Since switching to a green cleaning home, I never feel sick or dizzy after cleaning. My cleaning products don’t give me a headache. I don’t worry if my dog licks up a tiny bit of spilled cleaner. I don’t worry if I accidentally get cleaners on my skin. I don’t worry about my impact on the environment. And that’s not to mention the money I’ve saved on cleaning products.

Switching to green cleaning was one of the best decisions I’ve made! So if you want to love your cleaning routine as much as I do, follow my top 3 principles of a green cleaning home.

Principle 1: Use effective cleaners and methods

Green cleaning shouldn’t take any more time or effort than your usual cleaning routine.

After all, are you really going to switch to green cleaning if it is harder or your home won’t be as clean? I didn’t think so. Well, you don’t need to worry about that.

Just because you’re getting rid of a lot of the chemicals in your cleaners doesn’t mean they shouldn’t work just as well! Green cleaning operates under the assumption that simple is better- and I’ve generally found that to be true. With just a few basic ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, borax, rubbing alcohol, and a little dish soap, I can clean my entire home.

Believe it or not, I often find the green cleaning products I make are actually more effective than the ones I used to buy! And they never make me feel sick or icky either. Definitely a win-win!

Principle 2: Use non-harmful and non-toxic products

The goal of green cleaning is that your cleaning routine shouldn’t harm humans or the environment.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it needs to be said. Your cleaning products shouldn’t harm your health, your home, or the environment.

I like to stick to a few basic ingredients and keep my cleaners pH neutral when I can. If I do end up buying a cleaner or researching an ingredient I’m not familiar with, I always reference the EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning.

Remember, everything you send down the drain or into a landfill ends up back in the water table eventually. If you wouldn’t want trace amounts of it in your drinking water, don’t use it. If you know it will harm aquatic life, don’t use it. If you know it will do ecological harm, don’t use it.

Principle 3: Minimize waste and maximize resourcefulness

Green cleaning isn’t just about the products you use- it’s also about how you clean. 

Even if you clean your whole house with baking soda and vinegar- you may not be being a green cleaner! It’s hard to believe- but having a green cleaning home extends to more than just the ingredients and products you clean with.

If you use an entire paper towel roll to clean your bathroom- that’s not exactly ideal. If you use plastic bottles with BPA in them to store your cleaners, that’s not ideal either. You want to keep these things in mind as well.

I swear by my microfiber cleaning cloths. I only use reusable washable cleaning supplies- like my refillable bona mop or my reusable microfiber duster. Whenever we finish with a glass jar, I save it to store cleaning supplies in. Same goes for spray bottles- spray bottles are my favorite. Reusable things are your friends!

What do you think of these 3 principles? If you’re ready to make the switch to green cleaning, check out my free guide:

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