2nd Edition Publication Date:  December 2008 Storey Books

Table of Contents

Why Clean with Herbs?
The Kitchen
The Bath
The Laundry
Wood Care
Walls & Carpeting
Cleaning Metals
Clearing the Air
The Garage & Basement
The Garden & Landscape
The Home Office

It's time to "green" that cleaning routine! Millions of Americans are replacing harsh chemical cleansers with eco-friendly alternatives. Unfortunately, most commercial green cleaners are expensive, and they often come with dubious environmental claims.

Effective, nontoxic alternatives can be mixed up easily from kitchen staples — baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, herbs, and borax — plus a handful of easy-to-find essential oils. In the second edition of The Naturally Clean Home, Karyn Siegel-Maier offers 150 all-natural recipes for cleaning every area of the home — from bathrooms to bedding, and from carpets to cabinetry.

Siegel-Maier, a writer specializing in complementary therapies whose work is featured in such publications as Mother Earth News and Natural Living Today, presents quick recipes for cleansers that are nontoxic, biodegradable, and fresh smelling. Formulas are so simple that even a novice can make them, yet they are as effective as the commercial options. Best of all, these recipes are much less expensive than commercial cleaners; most can be made for mere pennies per use.

With the second edition of this popular book comes a host of hard-working new recipes, including Rosemary-Geranium Floor Wipes for electrostatic floor mops, Thyme to Make Your Own Carpet Steamer, Weekend Warrior Wicker Wash, Telephone Dirty Talk Tamer, Clear the Air Room Spritzer, and Lavender Lift Automatic Dishwasher Soap.

Siegel-Maier also offers recipes for outdoor spaces — like Shoo-Fly Shake to keep flies away from your backyard barbecue — and covers areas less commonly considered in the cleaning routine: garden, houseplants, computer, even the septic tank!

Whether scrubbing or scouring, degreasing or dusting, The Naturally Clean Home makes it fun to mix up chemical-free products that are easy on home and planet! 

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Clean & Green

As you may recall from high school biology class, plants continuously take in carbon dioxide and other airborne toxins to produce oxygen.  Bingo!  You've got instant air filtration.  Some common plants that purify the air are:

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Karyn Siegel-Maier is an alternative health researcher and writer who has written for numerous national magazines including Natural Living Today, Better Nutrition, Your Health, Let's Live, Mother Earth News, Delicious!, Energy Times and others.  She is also a member of the International Aromatherapy and Herb Association. 

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Do-It-Yourself Carpet Cleaners

Footprints and spills of uncertain origin are not strangers on wall-to-wall carpeting.  Exercise the familiar "please, wipe your feet" as often as you will, but energy-driven kids in muddy sneakers often forget to pause at the doormat.  Try this sweet-smelling solution for everyday grime:

Rosemary-Lavender Carpet Shampoo

This recipe makes enough for a 10' x 13' room.  If you can't find soap flakes, you can use 1/4 cup borax instead, but test the outcome of this substitution on a small area first.

1. Sweep carpet to be cleaned with a broom or carpet sweeper to loosen dirt, then vacuum the entire area.

2. Combine the baking soda and soap flakes in a plastic bowl.  Add the essential oils and mix well, breaking up any clumps with a fork.  Sprinkle the mixture on the carpet.

3.  Add the vinegar to the warm water in a bucket or pail.  Dip a clean sponge mop into the bucket and squeeze out as much excess liquid as you can.  Gently go over carpet with the sponge mop, working in sections.  Wait at least an hour and then vacuum again.

Excerpted from The Naturally Clean Home (c) 2008 by Karyn Siegel-Maier with permission from Storey Books, Pownal, Vermont 05261, www.storeybooks.com