72 Clever Uses for Common Household Items to Save Money and Avoid Toxins

Natural products can be highly versatile, and if you replace store-bought ones with products like coconut oil, castile soap, baking soda, castor oil, essential oils, and apple cider vinegar, you will reduce your costs and improve the health of your family.

Namely, commercial household products are full of dangerous chemicals and toxins, that aggravate the health of the entire family and pets.

Therefore, make use of the infographic below and see the ways in which you can ditch chemical-laden products and substitute them with simple, everyday ones which you might already have at home:

1. Lemon Juice

A tried and true alternative to chemical products, lemon juice cleans glass mirrors, disinfects your cutting board, whitens your whites and refreshes your toilet.

It can be utilized to help high-light your hair and eliminate blackheads, and also acts as a natural deodorant. You should also keep lemons on hand to reduce wrinkles, and lighten sun spots.

Use it internally to improve digestion, detox the liver, lose weight, strengthen your immunity and soothe a sore throat.

2. Coconut Oil

As we all have heard, coconut oil can fix anything. It can polish wood, replace WD-40, remove shower scum and even remove sticky stuff from your clothing, carpet or jars where you want the label removed. As a beauty product, coconut oil acts as an effective moisturizer, hair serum, prevents wrinkles when used on the face at night, and can be used to oil-pull for an effective mouthwash.

When taken internally, coconut oil is by far a total-body healer. It fights inflammation, treats eczema and psoriasis, balances hormones, supports digestion, improves thyroid function, prevents bone loss and osteoporosis risk, balances cholesterol levels, protects against cancer, kills candida, and helps sick pets.

3. Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is an incredibly versatile item if you have some laying around. It is great for repelling fleas, deodorizing your laundry, removing water stains on furniture and fighting bathtub mildew. People also use apple cider vinegar as a soil fertilizer when diluted with water.

Keep a 1:1 dilution of apple cider vinegar and water in your shower to help fight dandruff, acne, relieve sunburn, tone oily skin, use as an aftershave and condition hair.

4. White Vinegar

Vinegar is a very effective natural cleaner – without all the toxins that come with most conventional cleaners. It can be used to kill weeds and helps flowers grow. You can clean the windows with it (without streaking) and it can unclog the drains and polish silver.

For more personal uses, vinegar can be used to help bruise marks fade faster, and prevents hair colour from fading too soon. It also helps condition your hair! Internally, white vinegar can soothe heartburn, keeps veggies fresh, controls blood glucose levels and prevents infections.

5. Baking Soda

Baking soda is another useful household item that can be used to clean messy stovetops, remove coffee stains from mugs and machines, clean your oven or grill and freshen up the refrigerator. It is also an effective tile/grout cleaner when you scrub with it, and cleans a dirty sink in seconds!

Baking soda acts as a great mouth freshener, too, when you mix a little bit of it with water and swish it around in your mouth. It can be combined with coconut oil to make a simple, cost-effective toothpaste, and can also be used as a deodorant and for alleviating diaper rash.

Internally baking soda can be taken to alleviate heartburn. It also kills fungi, mould, and parasites in the body, and relieves bloating and gas. You can also use it to minimize coughs and a sore throat.

6. Castile Soap

Castile soap is a gentle alternative to almost any household cleaner. It is easy on the skin, but powerful enough to kill bad bacteria. Use it as an all-purpose cleaner and dish soap. It can also be used to clean out the tub and you can substitute it as you would regular laundry detergent.

You can try using castile soap as shaving cream, hand soap, shampoo and body wash. It can also be used to treat acne and psoriasis. Try using castile soap as a steam bath in a hot bucket of water with a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil – it’ll be sure to clear out the sinuses.

7. Castor Oil

Castor oil can be used for so many things – around the house and even personally. In the garden, it can be used on your ferns if they seem a bit less than healthy. Combine a tablespoon of castor oil with 4 cups of warm water and drip 3 tbsp. of this mixture into the dirt around the fern. Use this same mixture to spray on plants in the garden to deter pests.

Castor oil can also be used as an all-around lubricant for squeaky hinges (like doors), or scissors that have lost their lust.

In the beauty sector, castor oil strengthens and thickens your hair and nails, heals cracked lips, provides sunburn relief and even dissolves scar tissue. Castor oil also treats dry and itchy skin, acts as an effective laxative, induces labour and improves immunity when taken internally. Castor oil packs can also be utilized to help get rid of ovarian cysts.

There are so many great alternatives to chemical cleaners and beauty products.