By Leslie Reichert –

Spring is a great time to clean even if we don’t deal with the soot and dust like our ancestors. And we can use technology to make spring cleaning much “greener” and easier than they could have ever imagined. Look at some of the great things that we can use to make cleaning easy and safe. Here are just a few of them:

Micro fiber window cloth– This has been one of the best “inventions” in the past 10 years. This cloth can clean your windows without spraying ANY cleaner and not using any paper towels. It leaves your windows smear and streak free. You can wash your windows – inside and out – in just a few minutes. You wet this cloth with warm water, wring it out really well and wipe the windows. They walk away. They will dry completely without any lint or streaks! It’s amazing! Everything below can be seen at www.shopgreencleaning.com

Xtreme Sponges – A newly designed sponge that uses friction instead of chemicals to clean. By just wetting this sponge, you can remove fingerprints, scuff marks, and buildup on floors and sinks. It is a great timesaver and combined with the blue cloth makes cleaning chemical free.

Casabella Sparkle Sponges – Not only hard-working but fun to use! Sparkle scrub sponges are safe for any porcelain, glassware and non-stick surface. They will not scratch, yet they are tough on grime. 2-pack. $2.99

Microfiber Mops – These mops are used in hospitals to prevent cross contamination. A removable pad makes cleaning clean from the very start. And using just a spray bottle of water leaves your floor dirt and germ free. Microfiber picks up whether it is wet or dry. It is also great for dusting walls! It will hold the dirt inside the pad until you place it in the wash.

Ostrich-Down Feather Duster– Did you know professional cleaners still use feather dusters? A quality feather duster dusts large surface areas and easily cleans uneven surfaces and gets in-between objects. In addition, the high-quality ostrich-down feathers attract and hold dust until it is shaken off.

Home-Made Cleaners – What is old is new again. People are finding that some of the things our great-grandparents used to clean actually work and are much safer than what we are using today. A great grand-mothers recipe for laundry soap is found to do just as well as any store-bought soap and is much cheaper! Here is the recipe and the details of where to buy some of the ingredients. For more recipes you can down load the e-book “The Joy of Green Cleaning” or purchase the recipe book from Amazon.com.

Great-grandma’s Laundry Soap

• 2 cups soap flakes*
• 1 cup baking soda or soda crystals*
• 1 cup borax
• 1 cup washing soda

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, and then place in plastic or glass container with a lid. This soap works best with hot water.

For top loading washing machines- use ½ to 1 cup, 2 cups for very heavily soiled clothing.

For front loading and HE machines, use 2 tablespoons.

*Soap flakes and soda crystals are no longer made in the USA but are imported and sold at a few retail locations as well as on-line.  www.soap-flakes.com.

Leslie Reichert is known as a Green Cleaning Coach. She is an author and spokesperson for the green cleaning industry and is a teacher of green homekeeping. She is a national lecturer, a contributor to a The Daily Green, which is a Hearst publication, a frequent homekeeping expert on Martha Stewart Living Radio and author of the book: The Joy Of Green Cleaning- a handbook for DIY cleaners.  The Joy Of Green Cleaning is a collection of 99 homemade recipes that have been tested and proven to work as well as “store bought” cleaners. It is available at Amazon.com, Whole Foods Markets in the Northeast or online at http://www.backdoorvac.com/the-joy-of-green-cleaning.html