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Ah, the Saturday-morning ritual of scrubbing toilets and catching dust-bunnies, a time-honored tradition like Clorax and Pinesol in steaming hot buckets. The usual sanitizing and deodorizing can be hazardous to your health if you inhale any of the fumes. I grew up in the era that thought it had to be strong to clean. After suffering years of the burning eyes and singed lungs, I thought there had to be a better way.

I began exploring organic living and non-toxic cleaning as part of my quest to make my eczema-scared, eosinophilic, asthmatic daughter's life a little better. I searched from World Market to Target to Whole Foods Market and finally came up with some great alternatives to anything Proctor & Gamble or Palmolive can concoct in a lab.

My favorite natural cleaning products for a more greener home include:

1. Baking Soda, what can't it do? Pour baking soda on one of those textured showers, squeeze the juice from a couple lemons, go have a latte, come back, use the lemons as sponges, and scrub the grime away! You can then toss those lemons down your disposal and have double duty - they make a great disposal refresher!

2. Baking soda in the washing machine along with any natural detergent such as Method or Arm & Hammer's Essentials will make your clothes nice and clean. If you really want them bright, add a scoop of OxyClean or just put your machine to soak, add a cup of Borax and let it sit, white, whites.

3. Laundry is always a chore, you can try the baking soda and borax for added brightness. I use vinegar and baking soda for whites also, it does help keep them clean. I also love Mrs. Meyers anything.

4. Dishes, I will never love looking at a sink full but if I have to plunge my hands into a gallon of hot, sudsy water, why not do it with some aromatherapy? I love Mrs. Meyers lavender dish liquid. I also love Method's lavender dish liquid.

5. All purpose cleaning for the walls, car, washing machine gunk, bathroom sink is any of the ones I mentioned above or Lemon Simple Green. Simple Green has been around forever and you can pick up a gallon jug at Home Depot. Pick up a spray bottle also and you can mix the concentrate, reuse the spray bottle, and save the environment about 16 more pieces of plastic! Simple Green doesn't have an oil-base like some of the direct-to-consumer Melaleuca products so it is safe to clean some of those Jacuzzi jet bathtubs.

6. I believe every home should have a gallon of distilled water and a couple microfiber cloths. If you get a spill

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