Homemade Household Cleaners!!

Today the topic is homemade household cleaners!! I have loads of things to talk about on this particular subject, so I will split it up into 2 different posts. Take notes folks, you will be glad you did!

First off, I want to talk a little about why you should take the little extra time to make your own cleaning supplies. Let me start off by asking, How many plastic spray bottles and empty laundry soap bottles do you throw away each month? Or any other plastic bottle for that matter, it's probably a lot. Between dish soap, carpet powder, windex, and pine sol we go through a lot of plastic!

Well, most of the ingredients you buy to make your own cleaners come in a cardboard box, and they last a whole lot longer, therefore you buy and throw away a lot less plastic. This means less plastic in our landfills and less oil consumption!

It gets even better... the pre-made cleaners you see on the store shelves are loaded with chemicals and toxins which are harmful to your health and our planet. As I mentioned in my first post, these pollutants end up in our sewage, and inevitably in our groundwater and the earth. All of the ingredients we use for the homemade cleaners are natural and pollutant-free. I do use ammonia for a couple of things, although it is toxic and comes in a plastic bottle. I use one gallon of ammonia about every 2 months, but it is completely optional. There are other things you can use instead of ammonia that are non-toxic.

Now, with all of that being said, I want to take a minute to talk about the costs of making your own cleaners.

Making your own is quite a bit cheaper than buying store bought cleaners (even generic brands), and here is a little math I did on a few products just to show you how much money you will save;

Laundry Soap - It costs me $1.50 to make 2 gallons of liquid laundry detergent

Dish washing Detergent - It costs me $1.00 to make 20 dishwasher loads worth of detergent

Fabric Softener - It costs me $1.05 to make a one gallon batch of softener

These cleaners work just as well - and usually better - than your typical pre-made cleaners, and with the money you will pay, you can't afford not to give it a try!

Alright, I need to go over the ingredients you will be using and where you can find them.

1. Vinegar - You can find vinegar just about anywhere, dollar stores are usually cheaper than grocery stores. You will need to buy the largest container of it (I buy it by the gallon) and of all of the ingredients, you will probably use more vinegar than anything else.

2. Baking Soda - Again, you can find this almost anywhere. Buy the big box of it, it'll cost about $3.

3. Borax - This is an all-natural water softener, it has a ton of other uses as well. You can find this just about anywhere, usually found in the laundry aisle and usually on the bottom shelf. The main brand that you will likely see is 20 Mule Team Borax and it costs about $3 for a pretty big box of it.

4. Washing Soda - This one is a little harder to find. It is sodium carbonate - or, soda ash. The main brand that you will likely see for washing soda is Arm & Hammer. I find it at Ace Hardware, and it is found at some grocery stores and hardware stores. This costs about $3 for a box of it.

5. Fels Napta Soap - Like the washing soda, this one is harder to find too. I buy mine at the same place I buy washing soda, and you will probably find it in the same place you find the washing soda as well. It's an all-natural laundry soap that smells fantastic! It costs about $1.29 a bar, and it only takes 1/3 to 1/2 of the bar for 2 gallons of detergent.

6. Hydrogen Peroxide - I don't use this as much, but it is great for de-sanitizing and cleaning out stains. It's good for a few other uses as well and it'll cost about $1-2 for a bottle of it (get the bigger bottle)

7. Essential Oils -These are completely optional and are a little pricey, depending on the scent you get. A few drops of the stuff goes a long way. You can also use things like lemon juice, or soak some herbs like peppermint, lemon balm or lavender (all of which you can find in bulk at your local health food store, pretty cheap I might add) to hot water, let cool, strain and add to your cleaner to make it smell pretty. Be creative!

That's about all on the ingredients.
The last thing I am going to talk about for this post are a few things you can use these individual ingredients for, and tomorrow, I will be posting some recipes :)

Vinegar, though it does smell pretty bad, actually freshens the air. Once it dries you can't smell it at all. Place a bowl of vinegar on the counter to freshen the air.

Soak a dirty sponge in vinegar to bring it new life!

Use vinegar in a spray bottle to clean windows.

Soak a carpet stain in vinegar to help remove it. Add vinegar to your carpet shampooer - about 1 cup - for great results.

Sprinkle baking soda in your drains, then follow with a little vinegar. It helps keep the drains clean and fresh. Let sit for about 30 minutes then rinse with hot water. Repeat weekly.

Run an empty cycle in your dishwasher about once a month with just borax to help keep it clean.

Add a scoop of borax to your dishwater or laundry to soften up the water.

Keep a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in the shower and spray the walls and tub each time you shower to kill bacteria and mildew. Also use it around the house as a surface disinfectant.

Mix baking soda and water to make a paste and use it to clean tiles, sinks, toilets and much much more.

There are so many uses for these ingredients, tomorrow I will tell you plenty of recipes to get you started. Thank you for taking the time to read my post, I hope you give it a shot! I assure you, you'll be glad you did!

Have a fantastic day!