House Cleaning the Gorgeously Green Girl's Way

The best-ever silver cleaner is toothpaste, but if you can't face the smell or don't believe me, you can always try putting a large pot of water on to boil, add one teaspoon of both salt and baking soda, and immerse the silver in the boiling water. Turn off the heat and leave for 60 seconds, then polish with a dry cloth.

If you need to polish shoes, avoid regular polishes, as they are highly toxic. Use either olive oil or the inside of a banana skin. The latter leaves a residue that you need to vigorously polish off, but it's worth the work to get a sweet-smelling shine.

This excerpt from Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life used by permission. Copyright 2008 HarperCollins Publishers.