Genius Eco Friendly Cleaning Hacks To Save Money And The Planet

Whether you’re worried about Coronavirus (covid-19) and want to blitz those surfaces or it’s just time for a good spring clean, there are no end of eco-friendly cleaning hacks and homemade cleaning products that anyone can make. These are some of the pebble team's favourites.

We independently research all featured brands and products. To avoid waste, we test products on an as needed basis. This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a small commission. Learn more about why we do this here.

Green cleaning has exploded in popularity over the last year as more of us want to move to chemical free cleaning and making our own cleaning products. Sometimes the best eco-friendly cleaning hacks just need some insider knowledge or old school skills rather than spending money on new products, which makes them double green in our book.

These eco-friendly cleaning hacks are safe for everyone in your home, pets included and they’re all pretty quick and easy! Saving the planet isn’t harder, it just means thinking differently.

If you’re more interested in the best natural cleaning products you can get in the UK, then click here for our favourite eco-friendly cleaning products.

Genius Eco-friendly Cleaning Hacks That Save Time, Money And The Planet

1. Clean your oven with baking soda and white vinegar

Put down those chemical sprays and brightly coloured plastic bottles. Cleaning hacks with baking soda and white vinegar are your new bedrock for eco-friendly cleaning. Buy them in bulk from a zero waste shop for extra green points and let’s get scrubbing.

This clever cleaning hack for your oven is safe, natural and planet-friendly.

  1. First take out anything removable in your oven.
  2. Create a baking soda paste by mixing baking soda with a little water (2-3 tablespoons).
  3. Spread it all over the inside of your oven (you might want to use gloves). It might go greasy brown but that’s fine. Leave it for 12 hours or overnight.
  4. Take off the dried baking soda with a damp cloth (like one of T-shirt cleaning rags below).
  5. Spray on white vinegar from a spray bottle, it will react and foam with the residue of the baking soda.
  6. Wipe it down and you should start to see a shiny new oven. Repeat steps 5 and 6 a few times if necessary.

2. The best eco-friendly tumble dryer hack

You don’t need anything for this green clean hack apart from a towel. If you’re drying clothes in the tumble dryer, it uses a huge amount of energy, it takes hours and isn’t cheap to run. 

You can shorten the time it takes to dry your clothes, by adding a dry towel when you start. Take it out after 15 minutes and you’ll find it will have soaked up the excess water and your clothes will dry much more quickly. Saving you time, money and energy. You’re welcome.

3. Cut up your clothes to use as cleaning rags

Old clothes, especially T-shirts make great cleaning rags and this cleaning hack will save you money and stop clothes going to landfill, so it’s a double win. 

Grab that old T-shirt, as we’re going to turn it into useful cleaning rags. 

Here’s how to turn a Tshirt into eco-friendly cleaning rags

Use them in place of (unsustainable) paper kitchen towel, microfibre cloths or any other bought or disposable cleaning cloths. Obviously have different ones for different tasks but an old Tshirt makes a lot of rags. You can wash cleaning rags in a hot wash and then just hang them up to dry.

Once you’re done with them for good you can drop them off to a clothes bank for recycling, no waste here.

Traid off: What happens to your clothes when you recycle them?

4. Get rid of mattress stains with Bicarb of Soda

This is a green cleaning hack from cleaning sensation, Mrs Hinch herself. If you need to get rid of unsightly stains on your mattress, try rubbing in bicarbonate of soda powder straight into the stain. Leave it to work its magic for an hour or so and then Hoover up the powder and the stain should come with it.

5. How to clean windows with this white vinegar hack

That’s right we’re going back to one of those multi-purpose eco-friendly cleaning essentials, white vinegar. White vinegar cuts through all the grease and grime that builds up on glass, so there’s no need to go and buy expensive and chemical filled cleaning products.

1. Mix up a simple white vinegar solution with 50/50 hot water and vinegar. 
2. Use newspaper or a damp sponge to coat the windows in the solution.
3. Use a wet squeegee to wipe your windows sparkling clean.

6. Stop smelly bins

Here’s yet another use for the green cleaner’s best friend, baking soda. No one likes it when bins give off a weird pong so cut it off at source. 

Sprinkle baking soda into the bottom of your bin where it will soak up any odours and stop them spreading.

7. How to clean your dishwasher with citric acid

Yep, you don’t need to put nasty chemicals through your dishwasher to get it super clean. Citric acid (which is a naturally occuring acid) is a great eco-friendly cleaning hack for your dishwasher. Citric acid is great for cleaning because it contains d-limonene, which is a natural solvent that can cut through grease and grime.

You can either make your own citric acid cleanser or buy organic citric acid crystals, either online or from a DIY or homewares store. 

Use either and fill up where you normally put your dishwasher tablets and run your dishwasher. You can either run it empty or with plain china in it (avoid anything metal or patterned, as the citric acid crystals could mark it).

And that’s it. It’s a super simple eco-friendly cleaning back and your dishwasher will be back to sparkling.

8. How to get sticky labels off glass jars

If you’re like us and obsessed with getting dried foods into zero waste glass jars and repurposing any bought glass jars, you’ll have come across the same problem – those sticky labels just don’t want to come off. And when they do, they leave behind a sticky residue – not the look your new zero waste pantry is going for.

So how to get rid of them? We’re loving this DIY sticky goo remover recipe. 

1. Mix together baking soda and coconut oil (50/50 mix) so you’ve got a thick paste.
2. Apply it to the stick label or residue and rub it with a warm rag until the residue comes off.
3. Fill and display your jars to your heart’s content.