I just tried a household cleaning hint that I found on Pinterest and I can vouch that it actually works. Take a baking pan or cookie sheet that has burnt on ,blackened food. Sprinkle it with baking soda. Then spray or sprinkle on some hydrogen peroxide. Then sprinkle on another layer of baking soda. Walk away for a couple of hours and do other things that you need to do. When you come back, you'll notice that a chemical reaction happened and the baking soda and peroxide ate away at the burnt on gunk and your pan or cookie sheet is turning silver again. Now all you have to do is wash the pan and it'll look as clean as if you scrubbed it. I'm kind of geeky ,so I really enjoyed seeing the pan change back to its original color as all the baked on stuff came off. Science is fun.
I use vinegar to clean a lot of things and to disinfect. Castile soap is a great cleaner and is made from natural oils (it is concentrated so you want to dilute it.) A mix of baking soda with vinegar is great too for scrubbing and for the drains too. I really only use mostly natural cleaners. I have yet to make laundry soap, but I do add vinegar to the washer as the fabric softener instead of store bought softener (and in place of dryer sheets.)
