each cut surface of lemon and use that side to polish your copper cookware. Add a little more salt as you go, as needed. Rinse and thoroughly dry with a dish towel.
 

Silver Polish
Silver flatware and dinnerware are among the most prized possessions in any home, passed down from generation to generation and trotted out for special occasions. Because of all the sulfurous chemicals that have been released into the environment since the Industrial Revolution, however, this beautiful metal tarnishes easily. Many consumer products have been developed to keep silver looking its best, but you have everything you need to clean it right now. (By the way, this works just as well on silver jewelry.)
 
• Heat 2 quarts (2 L) water to a boil and pour into a large, wide bowl. Stir in 1 cup (250 mL) baking soda until incorporated, then add a 2-inch (5 cm) by 12-inch (60 cm) strip of aluminum foil. Lay the silverware (and dinnerware that is small enough to fit) into the bowl and soak for at least 30 minutes.
 
• In a small bowl, prepare a mixture of 3/4 cup (180 mL) baking soda and 1/4 cup (60 mL) water. As you remove each piece of silverware from the large bowl, apply a small amount of the baking soda paste and rub thoroughly with a clean, lint-free cloth. Then wash the silverware by hand with mild soap, rinse, and dry.

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