Running an eco-friendly household doesn’t mean you have to completely change your way of life. It just means you start finding better ways to do the things you already do – like clean your home, cook your food, and handle the waste your home produces.
All it takes is a few simple changes to make a big difference.
When you invest in eco-friendly window cleaning supplies and start composting your food scraps and other waste, amazing things happen. You become much more aware of how your habits impact the environment, and how much of a positive influence you can create, too.
As far as window cleaning goes, use these 6 simple tips to keep all your windows clean in an environmentally conscious manner.
1. Buy an All-Natural Cleaner
The next time you need to load up on window cleaner, opt for something without harsh chemicals or pesticides. Instead, look for products that have been made with all natural ingredients like lemon, vinegar, and club soda.
These are just as good at lifting dust and removing streaks as traditional window cleaners are. But, they aren’t at all as damaging! Working with these products in your home means you can get the crystal clear clean you expect while also increasing the good you’re doing to preserve the environment.
2. Make Your Own Window Cleaner
If you like the thought of buying all natural window cleaner, consider taking it one step further. Why not just buy the ingredients needed to make your own at home?
This will likely come out to be about the same price, and it can be a bit of fun for you, too! The basic ingredients of a homemade window cleaner are:
- vinegar
- lemon
- club soda
Once you have the base, you can choose to add essential oils to give the mixture a scent or you may want to include a few more cleaning agents to make the cleaner as strong as possible.
Don’t be afraid to try a few different combinations before you find your go-to solution. This way, you can trust you’re using the absolute best cleaner to wipe down your windows in an eco-friendly way.
3. Use Cloths Instead of Paper
Speaking of wiping down your windows, stop using paper towels right now.
Paper products significantly contribute to the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and in the world’s waterways. They also add to the rate at which trees are being cut down, which affects different ecosystems around the world and the amount of oxygen in the air as a whole.
Luckily, all you have to do to cut back on your paper waste contribution is use cloths. Go out and buy a few washcloths if you haven’t done so already. Set a few aside for cleaning windows, a few for cleaning kitchen counters, and so on.
Buy microfiber cloths if you can. These will leave the least amount of streaks on your windows, and they don’t require as much maintenance as standard cloths do.
You can use sponges if you’d like. However, this will make the process of cleaning windows a bit messier than need be, and you’ll still find yourself replacing them from time to time.
4. Save Your Newspaper
Here’s something to think about: instead of going out to buy washcloths and reducing your paper waste, you can increase how often you recycle paper products.
If you still read the newspaper, stop throwing it away every time you’ve finished your morning read. Put it into a bin for recycling instead. When it comes time to clean your windows, reach into this bin rather than for a standard paper product or a washcloth.
Cleaning with newspaper actually makes your windows shine more than normal. This material does an amazing job of picking up dust and unwanted particles without leaving any streaks. It’s a simple, green solution to make window cleaning a total breeze.
5. Work When There Are Clouds in the Sky
Another way to make your window cleaning not just more green, but more effective, is to work when the sun isn’t out.
If you’re cleaning windows on a bright day, the sun is going to shine right onto what you’ve just sprayed and create a lot of streaks. But if you clean when it’s cloudy, you can use a much lower amount of window cleaner and get the whole job done in a shorter amount of time, too!
In the long-run, this means you can use your window cleaning solution more often before having to restock or make more. It also means you get to spend more time doing other things around the house – like relaxing and bonding with your family instead of stressing over keeping everything clean.
6. Cut Back on Power Washing
The final way to make your window cleaning process more eco-friendly is to cut back on power washing. There really isn’t a need to pump a whole bunch of water onto the outside of your windows multiple times a year.
Instead, make more of a point to clean the outside of your windows by hand. Although it is one more thing that gets added to your to-do list, it saves you the expense of paying for power washes and reduces how you contribute to water waste, too.
Who knows, your indoor and outdoor window cleaning process may lead you to buy better windows! Such an investment can enhance how eco-friendly your home is even more.
Eco-Friendly Window Cleaning, Dish Washing, and More!
There are all kinds of ways to make your home more eco-friendly, but the thing is you have to look for these opportunities. Everything from how you clean windows to do your laundry and even the amount of electricity you use has an effect on the planet.
It’s up to you whether that is a good effect or a bad one, though.
Click here to learn more about what else you can do around the house to better support the planet.
