You already know how to clean, but these spring cleaning tips will make your routine a little more green. When you’re ready to learn even more, join the conversation in the Sustainable IRL Facebook group!
After a stuffy winter of keeping your windows sealed shut for months, spring cleaning is the breath of fresh air that your entire house needs. This post is a supplement to how you clean your home. Here are 4 spring cleaning tips that can make your or deep cleaning routine more eco-friendly all year long.
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1. Replace Your Cleaning Supplies with Eco-Friendly & Non-Toxic Cleaning Supplies
Some of the best green cleaning supplies are simple and can be found right in your cabinets. Instead of going out and buying toxic cleaning supplies to clean your home, make your own eco-friendly cleaning products. You can also buy several types of non-toxic cleaning products in stores near you, or online! It’s easier than ever to make your cleaning routine non-toxic and natural.
Related post: Learn if your toxin-free cleaning products are actually non-toxic
2. Downcycle Clothes to Cleaning Rags
While you’re following some spring cleaning tips to clean out your closet, instead of throwing away clothes, use them to make cleaning rags/towels. Instead of using paper towels or newspaper to clean surfaces, mirrors, doors, etc, down cycle old clothes into cleaning towels when they aren’t in good enough condition to donate.
3. Purge Sustainably
Marie Kondo’s book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, has people in a tizzy trying to get rid of all of the things, but be mindful when you do so. Spark joy for yourself and for the planet, because if you just trash everything, you are not sparking joy for the planet. When you get rid of things, don’t be so quick to pile it up in a trash bag and send it to the landfill. Give what you can to people you know that can and will use it, first. Next, donate to organizations that need particular items. For example, some organizations ask for coats, while some ask for shoes. If you still have things left over, donate them to a thrift store.
4. Research Before You Buy
Is you find that you seriously need to replace something after you’ve done your spring cleaning, research that item first. Is it something that you could buy secondhand? Are there sustainable options? Do the research or even contact me to ask, because I’d be happy to help if I know the answer.
Here are some examples where you can buy sustainable alternatives:
- LED Lightbulbs instead of fluorescent light bulbs
- Non-toxic candles & freshener instead of toxic fragrance air fresheners
- Eco-friendly and toxin-free mattresses
- Secondhand furniture, like chairs, tables, and bed frames and headboards
- Secondhand decor if you’re updating your home interior
Related: Visit the Sustainable Living Shop to find eco-friendly kitchen scrubbers made from coconuts, and more!
Other Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tips & Hacks
- Improve your indoor air quality
- Eco-friendly home checklists with room by room guides to make your home more sustainable all year long
- Make these green cleaning kitchen supply swaps
Hopefully these spring cleaning tips will inspire you to be a more conscious cleaner. The items you bring in your home to “clean” it shouldn’t be toxic. When they’re toxic, it is bad for you, your family, your pets, and the planet. The effort to change how you clean, and the resulting use of more eco-friendly and non-toxic products, may seem small. However, in the long run, it will help you make other eco-friendly choices. Start small with these spring cleaning tips, and you’ll be on your way to changing the world for the better!
I’ve been using old clothes as rags for years, and it’s perfect. I like making some of my own cleaners, I also use the Seventh Generation and Mrs. Meyers to fill the gaps of what I don’t make.
I love that you have the perfect formula to keep your cleaning routine eco-friendly & non-toxic, Kaylee!
Love the idea of down-cycling to scraps. Use it till its gone!
Exactly, Petro! We have to use these items for as long as we can and start to reduce our ridiculous amounts of waste!
Hi Addie,
some great tips there! Especially the third one seems very important to us. While we appreciate the trend for more minimalism, the sheer amount of stuff that is now thrown away because of a tidying-up-trend seems horrible. Hope a lot of people really do some research on where to put the stuff! Here in Germany some of the containers for old clothes are already more than full…
Best
Hanna from Green Pearls®
Hey Hanna! You are so right. When people treat minimalism like a trend instead of a well-thought out decision, it can have some negative effects on the environment. I hope a lot of people are taking the time to think of the life of the products after they get rid of them.
Love this! It also has some awesome upcycle ideas for the clothes or towels that won’t be making the spring cleaning cut 🙂
Upcycling is so much fun, Kayla!!
Hey! I’m definitely a big fan of downcycling and reusing! Making old clothes into cloths is a great way to save some money, and is quick to do.
Will be looking into switching to LED light bulbs as mine run out – I hear they last much longer too! 🙂
Hi Addie, you have some fab tips here! Am a big fan of upcycling too! 🙂
Love all the tips in this post! I recently watched the first episode of the Marie Kondo show on Netflix and while I LOVE her and what she’s doing, I was also struck by the woman in the episode who was cleaning out her closet and fought with her husband to keep all the extra hangers. That to me showed that she planned to buy new stuff to put on them, which kind of missed the whole point of minimalism and being an intentional consumer. I just hope that all these folks who are cleaning out their homes with the KonMari Method are also doing your step 4, and not just continuing along on their path of unchecked consumerism!
Wonderful tips! I love how we, as humans, can always improve and help our planet even by doing such simple things as cleaning!
These are all some really great tips, I’m actually looking forward to a nice deep clean for spring
Number 2 is such an important one and so easy to do! We like making fabric yarn and crocheting big bags and rugs, too. That takes longer, though. 🙂