Making your own cleaning products, it so simple.

I have finally been motivated to write this post. Our local newspaper ( remember those ?) ran an article last week about making your own cleaning products, mostly with a vinegar base.

We have been doing this for years. I hate the smell of most commercial products, especially 409, yuck !!The fumes from a lot of those products would give me a headache.

Do we really need a different cleaner for each room or appliance, not really.

So Bob did some research ( he is really good at that) and discovered that equal part distilled white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide make an excellent all purpose cleaner.

We put a spray top on the old hydrogen peroxide bottle for easy use and to keep the hydrogen peroxide from degrading.

This is an excellent kitchen cleaner for counter tops, sinks, cutting boards, floors, bathroom, the cat box,etc... vinegar is anti-fungal and the hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant.

For you meat eaters out there, this cleaner is a must when dealing with raw meat, poultry, and fish. We spray the cutting board, counter area, sink and utensils after working with raw meat.

For scrubbing the toilets or sinks, Bob uses straight baking powder, it makes a very good abrasive. You can add salt as well.

He even found recipes for laundry soap and dishwasher soap.

The laundry soap is made up of bar soap, borax ( sodium borate) and washing soda (sodium carbonate).

 Mix together 1 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda.

Then grate a bar of your favorite soap.

Mix together in a container.

We use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load depending on the size. I do recommend adding the laundry soap to the washing machine as it is filling up with water, before you add the clothes. This helps the powders to dissolve.

For the dishwasher soap, here is Bob's recipe.

1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric or ascorbic acid

Mix together and store in an airtight container.
You only need 1/2 tablespoon per load.
Use white vinegar in the rinse holder for shinier dishes.

To cut heavy grease in the kitchen we do occasionally use Dawn dish washing liquid.  We use it very sparingly. It is very strong but good at cutting grease. They use it with oil spill clean up wildlife rescues. It's great for blowing bubbles, too.

Did you know you can sterilize your sponges in the microwave ?? Set them in there on a plate and set it for 1 minute. We do it often to keep them clean and fresh smelling.

Speaking of smelling...you can add essential oils to your homemade cleaner.
Be very sparing please.
We don't, because for us half the reason of making our own cleaners was to avoid the smells, but to each their own.

We have found that hardware stores are a good place to find things like borax, washing soda and citric acid.

Homemade cleaners work just as well as commercial products, cost less, smell less AND you know what's in them !!