It’s a good point. Many chemicals used in cleaning products are toxic at high levels: even at the supposedly safe amounts recommended, they can catch in your throat. But would using fewer chemicals work? I set to cleaning the children’s old bedrooms. I lined up some eco products, some favourites of the Instagram cleaners (Pink Stuff and Elbow Grease), plus a batch of homemade cleaners, and pulled on my Marigolds.

First off – the loo. I sprinkled citric acid rather than squirting bleach, as Kate points out that “all bleach does is turn limescale white – use citric acid and it will actually dissolve”. The next day, it took a few flushes to get the last of the crystals away but it’s a long time since the loo has looked that pristine.

The 10-year-old stickers on my son’s furniture seemed welded on after an initial rub with the Elbow Grease – but given a spray, a five-minute wait, followed by some actual elbow grease and they came away easily enough. The Method spray did fine as well – and to my surprise, the vinegar spray worked like a dream.

Next up, brown smears of fossilised coffee spills on the skirting board. I used Pink Stuff Miracle Cream Cleaner which lightened them somewhat, and the Delphis Eco Cream certainly smelt nice, but the winner was a homemade paste of bicarbonate of soda, lifting the marks with elan – until I noticed it had left white crumbs all over the floor. A quick reformulation, this time to Kate’s preferred recipe which uses dish soap rather than water to hold it all together, and we had a winner.

The final challenge: the cooker. The burnt-on grease was too much for the Stardrops, Elbow Grease, below, and even bicarb paste. I turned to Bar Keeper’s Friend and the light abrasion scoured through the marks, like the posh Vim it is. Definitely a goal, and if at £2.99 for 300g (Lakeland) it’s one of the most expensive, if I’m only bringing it out when I need the big guns, it’ll last for months. 

With the homemade products doing impressively well, I totted up the cost. It turns out DIY cleaners are often, if not always, cheaper than the supermarket versions and the eco versions. Plus you’ll know what you are using. So if you want to be greener, then this is the way to put a bit of vim in your cleaning.

My plastic-free home green clean list

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Originally Appeared Here