DIY Glass Cleaner and Degreaser

Have I mentioned the bane of my existence?  I am referring to my kitchen table.  The big glass one that sits by our sliding glass door and shows each and every fingerprint in the morning sunlight.  We have come sooo close to getting rid of it just because I feel like I am cleaning it every three minutes.  But, alas, after perusing the alternatives out there (and their price tags) we've decided to hold off on that purchase until the kids are a bit older and less wrecking-ball-ish.

One of my major motivators in making my own cleaners actually stemmed from the fact that my kids eat (directly) off of that glass table on a regular basis; although I am happy to report plate usage is on the rise. For a while I was pretty happy using my all-purpose cleaner after meals but realized I was having to really clear the food debris away first and sometimes I had to wipe the table down twice to get it clean and streak free.  The all-purpose spray is my go-to and it works well on everything from windows to bathroom counters but it just wasn't standing up to the food grime left on the glass tables after meals.

Luckily I remembered that my wonderful Mother-in-Law (Hi Mitzi!) told me that Dawn dish soap could be used to make a great glass cleaner.  Of course!  They use it to clean oily birds why not olive oily tables?  So I mixed some vinegar and water with a dash of dish soap and voila! It worked!  Just a tiny bit of Dawn really helps get that food grease and grime off the tables with one shot.  No scrubbing, no streaks.  Love it.  Yes it does have a pretty strong vinegar smell at first, but the smell disappears almost immediately.  I'm happy it works so well and that only a very minimal amount of soap is used...you know, just in case someone decides to give the table a lick.

Glass Cleaner and Degreaser

empty (clean) spray bottle

water 

vinegar

Dawn (original blue)

Fill your spray bottle half way up with vinegar, fill it the rest of the way with water.  You just need a 1 to 1 ratio of vinegar to water, doesn't matter how much.  Now just put a few drops of Dawn in (about 1/2 teaspoon for a 32 oz bottle should do it) and put the lid on the bottle.  Give it a little shake to mix it up and you're ready to clean something!

Homemade Fabric Softener

Fabric Softener is actually something I don't use often.  I really feel like my homemade laundry detergent leaves the clothes and towels quite soft enough but Mr Pears likes to use it sometimes so I figured I would try making some to go along with my other DIY cleaners.

I was especially happy to do it when I found this "recipe" on Frugal Girls that uses Suave Naturals Conditioner.  I somehow managed to acquire two bottles of this stuff and I can't stand using it on my hair.  I hate it so much I refuse to inflict it on guests either so this was the perfect solution.  1 bottle makes two batches of softener and the conditioner is only $1 a bottle.  Add in the minimal cost of some vinegar and this stuff is a very inexpensive alternative to buying fabric softener.

Just to test it out I used it on our sheets the other day and it seemed to work fine.  I used Coconut Natural Conditioner so the smell was nice too. :)

Homemade Fabric Softener, adapted from Frugal Girls
1 cup Suave Naturals Conditioner (I used Coconut)
3 cups hot water
1 1/2 cups white vinegar

Put the conditioner into a medium sized bowl and whisk in the hot water to dissolve the conditioner.  Stir in the vinegar.  Let it cool a bit then pour it into a container to store it in.

I used an empty V8 Fusion bottle to store this, it holds 46 fl. oz.  This is only half of the original "recipe" given on Frugal Girls but I thought this size would be better for me because it allows me to give the bottle a little shake before using (the conditioner will settle a little), and it is a nice size for easy pouring into the little downy ball I use for softener.  Of course this does mean I will have to make the softener more often but I think I can spare the 5 minutes for the ease of use of the smaller bottle.

Garbage Disposal Cleaner/Deodorizer

My sense of smell has been fine-tuned since becoming a parent.  Sure I can smell a poopy diaper from a mile away, I can even smell a wet diaper!  Weird and a little gross.  One smell that always gets me is the garbage disposal.  Every so often it just smells nasty and I've never really found anything on the market that I liked to use to clean it up.  A while back I did some internet searching of DIY remedies and now I have two easy ways to keep the disposal clean and smelling pretty.  Two toddlers make enough bad smells around without having to worry about the sink too.

For a quick disposal cleaner pour white vinegar into an ice-cube tray and let it freeze overnight.  After the cubes are frozen you can pop them out of the tray and put them into a freezer bag so they are ready to go.  Anytime the disposal seems gross, turn it on and toss a cube down the drain.  The ice helps to clean the blades and it helps with the smell too.

(don't you just love my cute little star ice-cubes?  Dollar Store, yeah.)

But the real secret to keeping the disposal smelling fresh?

Lemons.  Whenever I have a left over lemon wedge I toss it in  the disposal (while it's running) and the sink is instantly unoffensive.   Cool huh?

Have a very happy Memorial Day weekend!

A Different Kind of Recipe - Dishwasher Soap/Detergent

Next on my list of diy cleaners to tackle was dishwasher detergent and this was one I was very hesitant about. Sure vinegar and water can clean my countertops but could I really make something that would actually clean my dishes as well as the Finish tablets I'd currently been using? Because it seems like dishwasher detergent is the cleaner I am most particular about. We've tried just about every type on the market in search of the perfect one that gets everything, especially the glasses, squeaky clean and shiny....and doesn't cost a million dollars. 

Well we have been using our own diy detergent for a few weeks now and I am really happy with it! This is a powdered detergent so I keep it in a jar and put a heaping tablespoon in the detergent compartment for each load. In place of a "jet dry" type of rinse agent, I am using straight vinegar. Just pour it right into the compartment and refill as necessary.

Dishwasher Soap, adapted from diyNatural
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda (found in the laundry aisle)
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup lemi-shine (found with the dishwasher detergents and rinse agents,  you can also substitute food-grade citric acid)

After mixing the ingredients together in a glass jar or other container, leave it out on the counter (open) for about 24 hours and give it a stir every once in a while. This keeps it from clumping. After that you can just put the lid on and store it wherever you usually keep your detergent. Use a metal tablespoon to measure it out or pick up some plastic measuring spoons at the dollar store to keep in the jar for easy access. We have hard water here, but we also have a water softener so I don't know where that leaves us as far as hard water goes. If you have hard water and aren't getting the results you want with this formula you can add more lemi-shine or citric acid, up to double.

If you do the math on this (which you can see if you click through to the original recipe) it works out to about $0.05 a load.  Compared to $0.20 per load for the Finish Powerball Tablets. And of course the cost savings of using vinegar instead of Jet Dry is overwhelming.

Oh, and if you are interested in the label template (you really should label all cleaners!)  I got them for free here.  They were very easy to use and I like the vintage look. :)

I hope you give this one a try!

A Different Kind of Recipe- Stain-lifting spray

Last weekend I got to work researching and mixing up some more homemade cleaning products. The first one I started hunting for was a laundry stain-lifting spray. Mostly because Mr. Pears has a bad habit of getting oil stains on his T-shirts. For some reason he doesn't want to wear my frilly cooking apron...

I love our laundry detergent and it really works great but I usually spray some Dreft on any major spots before washing. But it doesnt seem to work on those oil stains and as part of my challenge I'd like to cut out the Dreft entirely. Everywhere I looked one particular recipe kept popping up. People are calling it the only stain spray you'll ever need and a miracle product. And With only two inexpensive ingredients I knew I'd have to try it.

It took just a minute to mix some Dawn with hydrgen peroxide in a clean spray bottle and after a lad of laundry it appears to be a great success! It removed (old) oil stains from my husbands' shirts! Very cool, and very easy AND very inexpensive.

Stain-Lifting Spray, found all over Pinterest, the internet, and originally here....I think.

1 cup Dawn (original Blue)
2 cups Hydrogen Peroxide

Pour ingredients in a clean spray bottle and shake to mix. Give it a little shake before each use as well. Don't forget to label your bottle for safety.  I really need to work on cuter labels....

Lots of people are saying this works great on carpet, upholstery, grout and etc. but I've only really tested it for laundry so who knows. I do need to find and upholstery/carpet spray so I'll definitely be trying this out the next chance (spill) I get. I can say this worked great on colored and white clothes though.

Going Green (cleaning) in 2012

I just counted my household cleaners and found 32 on the first floor of my house alone! Which means there have to be a few more hanging around upstairs for convenient cleaning up there too. 32 cleaners? That is crazy! But I dont think it is just me being a crazy compulsive cleaner buyer. Lest you think so, take a look at this list...I bet you have a bunch of these too.

glass cleaner
all-purpose cleaner - homemade!
degreaser
dishwashing soap
soft scrub
dishwasher detergent
finishing liquid
disinfectant spray
carpet cleaner
upholstery cleaner
febreeze
dust cleaner
bleach
fabric softener
laundry detergent - homemade!
oxiclean
fabric stain spay
dryel
toilet cleaning gel
bathroom cleaner

That's just 19...because I have more than one type of several of these things.  Ugh.  It is time for a change.  My own little Earth Day challenge.

Ever since I made the laundry detergent I have been thinking about what other cleaners I could make because the laundry detergent has been really successful.  We've been using it exclusively for almost 2 months now, and one batch lasted a little over 2 months as I had hoped.  In that time it hasn't missed one normal kid/Dad stain, besides an oil stain or two that regular detergent wouldn't have budged either.  In addition, I swear my white bathroom towels are whiter and fluffier than before.  I like this stuff better than Tide and it costs so so much less.  I made a second batch the other day because I was getting low and it took me 15 minutes.  This stuff is well worth 15 minutes of my time.

My reasons for wanting to cut out some of my other cleaners are both environmental and financial.  On one hand I would love to have less toxic chemicals floating around my house for my children to breath in and ingest.  On the other, I'd like to do that without spending an arm and a leg on expensive green cleaners.  Making my own cleaners just makes sense and if the others are nearly as successful as the laundry detergent I'll be in pretty great shape.

So here is the list I hope to get down to:

Made by Me
all-purpose (even glass) cleaner - done.
laundry detergent - done.
fabric stain spray
scrubbing paste (for showers, ovens, stoves, etc)
dishwasher detergent
carpet/upholstery cleaning spot spray
deodorizing spray
toilet cleaner

NOT made by me
bleach
dishwashing soap
dryel

That is 11, which still seems like a lot...but at least it is a third of what I own now.  I'm not even sure if this list is completely possible.  I have ideas and recipes for some items like the stain spray and dishwasher detergent, but others like a toilet cleaner or carpet cleaner I haven't researched yet...so we'll see.  And maybe we'll find a substitute for dryel?  Who knows.  The goal is there.  Cut down on household cleaning costs, cut down on chemicals.

I'll keep you posted with my successes and failures.  Have a great weekend!