Homemade Household Green Cleaners

Along with my more than month long challenge to rid my house of pricey and nasty cleaners, I wanted to share with you some easy recipes for around the house cleaners.

I’ve shared with you so far my Recipe for Facial Moisturizer , DIY Organic Dishwasher Detergent, Cheap, Organic Face Wash and my Easy Homemade Laundry Soap.

I am concocting my own household replacements with little more than what I have on hand or what I can find at the organic market.

But the replacements must meet or exceed three important expectations for this frugal gal:
1. It must be easy to replace-no beakers or science lab experiments. Thank you.
2. It must be just as good or better than the current product I’m using and,
3. It must cost the same or less than the current product I’m using.

photo source unknown

If the product I create passes the final test-me using it for over two plus weeks to make sure it does its job-then I’ll be sharing it with you. I will break down the cost for you, provide you the recipe and give you my honest opinion of the final product.

For household cleansers, I have a theory: If I can eat it, then I can clean with it.

This theory doesn’t work all that well when I come to vacuums…

If you have hair on your head like I have hair on my head, you need this recipe.

Green Drain Cleaner:
1/2 Cup Baking Soda
1/2 Cup White Vinegar
Boiling Water
Pour Baking Soda down the drain. Add white vinegar and cover the drain, if possible. Let set for 5 minutes. Pour the boiling water down the drain.

We are dusty people. We like to leave the doors open for fresh air, but then regret it when we wipe our fingers along the coffee table, leaving a stripe behind. You win some, you loose some.
This recipe has restored life to most of our vintage finds, too!

Green Furniture Polish and Cleaner:
3 Cups Olive Oil
1 Cup White Vinegar
Mix together in a jar and pour onto a soft cloth. Remix every so often by shaking the jar again.

If you restore old homes, or parts of old homes, this recipe is a must. I have removed years of gross crap off of fixtures, fireplaces and doorknobs.

Green Brass Cleaner:
Lemon Juice
Baking Soda
Make a paste the consistency of toothpaste. Rub onto brass with a soft cloth. Rinse with water and dry.

Lime and gunk will magically disappear. I use this on all of my faucets and chrome baking tins.

Green Chrome and Stainless Steel Cleanser:
1 Cup Vinegar
1/2 Cup Water
Mix in a recycled spray bottle. Spray solution on the chrome/stainless steel and let sit for a minute. Wipe off with damp sponge and dry with a soft cloth.

I know we don’t like to talk about toilets. Or their bowls. Or the funk that grows inside. But, you gotta clean it. Why not do it green style?

Green Toilet Bowl Cleaner:
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Sprinkle baking soda into toilet bowl. Add vinegar. Scrub ‘er down with a toilet brush.

That’s mainly everything I use around these har parts. Let me know if you have recipes for cleansers. I would love to try them out, too!

Linking up to this and other parties:
The Thrifty Home

Defeated, Pampered and Waving the White Flag

I hate being sick-show me someone who likes it and I’ll show you a first grader trying to get out of a spelling bee. And I hate taking medicine. Taking medication is almost like admitting defeat to me-plus, it usually leaves me very wigged out-tired, dizzy and nauseous.

So, I do everything that I can naturally before I start to pop those pills–hot baths, eating foods like blueberries and oranges, steam inhalation, chiropractic adjustments and prayer (usually with a lot of begging involved).

But, when the coughing, hacking, mucus, and muscle aches get to be too much for me to just “tough it out”, I wave the white flag and call my doctor. His first question is usually, “WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL ME SOONER?!”, and I make up some lame excuse that we both know he’s not buying.

Due to some unknown infectious carrier that contaminated my otherwise holy immune system, these four items have been my BFF’s for the last week. (Well, these, my bed, hulu and my favorite yellow Ponca City t-shirt.)

The one upside to being sick is the amazing amount of clout that I have to eat my favorite snacky foods. Biceps runs to the store at the drop of a hat, so carefully I make my requests known all at once.

This is one of my favorites when my throat is scratchy and stomach is upset. My mother instilled in me that this was a miracle food (it’s not) and that it’s good for me (it’s not). But, it does make me feel better…

Oh, dear. These salty, cheesy, little whales are heaven. Add a glass of red wine and you have a classy evening ahead of you.

When my stomach is really upset, this is all that I can stand to eat…simple and good.

This is a new treat for me. I could only eat half of the can-meaning Biceps reaped all the leftover rewards. He is one lucky man.

And finally-my “vegetables”. So dang good.

I am on the upswing of whatever it was that I had, and I lovingly shared this infectious nastiness with Biceps. He is in the final days of recovery himself. The weird thing is, he never needs any “treats”. He wants to eat oatmeal, oranges and drink healthy smoothies. Doesn’t he realize this is his one chance to get out of the guilt associated with aforementioned treats? Geesh. Men….

Gross Things-(Final) Volume 4

Today will be the last installment of “Gross Things”.
(Go here for Gross Things-Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3). Most of the flooring in our home are hard surfaces-either wood, tile or concrete. With two cats, my long hair and Bicep’s penchant for cutting his hair at home, the hard surfaces are a breeding ground of grossness.

This scene is underneath my sewing cabinet in my office. Thank you Max and Bianca for spreading your white fur wherever and whenever possible.

Just one time on my desk, and I know you’ve been there, fuzzy white cats. Thank you for leaving behind these little keepsakes for me.

Just a few moments of dust mopping, and I can tell where your favorite spots in the house are. Underneath the couch, underneath my desk and underneath the stereo cabinet seem to be popular locations.

Those remnants of where you have been napping are a bit like a game of hide and seek for me.

How sweet of you to play such a fantastically furry game with me, kittens. You are so tender. And so furry.

This has been the last installment of “Gross Things-Volume 4”. Unless I find something else that’s gross and I just can’t keep it to myself….

Easy Laundry Soap

My month long challenge of slowly ridding our house of nasty chemicals began several weeks ago. My first item to replace was my face lotion. I created a Recipe for Facial Moisturizer  and secondly, I wanted to replace my dishwasher detergent DIY Organic Dishwasher Detergent. This last week, I shared a replacement for face wash with my Cheap, Organic Face Wash recipe.

I am concocting my own household replacements with little more than what I have on hand or what I can find at the organic market.

But the replacements must meet or exceed three important expectations for this frugal gal:
1. It must be easy to replace-no beakers or science lab experiments. Thank you.
2. It must be just as good or better than the current product I’m using and,
3. It must cost the same or less than the current product I’m using.

photo source unknown

If the product I create passes the final test-me using it for over two plus weeks to make sure it does its job-then I’ll be sharing it with you. I will break down the cost for you, provide you the recipe and give you my honest opinion of the final product.

I’ve seen a million recipes for laundry soap floating around the world wide web (as my mother calls it). I wanted to try one on my own, tweak it a little, test it out and compare it to what I’m already using. I also hadn’t seen an easy way to grate the soap, so I got a little crazy with my Oster blender.

I hope you enjoy my Easy Laundry Soap recipe.

With three ingredients, your store bought laundry soap can easily be replaced with a homemade version that will cost you only $.05 per load. And, you can store it in a cute jar with your own hand-written label. I think that’s pretty much a win-win.

What you’ll need to make your very own Easy Laundry Soap (this makes approx. 48 loads):

1 Bar (5.5 oz approx.) Fels-Naptha, Zote Soap or Ivory Soap
2 C Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (make sure it says “Super Washing Soda”)
2 C Borax
Blender/Food Processor

Cut the soap into manageable pieces for the food processor/blender. Use the finest chopping blade available, making the pieces as small as possible.

Add the 2 Cups of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda to the grated Zote or Ivory Soap.

Next, dump in the 2 Cups of Borax. Mix everything as much as possible with a wooden spoon.

If the pieces are large, transfer a cup at a time of the mixture back into a blender. Blend thoroughly. I have settled on using Fels-Naptha soap, which grinds down to small pieces the first time around. So, I no longer need to do this step.

The mixture should look like this when everything has been blended thoroughly.

Transfer the mixture into a cute jar or container. Add a label (I always print the recipe on the label to make it easier for refills when the time comes).

Use 1/8 Cup of the mixture for normal loads and 1/4 Cup for heavily soiled clothes.

Here’s the financial breakdown of what this recipe will make per 48 loads:

Borax $3.38 for 76 oz= 9.5 Cups
A & H $3.00 for 55 oz= 6.8 Cups
Soap $1 per 48 loads

Per 48 Loads
Borax=$.67
A & H=$.90
Soap=$1

Total=$2.57/48 loads= $.05 per load