When I was pregnant with my daughter (now three years old), my hubby did all of the household cleaning that used poisons and toxic cleaners as I didn’t want to inhale the fumes and potentially harm my unborn child.

Once my daughter started eating solids and using her highchair and booster seat trays, I struggled with finding a way to clean the trays without using harmful chemicals, but ensuring that they were disinfected at the same time. In the end, I used vinegar (my new best friend) by diluting it slightly and putting it into a spray bottle. I felt good knowing that her tray was being sanitized and continued to be a clean and safe surface for her food–as we all know, babies and toddlers don’t exactly love to use the dishes that their food arrives in.

As my daughter continued to grow, I decided that I would try switching to more natural cleaning products in the house, as she was always around when I was cleaning and was therefore being exposed to all of the harmful fumes from the chemicals that I was using.

I switched to using hydrogen peroxide and vinegar solutions (in individual spray bottles) to disinfect all of our counter tops, vinegar on our hardwood and ceramic tiles and baking soda sprayed with vinegar in the toilets. Baking soda also works as a great abrasive for cleaning showers and bathtubs.

I have also been experimenting with some of the natural and green lines of cleaners that are on the market, but truthfully, I am slightly skeptical as to how well some of them work or if in fact they are truly non toxic!

I do feel much better that my daughter nor I are inhaling toxic chemicals every time I clean, especially now that I am pregnant again.

Some other natural cleaning substances include lemon juice, certain essential oils and salt (as an abrasive).

Vinegar is by far my favorite, though, it has so many uses! I have even sprayed fruit with my vinegar spray bottle in order to remove germs and wax residue. Soaking lettuce in a vinegar and water mix can help clean the lettuce as well as crisp up the leaves prior to using them in a salad.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas and opinions on using natural cleaners. As well, if you do choose the natural route, what do you use?