You need not buy expensive products - soft soap, baking soda and citric acid can help to do a thorough spring cleaning. — Photo: Franziska Gabbert/dpa-tmn/dpa
Drain and oven cleaners, toilet cleaners, kitchen cleansers, dishwashing liquid, floor and grout cleaners: The shelves in drugstores and supermarkets are full of products designed to make our homes sparkling clean.
But, experts will tell you, in fact it only takes a little to do a thorough spring cleaning.
"Soft soap, baking soda and citric acid," says Iris von Stephanitz, listing common cleansing agents that can do the job.
"And if it has to be harder, pure soda and vinegar." Stephanitz, an archaeologist and art historian working in the role of a "historical housewife" at the Hessenpark Open-Air Museum in Neu-Anspach north of Frankfurt, shows how cleaning was done 100 years ago.
One thing is clear: Even today, you can fall back on some tried-and-tested cleaning methods and all kinds of products that you already have at home.
"Home remedies from the store cupboard can replace almost all conventional products," notes Öko-Test, the German consumer magazine providing ecology-friendly information. They are biodegradable, economical and produce less waste than conventional cleaning products.
But which of these home products is really the best? These tips should help for cleaning any time of year.
Iris von Stephanitz has this tip for cleaning floors: "I take 10 litres of hot water and put a tablespoon of liquid soap in it." Liquid soap is also suitable for dusting, because of its anti-static effect, meaning no new dust will be attracted to the spot.
And if you want to do something good for your wooden furniture, you can likewise make your own furniture polish.
To do this, brew a cup of black tea from three tea bags and mix with six tablespoons of olive oil or another vegetable oil. Then shake the mixture in a screw-top jar until it emulsifies.
"It is suitable for dark woods such as oak, beech or cherry," says von Stephanitz. "You can also use the polish to re-grease boards."
If you want to erase a scratch on a piece of furniture, you can try a walnut. Break the nut into two, and with the interior side - which has a lot of oil - you can rub it over the scratch.
Nor do you need to buy extra glass cleaner to clean your windows.
"The best way to clean windows that have been heavily soiled by the rain is to use discarded nylon tights and a good dash of vinegar or lemon juice in the cleaning water," advises the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND), an independent federal NGO.
Vinegar and lemon act as natural limescale removers, while the tights also remove stubborn dirt.
Von Stephanitz has a further tip: She first cleans the window with soft soap, and then with water containing a bit of spirits in it. Then she rubs the panes dry with a dishcloth or newspaper.
Do your bath, shower, tiles and washbasin need to be cleaned? Von Stephanitz uses baking soda mixed with a little water.
"It acts like a fine abrasive. It's great for removing grease, soap and limescale residue," she says. In stubborn cases, use household vinegar.
BUND also recommends adding a bit of salt to the cleaning solution in order to increase the "peeling effect."
However, you should be careful with silicone joints: Vinegar attacks the silicone. In such cases it makes more sense to use pure citric acid, which is commercially available as a liquid and as a powder.
You don't want to be constantly mixing the ingredients? Then just make a cleaning cream for washbasins, baths and shower trays that you can keep in a screw-top jar for later use.
For this, mix 250 grams of baking soda with four to five tablespoons of vegetable glycerine and one to two tablespoons of soft soap. You can add a fragrance oil for a pleasant odour.
For joints in the bathroom that have mould stains, baking soda can also help.
"Prepare a paste from water and baking soda and apply it to the damp grout using an old toothbrush, leave to work for an hour and then rinse off," von Stephanitz says.
For getting rid of urine scale in the toilet, you can sprinkle citric acid in powder form into the toilet bowl and leave it to work overnight. Then all you have to do is flush.
If you wash dishes by hand, you can use soft soap. Baking soda helps with stubborn food residues in pots or on baking trays.
And if something is burnt, spinach and rhubarb can be used, says von Stephanitz: "Just put them in the pan, add a little water and bring to a boil." Thanks to the oxalic acid contained in these foods, the burnt food remains will dissolve.
BUND recommends using lemon peel to clean crockery. And if the oven smells of fish, citrus fruits can help: Simply use the residual heat and place a squeezed lemon or orange in the oven, says von Stephanitz. "Then the odour is banished."
You can also use citric acid to descale coffee machines and kettles. — Sabine Maurer/dpa
