A Healthier, Greener Home: Eco-Friendly Cleaning Hacks

(Feature Impact) Keeping your home clean doesn’t have to mean filling your cabinets with harsh chemicals or single-use cleaning products. In fact, some of the most effective solutions may already be in your pantry.

By swapping a few everyday products for simple, eco-friendly solutions, you can clean effectively, save money and make your home a little greener. If you’re looking to reduce waste, cut back on toxins and simplify your cleaning routine, natural ingredients like vinegar, baking soda and lemon can deliver results while also being safer for your home – and the environment.

Make Your Own All-Purpose Cleaner

Instead of buying multiple cleaners for different surfaces, try a DIY solution that works in many areas of the home. In a spray bottle, combine 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup water and 10 drops of the essential oil of your choice – such as lemon, lavender or tea tree – then use it on countertops, sinks, glass and other surfaces to curb grease and grime. Avoid using vinegar-based cleaners on natural stone like granite or marble, however, as its acidity can cause damage.

Let Baking Soda Do the Scrubbing

One of the most versatile eco-friendly cleaners around, baking soda acts as a gentle abrasive that helps lift stains without scratching surfaces. Simply sprinkle baking soda onto sinks, bathtubs, cookware, stovetops or tile grout then scrub with a damp sponge or cloth for a sparkling clean finish.

Freshen Carpets Naturally

Carpets and rugs can trap odors, but a DIY deodorizer made of 1 cup baking soda and 10-15 drops of the essential oil of your choice can replace chemical sprays and keep floor surfaces smelling fresh. Just sprinkle across the carpet, let sit for 15-20 minutes then vacuum.

Use Lemon to Cut Grease and Stains

Lemon juice is a powerful natural cleaner due to its acidity and antibacterial properties. It can leave behind a fresh scent when used to clean cutting boards, remove soap scum and water spots or deodorize garbage disposals. For stubborn grime, mix lemon juice with baking soda to create a paste that can tackle tough surface stains.

Naturally Deodorize Drains

If your kitchen sink smells unpleasant, skip the harsh chemical drain cleaners. Pour 1/2 cup baking soda down the drain then add 1/2 cup white vinegar. Let the mixture fizz a few minutes then flush with hot water to help loosen buildup while neutralizing odors.

Polish Stainless Steel with Pantry Staples

Remove grimy fingerprints and give stainless steel appliances a streak-free shine with a simple mixture of 1 tablespoon white vinegar and 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Find more DIY, eco-friendly cleaning tips and tricks at eLivingtoday.com.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

SOURCE:

eLivingtoday.com

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Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

(Feature Impact) You may have mastered the core subjects like math and grammar in school, but financial literacy – or understanding the basics of money management in order to help you make better financial decisions – often goes overlooked before adulthood. It’s not so much a course of study as it is a plan of action.

Financial literacy in the United States has remained stagnant at generally low levels for several years, according to research from TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, with even lower levels among Gen Z. Yet greater financial literacy – including key aspects such as goal-setting, budgeting, saving, credit management and investing – is strongly linked to better financial outcomes, including lower rates of debt constraint and financial fragility.

While emboldening yourself to understand financial terms can be a little overwhelming at first, once you have a grasp of basic concepts you can begin to get a handle on your money and make better financial decisions. Simply put: When you understand how to earn, save, spend and invest wisely, you aren’t just building a stable future for yourself, but your family and community as well.

From nonprofit partnerships to volunteer-led programs and fee online resources, Schwab and its employees help millions of people every year build the knowledge and confidence to take charge of their financial futures by serving as board members, mentors, role models and educators.

Because financial health is a lifelong journey, the earlier people learn vital money skills, the better. That’s why the financial advisory services provider develops education programs geared toward kids that continue into adulthood, helping people no matter where they are on their journeys.

Talk Money

It’s never too early to start a conversation about financial literacy. Having teens identify goals that are important to them – such as concert tickets or a first car – can kickstart coversations about money. Working with your child (and a financial advisor, if necessary) on a plan for saving to realize those goals can serve as a jumping off point. After achieving some success, their enthusiasm may grow, which is a powerful motivator to keep saving.

Support School Initiatives and Programs

Outreach programs that empower young people to make smart financial decisions is key to a bright future. Programs like Money Matters – Schwab’s flagship financial education program utilized by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America – gives young people hands-on experience with all aspects of money and investing.

This example, and others, don’t just include program funding – they build partnerships that create impact and opportunity with national collaborations that reach more than 17 million youth annually, empowering young people with the tools and confidence to make smart financial decisions for life.

Spread the Financial Love

Championing financial literacy empowers everyone – individuals, families and communities. By serving as a board member, mentor, role model or educator to help bring financial literacy to others in your community, you can supply the tools and knowledge to lead programs that focus on giving back, empowering future generations in countless ways.

To learn more about financial literacy and find resources to empower your local community, visit SchwabMoneywise.com.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

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SOURCE:

Charles Schwab

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

Lucy Xiaolu Wang, UMass Amherst and Nathan W. Chan, UMass Amherst

Cannabis legalization 

Innovation in health care saves lives. But not all health innovations have enough evidence to actually benefit patients.

Barriers to innovation are often higher in illicit or restricted markets, including cannabis, stem cells and cryptocurrencies. Researchers face higher costs, limited access to raw materials and data, and stricter regulations.

Cannabis illustrates a particularly confusing tension between regulatory restrictions on one hand and research and innovation on the other.

While the U.S. federal government still classifies cannabis as having “no accepted medical use,” many states have legalized it for medical or recreational use. Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services obtained a cannabis-related patent in 2003 covering potential medical uses of cannabis compounds for protecting the brain from damage or degeneration. The patent was exclusively licensed for commercialization.

Research and innovation on cannabis can take many forms. Clinical trials may study cannabis products as medical treatments, the effects of cannabis on its users, or factors related to abuse and dependence. Meanwhile, cannabis-related patents can be filed for wide-ranging purposes, such as chemical formulations, methods for production or new consumer products like edibles, beverages or vaporizers.

But do these innovations actually benefit consumers and patients?

We are economists studying how institutional changes affect innovation in different markets. Our recently published research found that legalization of recreational cannabis use appears to spur innovation, but primarily in ways that expand commercial opportunities rather than scientific understanding or health benefits for patients.

Cannabis’ evolving legality in the US

Cannabis is a plant that contains chemical compounds called cannabinoids. One such compound, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, produces psychoactive effects, while another compound called cannabidiol, or CBD, is often used to relieve anxiety and pain. However, there has been insufficient evidence on how effective cannabis products are in treating medical conditions, as well as a lack of consistent medical and dosing guidance.

At the federal level in the U.S., cannabis has been classified as a Schedule I drug for over a half-century. This classification indicates that the federal government considers cannabis to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.

As a Schedule I drug, there are significant restrictions on cannabis research. Researchers who seek to conduct cannabis-related clinical trials must obtain approval from both the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration, a process that can take over a year. They are also limited to using select varieties of cannabis obtained from federally authorized cannabis suppliers, and are generally prohibited from studying products available in state-authorized markets.

There are ongoing pushes to relax these restrictions. Meanwhile, cannabis has been legalized to varying extents in many states. California became the first state to pass a medical cannabis law in 1996, allowing qualified patients to grow, possess and use cannabis for medical purposes. Many states followed suit in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As of June 2025, 40 states allow medical cannabis use.

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A number of states also allow recreational or nonmedical cannabis use among adults, which is regulated in similar ways to alcohol. Colorado and Washington enacted the first recreational cannabis laws in 2012, and there are 24 states that permit adults to use cannabis recreationally as of January 2026.

Altogether, the legal landscape for cannabis in the U.S. has varied considerably across states and over time. States with more permissive laws can lower the costs of medical research and product development with cannabis, even if federal drug scheduling continues to restrict access. For instance, one group of Washington State University researchers asked participants to independently purchase and smoke cannabis from a legal dispensary before returning to their lab for study.

State legalization and cannabis innovation

To systematically examine how state legalization affects cannabis-related innovation, we compiled and analyzed datasets tracking cannabis-related clinical trials and patent applications.

We distinguished different types of cannabis-related innovation. Specifically, we categorized cannabis-related clinical trials based on whether they focused on its potential as a treatment, its usage and effects, or its role in drug abuse. Similarly, we categorized cannabis-related patents based on whether they focused on chemical compounds, medical uses, methods or products.

We also assessed public health concerns across three measures: patents explicitly involving THC; patents with a high risk of misuse; and patents targeting consumers directly, such as high-potency formulations, edibles or vaporizers.

Then, we compared changes in cannabis-related innovation over time in states that legalized cannabis earlier with those in states that did so later or not at all. We measured innovation by counting the number of cannabis-related clinical trials and patent filings. We distinguished between medical and recreational legalization to assess how different policies affect innovation.

Overall, we found that when states legalize cannabis for recreational use, cannabis-related patents increase – but mostly in commercial-oriented areas rather than health-focused ones. Patents were concentrated in market-oriented innovations like cultivation equipment and consumer products, rather than in clinical or science-based research. We also found some evidence that these innovations may raise public health concerns.

Legalization did not result in meaningful increases in clinical trials. This suggests that barriers to cannabis-related clinical research – such as limited access to research-grade cannabis, limited funding and stigma around working with a federally controlled substance – remain substantial.

Gaps between research and product

As 420 – signifying April 20, a day celebrating cannabis culture – approaches each year, public attention turns toward the legal status of cannabis.

The legal landscape has evolved rapidly over the past few decades, and further changes are in the pipeline. Both the Biden and second Trump administrations have made efforts to reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III substance, which would indicate that it has an accepted medical use and low-to-moderate potential for dependence.

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These reevaluations of the legality of cannabis come at a critical time. There has been an explosion of recreational cannabis products in recent years, including increasingly potent strains and a wider variety of ways to use cannabis. Meanwhile, critical research on the health and safety of cannabis use has lagged due to heavy restrictions accompanying Schedule I status.

This gap between medical research and product innovation can have significant public health consequences. The 2019 to 2020 outbreak of lung injuries related to e-cigarette or vape use was linked partly to the use of unregulated or illicit cannabis vaping products. These harms highlight the risks of allowing product innovation for controlled substances to outpace scientific understanding.

Policies that significantly reduce obstacles to clinical research can in turn help close the widening gap between cannabis markets and addressing their public health implications.

Lucy Xiaolu Wang, Assistant Professor of Resource Economics, UMass Amherst and Nathan W. Chan, Professor of Resource Economics, UMass Amherst

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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