You know that smell? When you walk into a space, and someone has cleaned? It’s a little overwhelming, maybe it gives you a headache, but you also know the job’s been done.

But maybe you don’t want the chemicals in those household cleaners hanging around your home.

“A lot of our customers are concerned about the toxins in the air, the toxins in the water, the toxins everywhere,” says Jim Fly, owner of A-Z’s FreshAir Fare Natural Market. “They really have detox on the mind.”

And there are plenty of ways to detox your home without sacrificing a good cleaning. You could buy many of the products out there already, such as Seventh Generation or Babyganics. But if you look into your shelves, you’ll find you already have many things you need to clean your home in a healthy way. We spoke with both Mr. Fly and Sheila Mayer, owner of Herb N Oils, about alternative cleaning methods, and we’ve included a few recipes to get you started. Then, perhaps, when you walk into a space and smell lemon oil or vinegar, you’ll know the job’s been done, and it’s safe to breathe, too.

Lemon Here’s a sweet product that you probably have around. Lemon juice can clean and shine brass and copper, about.com says, and you can mix it with vinegar or baking soda to make a cleaning paste. Plus, it smells great.

In fact, essential oils, such as lemon, also make a great way to clean the home, Mr. Fly says.

Ms. Mayer agrees. Lemon oil is a great cleaner, she says, and it’s antibacterial. Real Simple magazine’s Web site, realsimple.com, likes a coat of lemon oil for keeping grime from gathering on the shower door. And adding a half cup of lemon juice to a cup of olive oil makes a great furniture polish, according to about.com. But be careful, Ms. Mayer warns, because it could strip your wood.

Some other uses for essential oils, she adds, are putting eucalyptus oil on cotton balls and placing them in places where you see ants, cockroaches and crickets, which hate the smell. Do the same with peppermint oil for mice.

Baking soda’s kind of the jack-of-all-trades around the house.

“For sure it deodorizes any refrigerator or trash can,” says Mr. Fly.

But baking soda does more. According to about.com, baking soda makes a great abrasive cleaner.

“That’s fantastic for countertops,” Ms. Mayer says. “That will get out ingrained stains really well”

According to the Ecology Center, which promotes environmentally sound practices in Berkeley, Calif., you can make your own scouring cleanser by simply sprinkling baking soda or baking soda with water on the surface and scrubbing with a wet sponge. If there’s a residue after, the Ecology Center recommends rinsing with cold water and vinegar. Baking soda also works for cleaning toilets, they report, and tubs and tiles.

Vinegar It smells like dyed Easter eggs, maybe, or pickles, but vinegar sure can clean. In fact, Mr. Fly uses equal parts baking soda, salt and distilled white vinegar for a tough cleaning job.

”Those three things mixed together can unclog your drain in a natural way,” he says.

Vinegar works as an all-purpose cleaner, according to about.com, and as a disinfectant and deodorant. Pouring it down the toilet can remove rings, and putting some in a spray bottle with equal parts water can work as an around-the-house cleaner. Vinegar even works well as a fabric softener, according to about.com, by adding a half cup to the rinse cycle. But, Ms. Mayer warns, make sure you don’t ingest it.

“Use on the outside,” she says, “not on the inside.”

To make a glass cleaner, the Ecology Center recommends adding 1/4 cup white vinegar to a quart of warm water in a spray bottle. And to remove mineral stains, they recommend soaking paper towels in vinegar and letting the towels sit on the area for an hour. You also can set out vinegar to remove the smells of cooking.

Borax Mr. Fly remembers commercials for borax from the 1950s, and you’ll find it on the shelf at the store next to other cleaning products.

Borax is another multi-purpose cleaner, but don’t leave this one out for anyone to find. It’s a mineral with no toxic fumes, according to about.com, but it can irritate the skin and shouldn’t be ingested.

In fact, Ms. Mayer says, make sure no one in the home is allergic to it before using.

After that’s established, however, borax has lots of uses. To make an all-purpose cleaner, Ecology Center recommends mixing one teaspoon of borax, one teaspoon of liquid soap and 1/4 white vinegar with a quart of warm water. One half a cup added to a gallon of water can remove mildew, they report, and to disinfect, use a half cup in a gallon of hot water.