In the last segment, I told you about some simple ways to use vinegar and baking soda to clean your house. It’s a great way to avoid the use of harsh chemicals, which is especially important during pregnancy, and it’s good for the environment, too. There are other natural and safe ingredients you can use to clean as well.
For disinfecting surfaces, tea tree oil is a natural disinfectant. You can find tea tree oil at your local drug store or health store. Mix two cups of water, three tablespoons of liquid soap, and about 25 drops of tea tree oil together. You can spray or rub this mixture on hard surfaces to kill germs naturally.
Lemon juice is another great cleaning ingredient. You can mix a few tablespoons of lemon juice with a tablespoon of baking soda and it makes the perfect paste for polishing brass and copper. Lemon is also handy for adding to vinegar to neutralize the smell while cleaning. This might be especially helpful for pregnant women, since the scent of lemon is known to help with morning sickness as well. Speaking of smells, grind a lemon in your garbage disposal to freshen it up when it gets stinky.
I’ll bet you didn’t know you could use regular old table salt to clean. Not only is it safe, it’s really cheap, too. Salt is great for scrubbing without scratching. You can add it to your other natural solutions for extra scrubbing power. Salt is also great for absorbing spills in the oven. Sprinkle salt on the spill when it happens and wipe it up with a damp sponge once the oven cools.
Not all store bought cleaners are evil, but there are definitely some that you should stay away from while pregnant: aerosol sprays, cleaners containing ammonia, chlorine, ether, glycol, pesticides, and insecticides.