Saturday, October 12, 2013

Homemade vs. Store-Bought Cleaners

Lately I've been trying to make more things at home instead of buying them at the store.  Initially, I started this DIY kick with cleaning supplies.  I'd like to actually know/understand what is in the products I'm using, be more "green" and save money!  Cleaning supplies can be pretty expensive!


Here's a list of what I've been using lately:

  • Homemade Dishwasher Detergent - I use the DIY Natural recipe and keep it in a plastic jar with a clamp lid.  To keep the detergent from clumping, I follow their advice and leave the mixture out on the counter and stir several times a day for a day or two before putting it under the kitchen sink.  The first time I made this recipe, they hadn't posted that tip yet, and eventually my detergent turned into a solid, useless mass that I had to attack with a knife or ice pick in order to use!  I had stored it in a glass jar, and the dumb thing broke while trying to get 1 T. of detergent out for my next load!  Hence why I use a plastic jar now!!
  • Dishwasher Rinse Agent - white vinegar as suggested by DIY Natural
  • All-Purpose Cleaner - I make Orange-Scented Vinegar Spray and use it around the kitchen. I can't remember which blog I originally found this idea from, but it's really pretty simple.  Just get a glass jar with a lid, and as you eat oranges, put the peels in the jar.  Fill the jar about 2/3 full with vinegar so that it won't over-flow as you add more orange peels.  Let it sit for a couple weeks until the vinegar turns to a nice dark, orange color.  Then put a 50/50 mixture of the orange vinegar and water in a spray bottle, and you're all set!  The orange scent helps makes the strong vinegar odor, but not completely.  Fortunately, it does a great job cleaning my counters and the vinegar smell goes away very quickly!
  • Homemade Dish-Washing Liquid - I made DIY Natural's recipe recently, but it does not foam up much... hardly at all, actually!  They say that suds are not necessary to get things clean, and I think they may be right because it works pretty well.  But I don't like the lack of suds due to the fact that it makes it hard for me to tell where I've scrubbed and where I haven't and if I've truly gotten the dish clean.  Next time, I think I'll try this recipe if I can find a good deal on liquid castile soap.  I'll probably try this recipe with Ivory soap (even thought it calls for castile bar soap) since that's what I have on hand.
So obviously, my focus has been on kitchen cleaners lately.  I thought about doing laundry detergent, but I'm pretty happy the Ecos brand that we buy at Sam's.  It's all-natural, does a good job cleaning our clothes, and it's not very expensive (about 5.5 cents per load - comparable to DIY Natural's recipe).

What cleaning products do YOU make at home?


1 comment:

  1. I use hydrogen peroxide as a daily / every other day shower spray. It's been really helpful to kill/prevent mold from growing around/on my bathtub's caulk and grout lines. I've also used it in the toilet to prevent mold buildup under the rim. It works great and is really cheap.
    Baking soda is great for lots of surfaces, especially stainless steel - stoves, sinks, surfaces - and also works great to clean wood floors. We'd been using Orange Glo wood floor cleaner on the wood floor in the dining hall, but it was leaving residue all over the surface. Handfuls of baking soda, a little warm water and a LOT of elbow grease and the floors looked brand new again! Now we daily clean with Orange Glo and use baking soda once a month to remove the buildup.

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