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Natural Products for Cleaning Your Home

by Ri Industries

There is an old saying that goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Ri-Industries believes that lemons can be used for much more. That’s because lemons are just one of many natural products that you can use to clean your home.

Natural cleaning products such as lemon juice are especially useful to the owner of a Ri-Industries septic tank because they are not as harsh or harmful to the environment as many brand name chemical products.

What are some of these products, and where do they work? We have compiled a list of some commonly used natural cleaning products, and the places they work best.

Product #1: Lemons

In Your Bathroom: Use lemon juice to dissolve hard water deposits and soap scum.

In Your Kitchen: Cut a lemon in half and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section. Use the lemon half to scrub dishes, surfaces and stains.

In Your Living Room: Mix 1 cup olive oil with ½ cup lemon juice, and use it as hardwood furniture polish.

Beware: While lemon juice may be easy on your Ri-Industries septic tank or your Ri-Treat wastewater treatment system, keep in mind that it can also act as a natural bleach. Before you go all natural, test your lemon juice remedy on a place that is out of sight.

Product #2: Vinegar

In Your Bathroom: Flush the toilet to allow the water level to go down before pouring the undiluted vinegar around the inside of the rim, and scrub down the bowl. Mop the bathroom floor with a water/vinegar solution.

In Your Kitchen: Clean the top of your stove with equal parts water and vinegar. You can also do the same for most surfaces in your kitchen. Vinegar will keep your countertops and floors sparkling clean, and has the added benefit of acting as a natural deodoriser.

In Your Laundry: Adding ½ cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle can act in the place of store-bought fabric softener. Vinegar breaks down laundry detergent more effectively, leading to less harmful grey water, and can also be used to clean out the washing machine.

Beware: Improperly diluted vinegar can eat away at tile grout, and should never be used on marble surfaces. However, if you’re worried about your home smelling like vinegar, have no fear; the vinegar smell vanishes almost as quickly as it cleans.

Product #3: Baking Soda

In Your Kitchen: Put a box of baking soda in your refrigerator or freezer to absorb the frozen food smell.

Anywhere That Smells: Like vinegar, baking soda is a phenomenal natural deodoriser.

Anywhere in the Home: Use baking soda in a mixture with lemon juice and vinegar to make a cleaning paste, and scrub surfaces anywhere in your home.

We hope you found our tips to be helpful for keeping your home clean. By using natural cleaning products, not only will your house smell and look great, you will be helping the environment as well.

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Natural Ways to Keep Your Bathroom Clean

by Ri Industries

If you are interested in purchasing a Ri-Treat Waste Water system or septic tank, you are looking for the greatest level of water-filtering efficiency at the lowest environmental cost. These systems allow you to utilize your local ecosystem to your own personal advantage.

However, Ri-Industries products are not the only natural solution to your daily household needs; there are many natural ways to keep your bathroom clean without hurting the local environment with damaging chemical cleaners.

Here are just a few suggestions for how to clean your bathroom, the natural way.

Suggestion # 1: Daily Maintenance

Believe it or not, daily maintenance of your bathroom can ultimately lead to less intensive cleaning in the long run. How is this possible? To put it simply, cleaning your bathroom for a few minutes each day will keep your tub, sink, and commode from getting putrid. Use a cup to wash the soapy residue down the drain after you shower. Have a towel handy to periodically wipe dust off the mirrors and windows. Finally, try picking a day each week to wash the water around the toilet bowl using your toilet brush, focusing on the water line inside the bowl. With regular maintenance, you’ll never have to do any hard-scrubbing.

Suggestion # 2: Use Natural Cleaners

For those hard-to-reach spots that daily maintenance just can’t handle, you may need to add a bit of cleaner and extra attention. But this does not mean that you need to use a brand name cleaner that may contain harmful chemicals. Try using natural alternatives, such as baking soda and vinegar, or soft cleaners like vegetable oil soap. Vinegar and salt make an especially good surface cleaner, while baking soda is an effective ingredient for cleansing and deodorizing your bathroom.

Suggestion Number 3: Safe Disposal

Using chemical cleaners is especially damaging to your local ecosystem in a non-sewered area, where your waste water can filter in with the ground soil. To protect the area around your home, and work with your natural resources instead of against them, it is important to be conscious of what you are flushing down your drains. For toilet stains, sprinkle baking soda in the bowl, and add vinegar and scrub with a brush. When cleaning and freshening the sink drain, pour baking soda down the drain, followed by vinegar. You can flush the mixture away using boiling water.  If baking soda and vinegar don’t satisfy you, make sure you invest in a biodegradable cleaner that will have the least impact on the environment.

Do you think you are up to the task of keeping a clean, all natural bathroom? Remember, every little effort counts toward maintaining a healthy local ecosystem. If you are interested in this and other ways that Ri-Industries can help you help your environment, contact us here.