TweetYou might like the idea of using natural cleaners.  However, you may have a bit of a job persuading other members of your household to switch from the chemical-laden proprietary gunk they use to the natural products.  This can be a bit of a chore – harder work than actually doing the home cleaning, at times.  These points might help you get your message across.

* “Baking soda and vinegar are cheaper.” This is a good one to trot out if you’re in the supermarket aisle trying to buy the household cleaners and the household bean-counter has the calculator out.
* “Can you eat that stuff?  You can eat baking soda and vinegar?”  This can be followed by challenging them to eat a spoonful of their chosen cleaner while you take a spoonful of either baking soda or vinegar, which requires a bit of willpower but won’t kill you.
* “What do you want to use that in the fridge for?  The fumes will make the cheese taste weird.” This especially works for highly scented cleaning products.
* “So what if it takes a bit more elbow grease to use my stuff?  It burns calories.”
* “That stuff always makes my hands really itchy after I use it.” And then ignore remarks that you’re just a wimp and why don’t you use rubber gloves.  Or else proceed to the next argument.
* “Last time I used that stuff, I accidentally breathed some of the fumes in and was coughing for the rest of the day and/or had itchy eyes and a headache.”
* “The chemicals in those cleaners have an effect on hormones, and might make my PMT worse.” A good one for women to use on husbands.  Pregnancy makes another excellent reason for switching to natural cleaners.
* “Did you know that those artificial fragrances are some of the worst carcinogens around?”
* “People have killed themselves by using too many chemical cleaners.” Yes, there have been cases of people dying after mixing ammonia-based toilet cleaner with chlorine-based cleaners – these react to form chlorine gas as used in the trenches of World War I.  Then the silly person, in a small, enclosed space bends over the toilet bowl to scrub it out…
Some added arguments that apply to chemicals for use in the garden vs. organic methods.
* “Some of that stuff’s going to still be on the lettuces when you come to eat it.”
* “How are you going to stop the cat/dog/baby eating that snail bait?”
* “I can just use old coffee grounds/eggshells/wood ash to keep the snails off – no need for that expensive bait.”
* “All those chemicals will kill off the good bacteria in the soil that protect the plant from disease.”
* “That spray will kill the bees that pollinate our flowers.”
* “The carrots taste better when you use organic fertilizer.”
* “Why can’t you pull the weeds out by hand – the exercise will do you good.”
Still more arguments for natural pest control inside the house:
* “I don’t want that mouse poison anywhere near the food.”
* “Using a flyswat is more fun.  Why not pretend it’s a shoot-em-up computer game?”
* “That flyspray will hurt my pet fish.”
* “Don’t bother with that mouse poison – get a cat.  A cat’s amusing and good for relieving stress.”
* “You saw the rat?  Kill it yourself with a cricket bat – it’s the closest you’ll get to being a dragon-slaying hero… darling.” Another good one to use on husbands, especially if they have a taste for action movies of the historical/fantasy type.