How To Use 6 Household Products To Clean Everything

I am all about small victories, and at first, when I began experimenting with using everyday household items as cleaning supplies, I was like, YAY SMALL VICTORIES! But as my experiments stacked up and I saw that using everyday household items as cleaning agents was effective, money saving, and eco-friendly (natural products + less packaging waste FTW), I was like, WHOA BIG VICTORIES! Today, in partnership with eco-friendly home goods purveyor Full Circle, I am sharing my go-to household products and how I use them to tackle 8 cleaning scenarios.

The Household Products

I would venture to guess that you have all of these products in your pantry or medicine cabinet, perhaps with the exception of essential oils. I recommend buying these items in bulk, both to save money and because you will use these products often!

1. Baking soda

This baking go-to product is seriously powerful for cleaning ALL THE THINGS because it helps loosen gunk. It’s also great for absorbing odors.

2. Lemon juice

I love lemon as a flavor in foods, and as a cleaning agent, lemons act as a natural bleach. I keep large jars of lemon juice in my pantry + use fresh lemon rinds periodically.

3. White vinegar

Vinegar’s acidity helps it break down buildup (while you’re not using it to pickle vegetables).

4. Salt

Great for seasoning and serves as a natural scrubbing agent!

5. Hydrogen peroxide

Awesome for stain removal as well as boo-boo management!

6. Essential oils

If you love good smells, stock up on some basic essential oils. Pick your favorite flavors!

How To Use Everyday Household Items To Clean Everything

1. Kitchen Sink + Drying Rack

As someone who loves to cook and bake, I make a lot of dishes so our sink and drying rack gets gross in a hurry. Sprinkle baking soda in the sink and drying rack to loosen scum, then wipe everything down. Added bonus: whenever I use fresh lemons for a recipe, I rub the lemon rinds into the baking soda all over the sink and drying rack before rinsing for an added cleaning boost and to make everything smell amazing.

2. Kitchen + Bathroom Countertops

Wiping down countertops is a quick way to make your kitchen and bathroom better. Use baking soda to release gunky bits. The Full Circle micro manager is awesome for getting the little details around the sink hardware!

3. Toilet

I try to make as quick work as possible of dealing with the toilet. I sprinkle baking soda around the edges of the bowl and let it soak in for a few minutes, then use the Full Circle Scrub Queen to get the job done. Also, if your toilet is smelling a little mildew-y, just sprinkle a couple of drops of peppermint essential oil (or whatever your preferred fragrance is) in there and you’ll be good to go!

4. Bathtub/Shower Scum

Generally speaking, I really hate cleaning the bathroom, but I do derive enormous satisfaction seeing how effective it is to use baking soda + lemon juice to remove bathtub/shower scum. After letting the baking soda + lemon juice soak into the scum, I use the Full Circle tough stuff brush to scrub everything away.

5. Unclog Drains

Seriously, do not ever buy toxic products to unclog drains again, because all you need is equal parts of baking soda + white vinegar followed by hot water (and a plunger if the clog is really stubborn). Here’s a video I shot explaining the process.

6. Destink Shoes

This past summer we had a serious stinky shoe situation and I tasked my kids to make natural shoe deodorizer sachets that worked like a dream! Just mix baking soda with your choice of essential oils, pack the mix into coffee filters (I recommend basket coffee filters instead of the cone type so they don’t bust at the seam over time), tie off with twine, and place into stinky shoes. No joke, after day 1, Violet came up to me and said, “SMELL MY SNEAKERS, THEY SMELL AMAZING!”

7. Laundry

When your towels and workout clothes start getting that distinctive funk, sprinkle some baking soda into the load before you run it.

8. Armpit Stains

Figuring out how to naturally remove armpit stains using white vinegar + baking soda + salt + hydrogen peroxide has saved me a ton of money not throwing out white tops! You’ll need 1 cup of vinegar, 2 cups of warm water, 1 cup of baking soda, and 1 tablespoon each of salt + hydrogen peroxide. Check out the full how-to in this video.

And if it’s easier for you to listen/watch, here’s a video recap of this post!

Disclosure: This post reflects a compensated editorial partnership with Full Circle, purveyor of amazing eco-friendly home care products. I fell in love with their products last year and have been using them ever since!