Less Toxic Cleaning Products Jump to Recommended Cleaning Products Table “If you can't clean something with the following items, it's not worth keeping! You may have to change your definition of what "clean" is (white clothes don't have to be sparkling white to be clean), but these products will most likely do the job you need done: Baking soda Grapefruit seed extract (a natural germ killer available at your health food store!) Lemon juice White vinegar Club soda Bon Ami scouring powder Borax You'd be amazed at how effective these cheap, widely available items are! Your cleaning budget can be cut drastically! These are the only cleaning products I have in my home, and they have done every bit as well as the expensive cleaners I used to have.” From the MCS For Beginners website. Sources for Less Toxic Products Grocery Stores: The great thing about the least toxic cleaning products (baking soda, vinegar, borax, and Bon-Ami ) is that they are available at grocery stores. Many stores also carry some of the less-toxic product lines, such as 7^th Generation. Tide Free, and other products labeled “no added scents or dyes” are also becoming more widely available at grocery and department stores. Mail order sources specializing in products for the chemically sensitive and that advertise in our newsletter are: Needs, The Living Source, and Janices (not on-line, call 800-janices, also try Safe Shopper's Directory. Eco-clean in Phoenix: mail order and once- a-week truck delivery to Tucson: Chemical Composition of Household Products; If your still not convinced about the toxicity of cleaning products see the Household Products Data Base from National Institute of Health for the chemical “ingredients” of household products and MSDS sheets. Searchable by product. Less Toxic Cleaning Products Table
Task /Product	Best for MCS	For less sensitive and care takers
Laundry Do Not Use Ivory laundry soap (it is scented).	Plain Hot Water Baking soda Hexametaphosphate (hexa) Granny’s laundry soaps Ceramic laundry disks Borax for laundry[1][1] To remove fabric finish, try instant milk	Allen’s Detergent Life Tree Laundry Soap Trader Joe’s Laundry Soap 7th Generation Detergent Natural Enzyme spotters Liseaux Oxygen Bleach Unscented versions of popular detergents such as Tide Free, Cheer Free
Fabric Softener: Do Not Use Fabric Softener or Dryer Sheets, even if unscented	Baking Soda, Vinegar or Hexameta-phosphate – ¼ cup in final rinse Hanging to dry eliminates most static.
Dishwashing and General Cleaning	Hot water and Baking soda Dishwasher – Hexametaphosphate	Granny’s EZ Maid Dish soaps: 7^thGeneration/LifeTree/TraderJoe’s/Allen’s Dishwasher soap: Allen’s, Dawn Free, 7^th Generation, or Trader Joe’s
Heavy Duty Cleaning	Same as for dishes	AFM Super Clean, Allen’s All Purpose Cleaner, Neolife Rugged Red, Oxyclean, Planet TSP (odorless, but very caustic: use gloves)
Windows Never combine products containing ammonia (e.g. Windex) with products containing bleach very toxic fumes result	Hot Water	Distilled water with a little dish soap and vinegar. Windex, etc leave an oily residue: remove with alcohol, then use mixture above Ammonia based cleaners: wipe on, do not spray.
Disinfectants[2][2] Do Not Use: Lysol or equivalent	Borax Lemon Juice (oil free) Hydrogen peroxide	Citricidal Grapefruit seed extract, or Tea tree oil, a few drops in water Clorox, if not used in the presence of someone with MCS
Cleansers	Baking soda/salt on tacky rag, Emery stone for hard water ring in toilet.	Bon Ami Borax Descale-it for hard water deposits
Deodorizers/ Air Fresheners Do not use ANY spray, wick, candle, plug-in or oil	Substitute cleanliness, airing, air filtration To absorb odors, Baking soda, Zeolite crystals	Oxyfresh Smells Be Gone
Pest Control Do Not Use: commercial pesticides (see Alternative Pest Control	Cleanliness Diatomaceous Earth (do not breathe dust)	Borax Dish soap spray Alternative Pest Control 7^th Generation and Earth Friendly type pesticide sprays (non-aerosol).
Carpets[3][3] - Do Not Use commercial no-steam cleaning methods or soaps sold with machines at the grocery	Remove carpets Sprinkle with baking soda and vacuum Steam cleaning with no soaps and fan drying (commercial process)	Granny’s Carpet shampoo AFM carpet shampoo Acceptable laundry soaps [rinse and dry thoroughly to prevent mold]

Copyright 2001, HEAL of Southern Arizona. All rights reserved. Updated 4/20/2005

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[1][1] Borax can stop the microbe action in your septic tank. Use sparingly or not at all if you have a septic tank.

[2][2] Disinfectants: Lysol and similar disinfectants are unnecessary and are highly toxic and carcinogenic.

[3][3] Carpet Cleaning – Inexpensive commercial carpet cleaning methods, rented carpet cleaners and carpet soaps leave a carpet in worse condition than before cleaning – they clean surface dirt, but leave an oily, artificially scented residue, which causes the carpet to compress and retain soil, so it soon looks worse. The carpet will not dry thoroughly because of this residue and any water that seeps into the carpet below surface level will run down into the padding and under-floor, allowing mold to grow. If you are having your carpet cleaned, be sure that it is dried by large fans and heaters. The Chem-Dri system is obviously a chemical system and it is generally not tolerable to those with MCS.