Homemade household cleaners
I was asked to post my recipes for my homemade cleaners. I’ve been using them for several months now, and I LOVE them! I switched to homemade for two main reasons – economics and environment. Economics, because they literally cost pennies compared to store-bought, and environmental, because sure, I might be helping the ozone layer or something, but mostly it’s been great for OUR little environment here at home. Basically, I can clean with Chickpea around because they’re non-toxic, thus sparing me the hassle of waiting until naptime to do any serious cleaning. I just didn’t like the thought of her wiping her hands on chemicals as she “helped” me scrub the tub.
To start, I’d say the tried-and-true fallback stuff is baking soda and vinegar. You can also read about combining the two here. To sum up, there are tons upon tons of uses for these two products, along with a myriad of other homemade recipes online, so it’s easy to get bogged down. Research these links for your specific needs, but if you’re curious, here are the cleaners I use most often:
• GLASS & WINDOW CLEANER:
1/2 c white vinegar to 1 gallon water (or 2 tbsp./1 quart)
• ALL PURPOSE CLEANER:
1/2 tsp. pure liquid soap (like Ivory), 3 tbsp. white vinegar, 2 c water
Put each in a spray bottle. I use the all purpose cleaner for countertops, toilets, floors, etc. If I want to scrub them, I’ll also use straight-up baking soda. I’ve also heard these are good recipes, though I haven’t tried them yet:
ALL PURPOSE CLEANER: 1/2 tsp. pure liquid soap (like Ivory), 2 c white vinegar, 1 c lemon juice, 1-2 c water
FLOOR CLEANER: 2 tsp. Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, 1 gallon water
I’ve heard of people putting essential oils in cleaners for their anti-bacterial properties and for the scent, but I know nothing about the details. I’d love to hear any other ideas on cleaners, if you have them!
posted: 06 July 5
under:
Vinigar is also good for fungi (including skin fungi) and mildew.
Thanks! We make disinfecting wipes to clean toys, toilet handles, door knobs, phones, etc. We got this “recipe” from Kerin. Put 1/2 a roll of paper towels in a plastic container and pour rubbing alcohol on them. You can pull the cardboard center out pretty easily after the towels are wet. If you keep them sealed up tight, they last a long time. Gotta find some empty spray bottles so I can make my new cleaners.
Yeah, I got a recipe from Jenni Escobar for baby wipes, where you use half a roll of paper towels, but they made Chick break out (she has VERY sensitive skin). But I didn’t think of using them with alcohol for disenfecting wipes for the house! Good thinking.
Be careful about using disinfecting wipes to clean around the house – if you wipe out all germs you will never build any immunities. However this does not apply when someone is sick or has been in a very ‘dirty’ situation – disinfect away here. I had a nurse tell me that it was bad to use antibacterial soap for everyday use because it kills the bacteria that you need to build immunities.
-MOM
That does it no more washing my hands before supper.
[...] wrote this post awhile back with some recipes, but I’ve since decided I like the above recipes [...]