You are so right!!! Recently I rediscovered the amazing cleaning power of BORAX. It's still available in the cleaning aisle and a box of that old time product will last for months. No chemicals and it has a pleasant aroma.
There are plenty of web sites out there that offer information on how to clean various household objects, eliminate pesky bugs from the garden and turn out the whitest white clothes using ordinary household products like peroxide, brown soap, vinegar, etc. These products that date back decades, endure because they work!
You’re so right! Simple cleaning products do about as good a job as the industrial strength chemicals; and you don’t get all those awful caustic fumes. - I sprinkle DIATOMACEOUS EARTH in out of the way places; and for 27 years the only bugs I’ve seen have been few and far between and mostly expired. (Diatomaceous earth can get in the eyes and scratch like fire if you get it on your hands and happen to rub it around your eyes. Keep away from pets & children.)
And yes, BORAX is good and smells SO clean. - Most laundry detergents leave a residue on my clothes that burn my skin; so I get Arm & Hammer brand laundry detergent that has no additives in it, no perfumes and stuff like that. I clean my kitchen sink with BORAX or BAKING SODA with a little cheap white vinegar. I keep spray bottles of a mix of DISTILLED WATER and half 3% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE to spray on kitchen counters and bathroom counters, etc. It makes it so easy to keep things CLEAN ENOUGH, which is now enough for me.