Clean & Green: 101 Hints and Tips for a More Eco-Friendly Home

Product Information

After cutting off the loose bobbles, Nancy leaves the jumper to soak inside-out for an hour in a bowl of eco-friendly washing-up liquid. Pure Magic: The Green Budget Guide by Nancy Birtwhistle, the Sunday Times bestselling author and Great British Bake Off winner, provides valuable advice on maintaining an economical, eco-friendly home. I used to use bicarbonate of soda in the 1970s, but I stopped using it because there were products I thought would do a quicker job, but they’re causing such a lot of damage to the environment.

Nancy Birtwhistle: 8 Secrets For A Sparkling Clean Home Nancy Birtwhistle: 8 Secrets For A Sparkling Clean Home

Using 100g citric acid, 50ml water and 15ml eco-friendly washing up liquid, it's easy for everyone to try.

This beautifully illustrated black and white guide with 101 hints and sustainable, natural cleaning tips and hacks will help you take small steps that have a massive positive environmental impact. I speak from experience here, as I once dived straight onto a stain with a cloth and a full jar of elbow grease. It takes years and years to break down, is toxic and the fumes can irritate the eyes, throat, lungs and skin.

The green cleaner: 15 natural ways to spruce up your home

It sounds miraculous, but Birtwhistle swears by ivy as a laundry detergent (about 60g, cut up and put in a muslin bag, then put in the drum).And my homemade cream cleaner is perfect for granite worktops and sanitary ware, being non-acidic and only slightly abrasive. Her main ingredients include bicarbonate of soda, “because that’s used a lot”, a big bag of citric acid, a bottle of surgical spirit, sodium carbonate (known as washing soda, which can be a skin and eye irritant) and a bag of sodium percarbonate (known as “oxygen” or “green” bleach; it’s not as toxic as chlorine bleach, though you still have to be careful with it, as you do with all these ingredients, which, while considered acceptable natural cleaning alternatives, aren’t entirely benign.

cleaning products for your home How to make cheap, non-toxic cleaning products for your home

We are all aware now that the chemical-laden cleaning products encased in excess plastic and lurking under our sinks are not just bad for our health and the environment, they also often cost a fortune to boot.Nancy Birtwhistle is a Sunday Times bestselling author, lifelong gardener and Hull-born baker who won the fifth series of The Great British Bake Off in 2014.