Cleaning house….ugh….this might be my least favorite part of being a stay at home Mom! One day when I have money I am going to hire myself a full time house keeper so I don’t have to clean EVER AGAIN. Besides being mind numbingly booo-ring cleaning also presents another problem: Toxic Chemicals. 

Did you know there is no federal regulation of chemicals in household products. Pretty freakin’ scary right? I mean go to your kitchen now, right now, and pull out your favorite cleaner, do you see an ingredient list? Chances are you probably don’t so just what in the heck are you spraying all around your house whenever you clean?

2-Butoxuethanol– This is in most window, kitchen, and multipurpose cleaners. It can contribute to narcosis, pulmonary edema, and severe liver and kidney damage. There are workplace safety standards for it but if you are cleaning in a small space it is very easy to be exposed to amounts over the workplace safety limit.

Ammonia- This is in a ton of cleaners but especially window and metal cleaners to give a streak free shine. It really impacts the respiratory system especially in those with asthma. Working around ammonia for to long can also lead to conditions like asthma and chronic bronchitis.

Addictive Inhalants- Yeah because that sounds totally safe to add into my cleaning products! Let’s all go clean and get high at the same time woo-whooo! But seriously, I really don’t want that in my home. I mean is it any wonder that so many people are addicted to things like air fresheners? 

Check out the EWG Hall of Shame PDF for even more info on toxic chemicals in your household products.

So to avoid all the toxic chemicals I have started making my own cleaning solutions. This is also saving me money. Healthy and cheap, who can complain?

You can find a bunch of different cleaning recipes on the web but one of the hardest ones to find for me was something to use on my granite or other stone counter tops.

This one can be pretty tough because you might think just any ole’ DIY all purpose cleaner will do. But you can actually hurt your granite, stone, or marble counter tops if you are not careful. Granite, stone, and marble don’t play well with acid based cleaners. In fact acidic cleaners can cause etching on your counter tops or strip their seal off. So if you see a recipe telling you to use vinegar or lemon or orange you need to dump it like yesterday’s trash!

So for this recipe I use an alcohol base so it won’t hurt my beautiful stone counters! I like to use vodka because I can take a swig while cleaning to make it a little less boring. Haha, just kidding…..mostly………….okay so the vodka may find itself in a glass with some juice and then somehow magically find itself in my tummy but eh, whatever, cleaning is more fun that way! So without further ado here is my granite cleaning recipe!