WELCOMING SPRING – OUTSIDE AND WITHIN

Spring has finally arrived and with it the practice of spring cleaning. Nature is waking up from winter hibernation and slumber, as are we. There seems to be something in the fresh energy that spring brings upon us that calls out to us, waking us up and motivating us to refresh our living space. We want to freshen up our home, wake it up from hibernation and align it with the current budding state of nature.

Spring cleaning is often extensive – it’s hard work, but it can also be an opportunity to symbolically welcome a new season, introduce some of that spring energy indoors, have a bit of a "new beginning" type of thing. We at KAIAA certainly encourage the association between blooming spring nature and a good spring clean, with the goal of making it even more natural. After all, can you imagine a better spring cleanse than one that is natural, void of harmful chemicals, and enriched with essential oils?

FIRSTLY, OUT WITH THE OLD

For starters, laying a solid groundwork is in order. See if you’ve piled up items you don’t need. Try to identify what you have in excess and start your spring cleaning by discarding things you don’t need. Separate what you really use and need from things that just take up space. It could be clothes you never wear, various kitchen items you don’t use, maybe a book you never really wanted and will never read. Perhaps those tiny items you stuffed in a drawer just to remove them out of sight.

After making some decisions, donate items you don't want or need anymore – don't go straight to the trash bin. Try to think of someone who would benefit from it, who would be happy to take on certain items. Your surplus might be something of use to others. Not only will you help someone, bring them joy, and offer kindness, but you’ll also reduce the amount of waste you’ll potentially produce and give a contribution to the environment.

LET’S CLEAN NATURALLY, WITHOUT HARMFUL CHEMICALS

After eliminating unnecessary things and items, the next phase of spring cleaning can commence. Being an extensive undertaking, a spring clean often involves many store-bought cleaning products. Their chemical composition is often harmful. They can irritate and damage our skin and eyes. Our respiratory system is also under attack – inhaling such vapors can irritate the sinuses, while various harmful chemicals easily enter the bloodstream through our lungs. Children are even more sensitive to these products, pets also.

DIY ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER

To keep your home clean and safe for the whole family, replace your collection of store-bought cleaning products with a natural DIY solution. You need only a few ingredients that are also easily accessible and affordable. Here’s a simple recipe for an effective all-purpose cleaner:

You’ll need this:

• spray bottle
• 250 ml of white (alcohol-based) vinegar
• 250 ml of water
• 15 drops of tea tree essential oil
• 15 drops of lemon essential oil

Pour the vinegar and water into your spray bottle, then add the essential oils. Seal it tightly and give it a good shake before use.

White vinegar is an ingredient that is, in addition to being extremely accessible and affordable, a very effective cleaning agent. It can dissolve limescale and remove grease easily.

Tea tree essential oil is the go-to essential oil when it comes to natural cleaning due to its strong antimicrobial properties. It successfully battles bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Lemon essential oil will also bring its antimicrobial properties and enhance the effectiveness of your cleaner. Like vinegar, it will help dissolve grease while adding a refreshing aroma in the process.

Some additional tips:

• When cleaning your bathroom or kitchen, get yourself some baking soda – also an easily accessible and affordable ingredient. Sprinkle it on your bathtub, tiles, sink, stove, or oven. After that, spray your natural cleaner on them. A chemical reaction will begin – baking soda will foam upon contact with vinegar. Let it do its work for half an hour and then start cleaning.
• Since essential oils and plastics are not very keen on each other, try to find a glass spray bottle. If you’re planning to use up the entire amount of your mixture in one cleaning, plastic will do – it's not the end of the world. But if you want to store your cleaner for future endeavors, a glass bottle is the way to go because essential oils will lose their properties over time due to their reaction with the plastic material.
• Although we recommend tea tree and lemon essential oils because of their antimicrobial properties, we encourage you to add a few drops of other oils – choose aromas you most enjoy and scent up your spring cleaning even more. Sweet orange essential oil, for example, will add an extra citrusy note and soften the smell of vinegar and tea tree. True lavender will give you a nice floral note while providing a calming and antistress effect along the way. Choose what you like best, the possibilities are many.
• If you find the smell of vinegar unpleasant and think you’ll not get rid of it for days, worry not – it will evaporate and dissipate in an hour. After that, the aromas of essential oils will take the lead.

OKAY, BUT WHY ALL THIS?

To take care of our families and ourselves – we love our living space to be clean, but we also want it to be safe for everyone. Again, we at KAIAA love the symbolism of budding spring nature in connection with a good spring cleaning, we want to bring even more nature into it. On top of that, it’s important to acknowledge that today, March 23, is World Water Day – a date chosen to highlight the importance of fresh water and preserving natural water resources.

On that note, let’s clean naturally and eco-friendly – take care of ourselves, those close to us, and the environment. Also, let’s try to be mindful of what we send down the drain. Fortunately, cleaning naturally and with a DIY approach is not difficult at all. On the contrary, the recipes are very simple, the ingredients easily accessible. Once you go natural and DIY, you won’t even want to go back to the old ways.