Spring is in the air

For many the start of spring means one thing; spring cleaning and decluttering! As you are all aware there are a myriad of cleaning products available on the market, but what many may not consider is the collective impact these products have not only on the environment and particularly our water courses, but also our health. Standard cleaning products contain numerous chemicals and artificial perfumes. However, there is an ever increasing number of plant based cleaning products available (such as bio-d, Kinn Living, faith or Ecover – the former are all made in the UK) or you can use old fashioned methods which
include castille soap, lemon, white vinegar, salt and bicarbonate soda, together with some essential oils for fragrance. We have provided some green cleaning tips below, but otherwise a simple search of the internet will provide a wealth of information and recipes:-

• Furniture polish is usually made of petroleum distillates and solvents, both of which are hazardous. At the very least, they’re both poisonous, so why keep them around when there are plenty of earth-friendly ways to polish your wood items?
• One very effective wood polish sounds like it would be a good salad dressing as well: Just mix 2 parts olive oil with 1 part lemon juice and apply it to your furniture using a soft cloth. The combination gives your wood furniture a nice smell and a sparkling shine.
• Toilet cleaning – put ½ cup of Baking soda, 10 drops of essential grapefruit oil & ¼ cup of white vinegar in the toilet bowl and scrub as it fizzes
• Bath – ¼ cup castille soap, 10 drops of tea tree oil & 1 cup of bicarbonate soda – this may take some elbow grease, but just think of it as a work out for the body as well as house work.
• Oven – scrub the inside of the oven with a paste of bicarbonate soda and water and leave a coat of the paste for an hour or overnight, before cleaning off with water.
• Floors – Wooden Floors – 1 tsp castille soap and 10 drops of tea tree oil in 4,5 litres of warm water
• Lemons – these can be used for a all manner of cleaning purposes, such as glass, bleaching clothes & degreasing whilst leaving a fresh scent. Fresh lemons can be expensive, but lemon concentrate can work just as well

If you’re decluttering your home then consider how you dispose of any unwanted items:-

• If any items are reusable, you may want to consider joining an online community called Freecycle (www.freecycle.org),
  which has localized chapters of members who let each other know what stuff they have hanging around that they would like to give away — anything from kitchen appliances, bicycles, and furniture to magazines, clothing, and diapers (unused, of course!).
• A local charity we have been working with, Ideas2Action, list items that they require and these can be found at the following link http://www.ideas2action.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Decluttering-We-Need-That-Feb-March-April-19-1.pdf
• As lawyers I’m sure many of us have work wear which we no longer require. How about donating your unwanted workwear to benefit others entering the workplace, such as https://smartworks.org.uk/get-involved/donate-clothes/
• For inspiration on decluttering, you might wish to refer to Marie Kondo’s tips at https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/tidying-up-with-marie-kondo-book-netflix-show-1203104380/
  – after all, a tidy house, leads to a tidy mind!