My Favorite Natural Cleaning Discoveries So Far

I've been reading lots of websites and books about natural cleaning methods.  The desire to eliminate as many unnatural compounds from my life as possible is based on three factors:

1. My health and not wanting to further aggravate my asthma
2. Doing my part for the environment
3. Saving money

I just did a little cleaning this morning and was so pleased with some of the things I used that I just wanted to share somewhere.

• Hydrogen peroxide - I'm not a total germaphobe (but close).  I know there's just as much good bacteria in the world as there is bad, and I'm not looking to bleach my whole house, but there are places, like faucets, sinks and kitchen countertops, that I like to know are clean.  I sprayed hydrogen peroxide on the bathroom faucets this morning, which are kept pretty clean anyhow, but which have lots of crevices and such that are difficult to clean thoroughly.  It was very satisfying watching the peroxide bubble and fizz in all those hard to reach places.  I felt much better about giving those a quick brushing and rinse than I have when I've used bleaching scouring products on them.
• Vinegar - Is there nothing it can't do?  I'd been using a 1:1 vinegar to water solution on my laminate floors for a while now.  For the holidays I started doubting myself a little, wanting a "real good clean without lingering smell" and bought a laminate floor cleaner.  My husband recently made the comment that he was planning to get a bucket and scrub brush and really soap down the floors because they were filmy and a little tacky.  Instead, I switched back to my diluted vinegar solution today and mopped them up, and they look fabulous.  I'll never doubt my vinegar again.
  
• Simmering spices - To help alleviate the vinegar smell from the floors, I set a shallow pan of water on the stove to simmer, and added a cinnamon stick and some ground allspice.  My house smells wonderful!  Better than any candles could do or those obnoxious air freshners that make me wheeze.
  
• Lemons and baking soda - I cleaned out the fridge last night and found some forgotten lemons in the bottom of the fruit drawer.  They weren't moldy or anything, just older than I'd like for eating or cooking.  I cut them in half and took them up to the shower with me with a box of baking soda.  I poured about a tablespoon's worth of baking soda on each half lemon and went about using them to scrub down my shower, occasionally adding more soda.  It worked extremely well, better than any scouring powder I've ever used.  I don't know that I'll buy lemons just to scrub my shower all the time, but if I have any old ones hiding in the fridge again, I'd definitely use them to clean.  For normal cleanings I'll probably stick to the all-purpose baking soda and vinegar scrub down.

Next things I want to try are adding lemon rind or cloves to my spray bottle full of vinegar to help tame the smell, and I want to start using vinegar in my rinse cycle, at least for towels which I never use fabric softner on anyhow because it makes them less absorbent.