Old style alternatives

Hi Mollie if you Google "life hacks cleaning" or similar you'll find the "old school" recipes.

Or look for this book: Simply Wonder woman by Joanna Gosling, it is full of tips for using every day stuff for cleaning.

Excellent, thank you Grannyknot

I think new chemical cleaners came in because the 'natural' alternatives were such hard work.

Alternative approaches are to use eco cleaners, Ecover is the most brand most commonly available or just simplify the number of products you use. I use an all purpose cleaner, a cream abrasive cleaner and glass cleaner and find there are very few regular household cleaning tasks that these will not cope with.

Half lemons and salt are good, but I can't remember what for.

I use Ecover, Surcare and even Tesco do an eco-friendly cleaner now.

I did use white vinegar as a cleaner/descaler for the steamer yesterday.

For bathroom cleaning I use a spray bottle containing a 50-50 mixture of strong white vinegar and distilled water with a good squeeze of Fairy. For windows another spray bottle with a 50-50 mixture of rubbing alcohol and distilled water.

Jalima before we had a dishwasher I used make a lemon and salt paste to clean tea/coffee stained cups or mugs.
I still sometimes use Lemon and salt on my MiL tea cups.
It work great.

I also use lemon in my microwave to remove cooking smells .

I use Bicarb and white vinegar to clean my
washing machine.

Bicarb is a useful fridge cleaner and deodoriser

Lemon and salt gets rid of rust marks on fabric.

I have a spray bottle which I fill with white vinegar, and a few drops of Stardrops, topped up with water. Cheap, effective on worktops, sinks, windows, lasts ages.
I do use Cif on sinks, Bath rite and Hobrite or similar, and lots of elbow grease.

American friends swear by Theives Oil. I have no idea what this is but it sounds much more fun than bi carb and vinegar.

Does anyone remember Aggie and Kim the television super cleaners- they used lots of white vinegar and lemon juice.

'Thieves' is an essential oil - we use a tiny drop under our noses when going on a plane journey. I think the idea is to prevent you picking up any of the nasty germs which circulate around the plane's aircon system.

I just found this bit of history about it:
www.natural-aromatherapy-benefits.com/thievesoilrecipe.html

As it was given to us for just that purpose, I wasn't aware of its other uses. Thanks radicalnan*!

ps Thieves is expensive so I wouldn't use it for cleaning

White vinegar for limescale in loos and on taps and as antibacterial; bicarb for deposits on almost anything (e.g. tea/coffee stains on cups); good old laundry washing powder for sanitising and taking stains off sinks, or even car oil stains on flagstones. Wouldn't be without them!

Last time I used white vinegar it left a urine aroma...maybe I was using it wrong so never used it again

Try this website mollie. There are loads of natural alternatives on there. www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/easiest-best-smelling-homemade-fabric-softener-out-there Just click on the drop down at the top of the page and you should find what you are looking for.

I mix white vinegar, a little washing up liquid and water and put in an old spray bottle. It's fabulous to clean windows.

Thank you all, I’m going try everything suggested

A good tip if you have a wood burner with a glass door. Dip a wet rag or kitchen paper in some ash and wipe over the inside of the door with it to remive the black sooty marks. It works very well and costs nothing unlike the costly cleaners especially made for this job which are also corrosive .

Try Pinterest on the web. Every day I get an email, with lots of interesting things, lots of recipes for things to use for all kinds of household chores.

Bicarbonate of soda (it's cheap - in Aldi's baking section) mixed with a little water to make a paste, cleans stainless steel without scratching, provided you use a non-scratchy cloth. I find that it's good on stainless steel sinks. Needs to be rinsed-off well, but it's non-toxic.

Daisyboots
You have made my day.
Having tried so many, could be corrosive, products, I have from taking your advice a soot free wood burner glass door to observe my burning logs.
Thank you

used coffee grounds for scouring wooden chopping boards, washing oil stains off your hands, salt for anything that needs scouring but that you don't want to taste of scouring powder.

soft brown soap for washing floors. Washing up liquid removes practically all stains from cloth if left until dry, then just wash garment or whatever as you usually do.

Any ideas for removing olive oil splashes from a pure wool skirt?
I was going to take it to the cleaners but the 2 nearest ones have closed down - expensive too.