Vinegar!

Lately I've been using vinegar for cleaning all sorts of things.  It's a lot cheaper than standard cleaners and not as bad for the environment.  My two favourites (so far) are:

• use white vinegar instead of fabric softener in the final rinse.  You don't need much; half fill one of those plastic ball things that you can buy for fabric softener for a full load of clothes.
• apple cider vinegar is great on hair instead of conditioner.  Pour about a cup over your hair after shampooing - it will get rid of soap build-up and leave your hair shiny and soft.  They say you can use vinegar for a rinse every time you wash your hair, but I do it once a week or every other week.

Don't worry about having a vinegar smell - it's gone by the time it dries (the only time this hasn't happened was when I got a bit overzealous with one load of laundry and put in twice as much as I needed...).  Clothes come out smelling fresh like they've been hanging outside in clean air to dry.  Recently I reverted to fabric softener for a laundry load (the vinegar bottle was downstairs and I couldn't be bothered getting it) and when the clothes were dry I almost choked on the strong, sickly sweet smell of the fabric softener.  And I use a mildly scented one...  You don't notice how strongly they smell until you quit using them for a while.

There are plenty of web pages with tips, two good ones are HERE and HERE.  It's great for some plants too - azaleas, gardenias and rhododendrons love it apparently.  And it will stop ants from coming in the house.  Yay for vinegar!