Greening your cleaning: five natural cleaners that are tough on dirt
 

When it comes to choosing a cleaning product, the deciding factor is often as much about what is not in the product as what is.

Read the full article here...

That's actually a really great "no b.s." article, full of things that actually WORK. This is how I learned to clean house from my Grandma back in the day, and how I clean my house today. It absolutely works great, and is SO much cheaper and healthier.

Another hot tip is that most Sam's clubs carry Ecos laundry detergent
at a great price:
Ecos® Liquid Laundry Detergent - 210oz Member Reviews - Sam's Club

This is a non-petroleum based laundry detergent, which is much
cheaper than all the petrol-based detergents right now, for
obvious reasons!

I add 1/4 c. of baking soda to especially dirty loads of clothes,
and about every third wash, I'll add 1/2 c. of vinegar to the rinse
to really get any residue out. Our clothes are amazingly clean,
and we never need fabric softener.

With baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice, there's really not
much around a house that can't be cleaned to sparkling!