The ‘Green Team’ at St Catherine’s has started sharing their thoughts and tips to help us to all be kind to the planet and God’s creation.

Here’s their first article ; Going green to be clean. Share your own thoughts and responces in the comments below.

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I started off this idea, of using green cleaning solutions for my home, when my daughter developed asthma as a young child.

I made my own multi surface kitchen cleaner and started from there. I tried to be green, by not using some of my more chemical cleaning materials. I have been “quite green”, for years now, but I haven’t progressed so very far, until now.

I have decided that the condition of the planet has not become more healthy in the 34 years that I’ve been slowly turning green. It has been getting so much worse in 34 years and I’ve not helped to slow down that change much. So what can I do? I always knew that if I encouraged other people to take the journey with me, I could make a much bigger difference. So here goes, I’m going speed up my becoming greener, will you join me?

I have seen a lady on tv, who uses green methods for cleaning her home, her name is Nancy, she was a winner of Bake off a few years ago. She has grandchildren and she doesn’t want to leave the planet in a poor state for them, so she went green!

Now if someone has already invented the wheel, I don’t want to re-invent it. So I have literally taken a leaf out her book. I’m going to be a follower of her ideas and turn my house a darker shade of green.

I first started to collect a few trigger bottles to use and purchase stuff to make my new style cleaning materials with. I’ve started by purchasing what Nancy calls the sodium sisters. They are sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate and sodium per carbonate. These products can do good cleaning jobs that will do a great job in the home without ruining it.

I already had citric acid to preserve my home made elderflower cordial for one year. I next got delivered surgical spirit. I have had to use that very large home delivery company, available online. Ok, not perfect, but can’t buy a kilo of sodium bicarbonate in Sainsbury’s baking isle!

So now I’ve got five new ingredients to get me started. What can I do first?

Do you have any lemons in the fridge? Old ones will do fine. They are so useful and you can use them even after they have been juiced for baking

Using sodium carbonate ( washing soda), I can clean my drains, bathroom and kitchen sink. I can add a scoop in my washing load to reduce the amount of laundry detergent needed in each wash. None of this is rocket science and maybe you have been doing those jobs like that for years – give yourself a pat on the back! If you haven’t, put washing soda on your next shopping list and get cracking.

The second thing I can do with my new ingredients is clean my stainless steel sink with sodium bicarbonate and a soft cloth, not a synthetic sponge or green scourer. Try to begin to buy non plastic alternatives. I’ve found a good green section in Dunelm recently.( perhaps your new ones could be a bamboo one, a cotton dish cloth or a microfibre cloth. ). Cleaning my sink this way saves buying plastic bottles, saves buying chemicals, which aren’t good to be breathing in and saves putting chemicals down the drain. They will end up polluting our rivers and seas.

The third thing I can do with my new arsenal of cleaning products is tackle the limescale in my kettle. You can use vinegar to do this, but lemon juice/ citric acid is so much nicer, as a smell, I think.

So, half fill your kettle with tap water and boil it. Then add 80g of citric acid, put your kettle in the sink, as there will be fizzing. Leave it for 30 minutes. If you can’t do without a cuppa for this time, just have a glass of wine instead! If you have a fresh ( or stale ) lemon, cut a sliver and push it down the spout, after rubbing it around the rim. After 30 mins, your kettle should be sparkling and will use less electricity to boil water.

So, it’s 30 minutes later – I’m looking at a limescale free kettle and I did enjoy my glass of wine. This job can be done just before bed time, rise the kettle out before you use it for your morning cuppa. If your kettle isn’t sparkly, you may have left it too long before de-scaling it. Reheat that solution, careful not to put too much of the solution in the kettle, leave for a while. Put a note on your calendar to de-scale more frequently in future.

Have you got a wash load to put on? Use less detergent and add a tablespoon of washing soda to the powder drawer. This will soften your water, give you a less costly wash and will not harm water courses and the ocean. What’s not to like?

What’s next? Cuppa or rubber gloves? Cuppa, I think!