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Ahh, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and Spring is in the air. But right on the heels of Spring comes Spring Cleaning as we dig ourselves out from the oppresion of winter and strive to make things nice once again.

But so many times the act of Spring Cleaning takes a toll on our environment. There is hope, though, in doing it in a way that not only gets the job done, but does so in an eco-friendly way. To help you with your planet-friendly Spring cleaning, we offer these five helpful tips.

Tip #1: Conserve Water When Possible

One of the best ways to be more eco-friendly when spring cleaning is to make an effort to use less water. Try to not let the water run unless you are actively using it or filling a bucket. And using a bucket to clean items can be much more conservative than spraying liberally with a hose before, during, and after the cleaning.

When it comes to sidewalks and patios, try to sweep instead of spray. Even sweeping first to remove the larger dirt can make for much shorter water hose time (and consequently saves a lot of water).

Tip #2: Do Windows With Vinegar

One of the rituals of Spring Cleaning seems to be the window cleaning. But instead of using harsh chemicals in a spray bottle, it is easy to make your own vinegar based cleaner that does a great job. To make it use:

• 1/4 cup distilled vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap (if recycling spray bottle)

Please note that the liquid soap is needed only if you are recycling an existing spray bottle from a commercial glass cleaner. The glass cleaner will leave a little wax residue, which can cause streaks. By using just a little soap it takes care of the wax streaks. If you are fairly certain you have a clean bottle, then just ignore the liquid soap.

To use your vinegar windows cleaner, spray and clean as usual . You will find that it is a great substitute for the harsher alternative, and it is a very cost effective solution, saving you money.

Tip #3: Clean with Baking Soda

There are truly few eco-friendly products that are better at cleaning than simple baking soda. While you may already have a box in your fridge as a way to control odor and keeping it fresh, baking soda’s use as a cleaning agent may soon have you convinced that you cannot do without the economical product.

To clean a sink with baking soda, just sprinkle it in and start scrubbing. You can add a little water as you go, and when you rinse you will find the sink clean and de-odorized.

For cleaning tiles or bathtubs, combine baking soda with liquid soap to make a thick paste. Scoop it up with a sponge and clean away, rinsing when finished. This works as well as many soft scrub type cleaners on the market today, but without the harmful chemicals found in many. Plus it is a very economical alternative, and it works well for pet odors as well.

Tip #4: Recycle The Junk Mail

When it comes to cleaning up the really gross stuff, consider using some of that junk mail that keeps coming despite your best effort otherwise. Most of it tends to be thick and absorbent, making it great for the tough messes. Now you have a reason to check your mailbox – cleaning supplies delivered!

Tip #5: Use Cedar Instead Of Mothballs When Storing The Winter Goods

Part of Spring cleaning often involves putting away of winter clothes and bringing out the spring fashions. Typically mothballs are used to protect clothing while in storage, but the naphthalene used as a pesticide is a harmful chemical.

Instead use cedar as a natural alternative. Buying or building a cedar chest or closet will protect your clothes when used in a sealed location. If that is not possible (or too expensive), then store your winter clothes with cedar shavings in a cheesecloth holder. Put them in a airtight bag with your items, and it will provide protection until winter rears its ugly head again.

There are many ways to be more eco-friendly during your spring cleaning. But by starting with these 5 tips you will be able to not only help save the planet, but also save some money. That makes it good for everyone.

Residents of Spokane, Washington are having a dirty time of it with their dishes. Since July of 2008, dishwasher detergents containing phosphates have been banned in Spokane County – a ban that will go statewide in July 2010. However, residents are smuggling in less eco-friendly dishwater detergents from neighboring areas, because they say the phosphate-free detergents just don’t do the job.

The ban applies to the sale of phosphate detergent, not its use or possession, so those who smuggle are not in any legal trouble.

The smugglers are traveling to nearby Idaho to get their mits on brands like Cascade and Electrasol, as opposed to the brands now only sold in Spokane County such as Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe’s.

There must be a solution to this eco-friendly cleaning products problem – either people have to sacrifice their squeaky clean dishes, or someone’s gotta make a better product.

So when we, the Sustainability Ninjas decided to start doing product reviews, the first product that came to mind was Pink Solution. My mother-in-law swears by the stuff and I’d always wanted to try it. The Pink Solution people were nice enough to send us a sample of their products, which could not have arrived at a more appropriate time. Firstly, with a baby on the way we’ve been trying to sell our one-bedroom condo and have been having regular open houses. Regular open houses means regular (nightmare) cleanings of our place – and being pregnant, I’ve been starting to worry about the chemicals, like ammonia, in the cleaners we’d been using and was looking to switch over to a safer product like Pink Solution, a natural enzyme cleaner. So we were lucky enough to have the Pink Solution arrive just in time for a major clean.

Now you might think I’m stretching the truth for effect, but I kid you not, a few minutes later we got another package in the mail full of baby clothes I’d gotten at my baby shower while visiting my mother. We noticed immediately that the box was wet with some sort of oily substance. Now, my mother is an awesome lady and all, but she has this terrible habit of being a royal space cadet and had decided to include a bottle of liquid vitamin supplements for my dog that had fish oil as the prime ingredient. Naturally, she (bless her heart) hadn’t closed the lid properly and the supplement – which must hold the title for the greasiest, rankest substance ever invented – ended up spilling out and coating almost everything. When we opened the box, the stench of fish almost knocked us off our feet. Even the clothes that weren’t saturated in the greasy oil still reeked of fish.

And so it was clear: Pink Solution was seriously going to be put to the test.

For the clothes that were stained with the bright yellow fluid, we treated them first with the Pink Solution Laundry Bar, which is apparently six times stronger than Pink Solution and contains Borax. We then threw all the clothes in the bathtub, ran warm water and mixed it with Pink Solution. We let it all soak for a half-hour or so, and let’s put it this way: words can’t explain how thrilled I was to put the clothes up to my nose after they’d been soaking and not smell fish. The bright yellow stains had also disappeared. And thus, it was official. Pink Solution saved our baby from spending her first few months of life smelling like a rotting piece of halibut.

We were so excited that I decided to try out the third product they’d sent us, Mother’s Choice, a non-toxic, organic and bio-degradable oven cleaner. Now I am embarrassed to admit it that we are among the annoying people whose smoke alarm goes off during every oven use, due to the burned crusties on the bottom we’ve been too lazy to clean. However with little effort, Mother’s Choice removed the baked-on oven grime and rust stains that had been there for years.

Reading the instructions, the thing that is most impressive about this environmentally-friendly cleaning product is that you don’t have to worry. Pink Solution contains no harmful chemicals, and is non-caustic. If our dog were to lick an area that had been cleaned with Pink Solution, it would be harmless. (Apparently, some people use it to clean their cats.) Your kid could basically eat the paste and you wouldn’t be frantically calling poison control. And the fact that it works better than those hardcore ammonia and bleach-based products – well, that’s the bonus.

I just realized that this post kind of sounds like an infomercial and I suddenly sound a hell of a lot like Tony Little. Now those of you who may think my raving is shrouded in some sort of Pink Solution advertising deal, I honestly can’t say enough good stuff about this product and there is no Pink Solution sponsorship or endorsement shenanigans going on here. All they did was send us a sample of their product, and, well, it ended up saving us about $500 worth of baby clothes we would have otherwise had to toss out.

To get your hands on their product, head to the Pink Solution website to order online in the U.S. and Canada. Or, check this link out if you are interested in learning how to stop rusting on metal surfaces and moving parts.

We were thrilled when we watched the Today show this morning and saw a segment entitled “Green Your Routine,” which brought attention to green cleaning products.

Do you know what goes into the cleaners we all use in our homes today? If you’re trying to go green, it’s not as simple as merely looking at the back of the bottle. There are about 9,000 cleaning products on the market that have not been fully tested for safety. This doesn’t mean that they’re all unsafe, however not knowing what chemicals are in products can be dangerous as they aren’t required to list ingredients. You can’t know what you’re using.

Companies are shockingly allowed to use summary terms for chemicals such as “fragrance” or “preservatives.”  What we need is national regulation so that companies must disclose every ingredient in a product.

How do we consumers navigate such a sneaky marketplace? Today reports that many people have gone retro, mixing natural products like water and vinegar to create a product that effectively cleans without using toxins. For example, did you know that you don’t need to pour that crazy blue gunk in your toilet? Simply pour vinegar directly into the toilet bowl and let stand for 30 minutes. Next, sprinkle baking soda onto toilet brush and scour. To keep the bowl fresh, pour one cup of vinegar into the toilet bowl once a month and let it stand overnight.

Also, products that have the Green Seal certification are ones that have been approved by the program. Green Seal has really good standards behind it so that consumers don’t have to figure it out themselves. Also, check out Pink Solution. It’s a cleaning solution that is biodegradable, natural and non-toxic. We at Sustainability Ninja have actually tried the stuff – and it works!

Green cleaning products create a toxic-free environment for families as well as for the planet. Big kudoes to Today for bringing national attention to green cleaning products!