The Complete Book of Natural Housekeeping: 95 Pure & Simple Recipes to Clean, Polish & Freshen Your Home

by Casey Kellar

Book Overview

Save money, avoid harsh chemicals, custom-clean problem areas, and enhance your home's beauty--the natural way! To have a bright and sparkling house, jettison the abrasive commercial substances and depend on nature's gifts instead. Such kind-to-the-environment (and your health) "cleansers" as fresh-cut lemons, vinegar, glycerine, baking soda, wheat-germ oil, and fragrant herbs will polish wood floors and furniture to gleaming; remove stubborn stains...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1579902294
• ISBN13: 9781579902292
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Lark Books (NC)
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Great Tips

Casey Kellar shares some great tips and easy recipes for everyday housekeeping. Some recipes call for chemicals that I prefer not to use, like ammonia, but most of them are simple and natural using products like lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda, essential oils, etc. I borrowed this book from my local library and couldn't put it down. I copied several of the recipes to keep on hand for future needs. I feel confident that I should never have to purchase another chemical-filled product from a local store shelf.

in response

I am writing in response to a misinformed and clearly uneducated reviewer. Let me start by saying of course the author uses lye in her recipies, what do you think soap is made of? It is the combining of an alkaline solution (lye and water) with fats and or oils, this process is called saponification. Secondly it is true that lye is corrosive in it's pure form but I'm sure the author expects you to show the same caution you would with many other household products such as bleach or oven cleaner. I assure your end product will be safe and natural. Lastly I would like to suggest that perhaps this reviewer's time might be better spent reading books on grammer ("such which").

Informative and useful

I found this book to be a valuable resource. I've made a few of the 'recipes' for cleaners in the book and they've all proven both effective and less irritating than some commercial products I've used. I have 3 sons, 2 of them still in diapers, and they all have extremely sensitive skin. Add to that a mildly brain damaged cats who tends to pee on things, and a book like this comes in quite handy. I think the author my have gone a bit out of her depth with some of the car cleaning recipes, and she does start to channel Martha Stewart a bit too much in some parts, but aside from those two shortcomings I thought this was a worthwhile addition to my reference shelf.