Toxin-Free Cleaning Tips for Your Home

In the last post we mentioned that Casa Latina’s workers enjoy participating in “Green Cleaning” workshops, where they share tips for creating a cleaner, healthier home. This week we’d like to present some of those tips to you! The following ideas come from The Washington State Department of Ecology. For even more “Green Cleaning” tips, visit their website here: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/toxicfreetips/

 

Tub & Sink Cleaner
• Baking Soda
• Liquid Castile Soap/Murphy’s Soap

You can use baking soda in place of scouring powder. Sprinkle the baking soda on porcelain fixtures and rub with a wet rag. You can add a little soap to the rag for more cleaning power. Rinse well to avoid leaving a hazy film.

Window and Mirror Cleaner
• Vinegar
• Water

Put ¼ cup vinegar in to a spray bottle and fill to the top with water. Spray on glass surfaces. Rub with sheets of newspaper, a diaper, or other lint-free rag. For outdoor windows, use a sponge and wash using warm water with a few drops of liquid Castile soap added. Rinse well and dry with a squeegee.

Toilet-Bowl Cleaner
• Baking Soda
• Liquid Castile Soap/Murphy’s Soap

Sprinkle baking soda inside the bowl as you would any scouring powder. Squeeze a couple of drops of soap in, then scrub with a toilet-bowl brush. Finish outside surfaces of toilet with a wet rag sprinkled with baking soda.

- CLWC

“Green Cleaning” for Healthy Communities

Now more than ever, there’s an awareness that everyday household cleaning products can be hazardous to your health, to your home, and to the environment. People in the cleaning industry have begun shifting away from using traditional cleaning products and are using non-toxic, ecologically-friendly alternatives instead—a movement called “Green Cleaning.”

At Casa Latina, workers meet together regularly to share Green Cleaning tips and to educate one another about the risks involved in using potentially-hazardous products.

Here we see workers attending one of Casa Latina’s Green Cleaning seminars. Gilda, who helps organize the meetings, says that Casa Latina’s house-cleaners created the seminars in order to share information on the correct use of cleaning products, while exchanging tips for alternatives to cleaning with hazardous chemicals.

As the trend toward Green Cleaning continues to spread, an increasing number of people in our community are seeking safer standards to protect their home and family. Casa Latina’s workers not only understand the dangers of using toxic cleaning products, but they can whip your home into shape using safer, eco-friendly alternatives.

-DWC

Cheat Sheet for Tools

The workers at Casa Latina are always learning a variety of new skills to help them on the job. For example, Casa Latina offers daily English language courses to help our Spanish-speaking workers better communicate with their English-speaking employers and with others in their Seattle community. Along with acquiring terms and phrases used in everyday life, workers at Casa Latina learn the English names of the tools they’ll be using on the job. Here we offer a Spanish-English translation guide for some common gardening and cleaning tools. You can try these out next time you hire a worker from Casa Latina!

Cleaning Supplies:

Broom                    Escoba

Mop                       Trapeador

Sponge                   Esponja

Duster                    Guardapolvo

Brush                      Brocha

Bottle                     Botella

Dust Pan                 Recogedor

Face Mask               Mascarilla

Tools for the Garden:

Leaf Rake                   Rastrillo de Hoja

Rake                           Rastrillo

Shovel                        Pala

Gloves                        Guantes

Pruning Shears           Tijeras para podar

Watering Can             Regadera

Hoe                            Azada

Hand Cultivator          Palita de Cultivar

Small Shovel               Palita

 

-CLWC