This is the third in a four-part weekly series on Ways to be Healthy Without Breaking your Budget. This series is written by Victoria Carlson. If you missed them be sure to check out week 1 Ways to Eat Healthy on a Budget and week 2 Ways to Stay Fit on a Budget
There are so many chemicals in cleaning products today that are harmful not just to the environment, but to humans and animals as well. Some all-natural and safe cleaning supplies are extremely expensive compared to the ones that are on the more harmful side. However, there are five easy ways to stay clean in a healthy way without breaking your budget.
1) Method
Method is a brand of cleaning products that are sold in most stores today. They are clean, safe, green, focused on quality design, and have great fragrances. They have every type of cleaning product you could think of, particularly if you order these products online
Currently at Target, you can buy basic method products. One example is the all-purpose cleaner that they currently sell for $2.69. Better yet, you can find the coupon on Target’s coupon website, pair it up with a manufacturer coupon for a $1 off that was in the Sunday newspaper two weeks ago, and you can get this product for .69 cents. Yes, you read that right, 69 CENTS! How great is that?!
2) Green Works
Another safe product for the home is Clorox’s Green Works line of cleaning products
Many stores carry Green Works but often different stores will carry different kinds of Green Works products. One Target might have the laundry detergent and the all purpose cleaner
3) Melaleuca
I’m not gonna lie, I am not the biggest fan of Melaleuca. I absolutely love their products, however, it can be really expensive if you don’t have other people enrolled through you (fyi: Melaleuca allows you to refer others and if they enroll, recurring referral bonuses help pay for your products). Nevertheless, their products are concentrated, better for the environment and safe for the home.
If you can afford it and if you can justify the monthly minimum required purchases, I would definitely recommend Melaleuca. Better yet, get your products paid for if you have the time to enroll people. More info can be found here.
4) Swiffer Dry Dusters
Swiffer dry dusters
5) Couponing
I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS advocate couponing. There is always coupons for cleaning products, but all too often these products are unsafe/toxic. Not only are there coupons, but these products also frequently go on sale. I am always tempted to buy them, but when it comes down to it, you can buy better, safer products for almost the same price if you look hard enough for the coupons and do everything you can to match them up with sale prices.
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Photo by Victoria Carlson
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Couponing is a must for cleaning products! As you said, you can find a ton of great deals out there if you match your coupons up with sales!
@GregatClubThrifty My wife is quickly becoming a pro at matching coupons to sales. There are a ton of blogs out there that do a lot of the work for you.
@DC @ Young Adult Money @GregatClubThrifty
Great info. I, <a href=”http://www.herts-carpetcleaning.com”>Carpet Cleaning St Albans</a> love looking around the web when I am not cleaning the house finding interesting blogs and information like this. Great to see some off the wall posts rather than the normal same old posts that are everywhere. Well, better get back to the cleaning!
My wife loves using the Swiffer Dry Dusters. It makes it so much easier to dut/clean many things nd not have to deal with all of the chemicals. We also coupon quit a bit for home cleaning products. We often won’t buy it if it’s not on sale or we don’t have a coupon.
@FrugalRules Looks like we think alike ;) Can’t stand the chemical-loaded products
Great tips! You can also make some really green, natural home cleaning products using vinegar and a few other ingredients.
@GillianatMAG I’ve heard you can make some yourself, that’s pretty cool
I’m always finding coupons for green cleaning products, but never use them. I need to get back into couponing.
@SenseofCents Cleaning products are one thing that there will ALWAYS be coupons for…at least it seems that way
I’ve found that nothing cleans better than vinegar and baking soda. So for us I just buy these products in bulk and no matter what the job one of them gets it done. People are turned off by vinegar because of the smell but once it is dry the smell vanishes. The one cleaning product I do buy is dish soap and with coupons and on sale I stock up with a years supply when I can find it for free
@Em23 Great tips, I have not cleaned with vinegar and baking soda before
Great tips. Most people think that you can only use coupons and the products that are bad for you. That could be processed foods and cleaning supplies that give off toxic fumes. That is not the case. If you know how to properly stack coupons and make your purchases when items are on sale you can save a lot of money.
@OneSmartDollar Yep I see that as an excuse most people use “there are only coupons for crap!” Not true!
Nice – I find that there are often Green Works coupons on the Canadian coupon sites :-) That’s most of what I use at home. One of my employers used their stuff as well, yay!
I’ve never actually tried any of these products. I have a GIANT tub of lysol that I’m currently going through but I thought I might try the old vinegar and baking soda remedy once I’ve used it up.
@OutlierModel I’ve never tried vinegar and baking soda, but sounds like quite a few ppl do use it
I have gotten most of my cleaning products with coupons! Good tips!
@Holly at ClubThrifty There are a ton of coupons for cleaning products! Seems to never be a shortage.
I’m just curious how you know that they’re safe, green / clean? Do you check them out on the Good Guide?
@Veronica @ Pelican on Money That’s a good point. Because a lot of cleaning products labeled as green products are not necessarily anymore environmentally friendly than so called non green cleaners
@Veronica @ Pelican on Money Never heard of the Good Guide, what is it?
@DC @ Young Adult Money @Veronica @ Pelican on Money http://www.goodguide.com/
It’s a website that has several ratings for different product. Health, Environment etc… It’s awesome!
@Veronica @ Pelican on Money @DC @ Young Adult Money
Thanks for posting this because I definitely will be using this site in the future if I do decide to use other products. I did just check Method products too and they are rated high which is great!
http://www.goodguide.com/products?filter=method&sort_by_type=rating&sort_order=DESC&x=0&y=0
Right after I finish my lunch here, I’m going back to cleaning my gross house. I LOVE greenworks products!! I use them a lot. I also use swiffer pads for dusting as well. They’re not just for floors!
@seedebtrun Just started using green works in the past year, and I’m hooked. Nice to know you aren’t spraying a bunch of chemicals in the air.
My wife has started making her own cleaning products using some recipes she found online. Laundry detergent as well. They work better than the store-bought stuff.
@Jeremy Sarber Care to share the link?
@Jeremy Sarber
DEFINITELY would be interested in this link because that souds GREAT and such a good idea!
@vmcarlson7 Here you are:
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Soap, grated (any bar soap will work, but this is specifically for laundry and has stain fighting power in it)
water In pan, heat 6 cups of water with grated soap. Heat until soap is melted, and stir in borax and washing soda. Pour into a bucket and fill with warm water until the 2 gallon mark and stir well. Put into containers and let sit overnight to gel. Shake before each use.
We have lots of greenworks products in our house mainly due to coupons buy 3 Save $5.00 on sale for $1.99 making 3 products $0.97 plus tax… can’t beat that. We have since moved to vinegar and water or vinegar, lemons and water to clean around the house and it works well. Coupons are great and an excellent way for saving money in the budget… unless of course paying full price is someone doesn’t mind doing. Great post! Cheers Mr.CBB
I tend to use soap and water or vinegar for the most part, but I have used Greenworks and I really like the way it smells. We have used every cleaner you can think of on the rental, so I’ve probably shaved five years off my life from fumes alone.
@Eyesonthedollar Greenworks is great and is definitely affordable. I think scrubbing bubbles is the worst I’ve used. I seriously feel like my lungs are caving in when I use it : / Too bad it works so well..
I’m a huge fan of both Method and Green Works, especially since I have an almost 2 year old running around the house. Great advice Victoria!
@bensollie Good point Ben. My asthma doctor said the first couple years of a child’s life can have long-term impacts on their health. Some things are unavoidable, but using green/natural cleaning products can’t hurt.