Pet Supplies

If there are pets in your home, using safe, pet-friendly cleaning products has probably crossed your mind. The only drawback is -- the costs can add up. Not to worry, there is a variety of simple and natural, yet effective formulas that are easy to prepare yourself -- and equally easy on the pocketbook. In fact, the ingredients may already be as close as your own cupboard or medicine cabinet.

The Nature Maid, an eco-friendly house-cleaning service in Los Angeles that caters to many pet owners -- has shared a few of their secrets with me -- to pass along to you.

Instructions

1 Clean your kitchen and bathroom floors with simple white vinegar (either straight or diluted with water), which acts as a disinfectant in lieu of toxic ammonia or bleach. Vinegar will get your floors just as clean and be much safer for the pet who licks up anything that may have dropped out of his bowl or fell from the counter (pretty much all pets).
2 Sprinkle baking soda on your carpeting with a flour sifter or shaker and let it sit for about 15 minutes before vacuuming, in order to freshen the carpet and loosen the dirt. For an even fresher scent you can apply an essential oil fragrance with a dropper and mix it in with the baking soda; just make sure it's completely mixed in before applying to the carpet.
3 Take a plastic spray bottle and spray the inside of your toilet bowl with white vinegar (about 1 cup), including the walls and under the rim and seat. Then coat with baking soda (about 1/4 cup) and sprinkle in some water. Let it stand for a couple of minutes and then brush well with a toilet brush. The vinegar serves as a non-toxic disinfectant, so when your pet stops in for a drink, the worst that will happen is she'll walk away with an unpleasant taste.
Wipe down the outside of the bowl and seat with microfiber cloths and water, then follow with isopropyl alcohol to disinfect and shine.
For stubborn bowl stains, crumble some pumice and scrub it on the walls and under the rim with your brush.
4 Spray windows and mirrors with isopropyl alcohol. You can also wash windows with straight white vinegar or vinegar diluted with water.
5 Clean your bathroom, kitchen, furniture and wood/linoleum floors with liquid castile soap diluted with water in a spray bottle, and you can add essential oils if you like. Castile is not a name brand, but rather a type of soap derived from vegetable oil instead of synthetic or animal substances -- and a favorite staple for "green" cleaning in general. In fact, castile soap is so safe for pets, it can be used as a pet shampoo.