In the world of household cleaning, not all products are created equal. In recent years, it has become widely known that a lot of the common, everyday household products are chock full of hazardous ingredients, such as volatile organic compounds (or VOCs), that may be compromising your health. In addition to irritating your eyes and nose, chemical-laden cleaning products can cause skin rashes and trigger asthma attacks. Never mix products that contain bleach and ammonia, as the combination can cause severe lung damage or even death.

Those warning labels on the back of your oven cleaner or all-purpose spray are there for a reason. Toxic substances can be found in just about every cleaning product including air fresheners, furniture polish, dishwashing liquid and chlorine bleach. As you are busy scrubbing away, dangerous chemicals can enter your body through your lungs or through contact with your skin. Let’s say your eyes get itchy and you rub them for relief ⁠— the likelihood for chronic respiratory problems, allergic reactions and headaches goes up.

This spring, as you are refreshing your living space and cleaning out the cobwebs, instead of opting for the average cleaning products that commercial retail stores offer, try out some natural alternatives. The best part is that a lot of these natural options are made using everyday home items that might already be in your cupboard or pantry. You will get the same deep clean from natural cleaning alternatives without the corrosive chemicals in your favorite brand name product.

Here are few tips for how to do your annual spring cleaning naturally:

Next time, you head to clean your stainless steel oven and stove top, instead of a harsh cleaner, grab baking soda and water. That’s right! Mix warm water and baking soda, and let it sit for a few minutes until it thickens. You will have a potent, natural cleaning solution that will help you scrub out any hardened food on your oven.

Baking soda has a host of other uses too. Slow drain? Mix vinegar and baking soda, and pour it into your sink. You’ll create this natural connection by warming up a cup of vinegar and adding it to the baking soda. Once you pour it down the slow-moving drain, wait about 10 minutes and then flush it out with boiling water. Your drain will be back to its normal pace in no time.

If you are looking to make your kitchen and bathroom faucets shine, there is a natural solution for that as well. Lemon is the secret! Treat metal with lemon juice and salt to give it an all-natural shine. It works on any metal — think copper, brass or steel! Scrub away with a toothbrush and you’ll remove rust and tarnish in no time. It’s a safe and easy solution as the salt prevents the lemon from discoloring metal!

Another great idea for spring cleaning naturally is to use vinegar, baking soda and water on your bathtub. Say goodbye to bathtub grit and grime! First, create a baking soda paste by mixing warm water with baking soda in one container, and add water and vinegar together in a different spray bottle. Place a towel that is soaked in vinegar over the dirty area and allow it to sit for a few hours. Then, scrub with the baking soda paste and rinse clear with the vinegar-water mixture.

Now, let’s move on to the kitchen countertops. From a workspace, to kids crafts to cooking your next meal, your kitchen countertops get a lot of use in a single day. You can give them a refresh with a simple lemon and baking soda solution. Place baking soda on your countertop, give a lemon a squeeze on top of it and scrub away!

If you are cleaning your entire kitchen head to toe, let’s knock those dirty dishes out too. One natural alternative is to add a teaspoon of lemon juice to your dish soap. It will lessen the harshness of chemicals while still working as a powerful stain killer, and your kitchen will smell lemony fresh.

Last but certainly not least, if you are looking for a natural alternative to an all-purpose cleaner so you can clean just about anything in your home, lemon and vinegar are the secret. You can create this life-saving cleaning solution by soaking lemon peels in white wine vinegar for about two weeks. Take the peels out after a few weeks have passed and you’ll have one powerful cleaning aid.