Every day we use different products to clean our homes. Most of them contain many toxic substances and they can influence our health. We might not feel it immediately, but in time, all the substances we use will end up in our organism and the effects can be very dangerous. Just the people who suffer from allergies or asthma know how bad these products are, because immediacy after using them, their seizures will occur. The toxic substances used to make these cleaning products will spread around the entire house when you are using them and you won’t be able to see them. You probably believe that if you use a mask while you spray different products in your bathroom, it won’t affect you, but this isn’t true. It is best to protect yourself while you use the products, but the invisible particles will end up on your paper towels and toilet paper, on your toothbrushes, and they will remain in the air for a long period of time as well. Therefore, even after you finish the housework, you and your family can inhale the vapors. There are many pulmonary diseases that can be caused by these substances, and you should avoid these situations.
A great alternative is to use homemade cleaning products and the first product you should replace is the window cleaning spray. When you use it, particles are spread around the entire house and it is very unhealthy. It is very easy to make these cleaning products and it is even cheaper to make it at home, than buy it from the supermarket. The key ingredients are simple and you probably have them all the time in the house. There are a few recipes you can try from, but they contain mainly the same ingredients. You can add or take from the list of ingredients, try different ratios, and you might even come up with your own perfect recipe.
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The simplest and the most classical way you can go: plain vinegar
This is the oldest recipe for window cleaners. Since the years when you couldn’t find window cleaners in shops, people discovered that vinegar can clean almost everything and if you use it on windows or mirrors the result will be fantastic. You can put vinegar directly on the windows, with a spraying bottle, or with a cloth and after a good rub the result is surprising. You will have clean windows in a matter of seconds with something you already have in the kitchen. However, the result isn’t perfect and you cannot compare it with the perfect finish after you use a window cleaning product from the supermarket. Therefore, if you are in a hurry and you have to clean your window, or you don’t have the next ingredients in your home, try simple vinegar. It is healthy, cheap, fast and you will have almost spotless windows.
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Add some alcohol and some water and you will have the next generation of window cleaners
Plain vinegar is ok, but it isn’t perfect. Therefore, buy some rubbing alcohol and add it to your cleaning spray. The alcohol with 70% isopropyl is the best for this job. A good ration is one cup rubbing alcohol to one cup of water, topping it with 2 tbsp. of vinegar. You can increase the quantities, maintaining this ratio, if you need more cleaning product. Also, you can add one tbsp. of ammonia, for a better smell and a spotless result. This is the most common recipe for homemade window cleaners. The result is comparable with the finish result of the products bought from the store.
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The special ingredient that will give you a perfect window
Using vinegar and alcohol are classical recipes for homemade window and mirror cleaners, but if you want to take your product to the next level, you have to add cornstarch. It probably sounds odd to you at first, but this is the way to go if you want crystal clear windows. ¼ cup of white vinegar, 1 tbsp. of cornstarch perfectly diluted in 2 cups of warm water and your windows will be spotless. You will forget about streaks, your windows will be shiny and perfectly clear.
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Mix all for ingredients and you have a well-balanced and intelligent window cleaning product
If you want perfect windows, you should include on your grocery list: cornstarch, alcohol and vinegar. These three ingredients probably cost more than a bottle of cheap store bought window cleaner, but you can make more homemade window cleaning product from them and in the end, it will be way cheaper. You will save money and you will clean your windows in a healthy and environmentally friendly way.
You just have to mix very well in 2 cups of warm water, ¼ cup of white vinegar, ¼ cup of rubbing alcohol and 1 tbsp. of cornstarch. It is important to mixt them very well, because you want the cornstarch to be well diluted. Also, it is important to use white vinegar, because you don’t want black spots after you clean the window with balsamic vinegar or other types of dark colored vinegar.
Put the mixture in a spray bottle and shake it well before you use it. The result will be clear as a diamond and you probably just found your favorite homemade window cleaning product. This product is better than the majority of the products you can buy form the store, the results are amazing and the fact that you will no longer bring toxic products into your home should make you give up the store bought products.
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You can try liquid soap as well
If for some reason you cannot use or don’t want to use the recipes listed above, you can try liquid soap as well. This isn’t such an eco-recipe as the ones we talked about above, but it is healthier than the products you can buy. You can mix 2 cups of water with ¼ cup of vinegar and ½ tbsp. of liquid soap and spray it in your windows. Rub well and the results will be satisfactory.
An extra advice and a secret tip from our grandmothers is to use old and dry, black and white, newspapers to do a final wipe on our windows. Any last streak will disappear and this will make the windows extra shiny.
In conclusion, these are the top 5 recipes for healthy, homemade window cleaning products. We should all try to avoid using toxic substances to clean our home, especially if we have small children and you can start by throwing out the store bought window cleaning products because the alternatives are amazing.
