My child is asleep so I can finsh up my post.
Tile Cleaner
2 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
3 cups water
10 drops of essential oil
Mix these together in a spray bottle and spray on your tile and wipe off.
SL: Use what you need discard the rest
Scrub solution
1/4 cup baking soda
Castile Soap
5-10 drops essential oil
Mix ingredients to a paste like consistency and use a rag to apply and wipe off. Rinse off well with water.
SL: Use what you need and discard the rest
Window cleaner
2 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
4 cups (1qt) warm water
Mix together in spray bottle. Spray on windows and use a natural fiber cloth to wipe clean. I use a squeegee as well and it works fine for me. This stuff is tried and true. People can’t really go wrong with this.
SL: Indefinite
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Cleaning Recipes Part 1
I've been meaning to do this for a long time, so I'm posting some of my favorite recipes for DIY household products and cleaners. With these I cannot stress enough, please label your containers! I use glass to store my powders. Generally recycled fruit and pasta sauce jars and sometimes if I'm desperate pickle jars. But, please label, label, label!
All purpose cleaner 1
2 Tbsp Borax
1 qt. Hot water
Mix well together and pour into spray bottle. It will need to be shaken together as it separates if not used all in one day of cleaning.
Shelf Life (SL): Indefinite
All Purpose Cleaner 2
1 tsp Super Washing Soda
2 tsp Borax
½ cup Castile Soap (I really like Dr. Bronners)
10-15 drops of whatever essential oil you like
Mix all of these ingredients in a 16 oz spray bottle or double and put in a qt. bottle.
SL: Indefinite
Carpet deodorizer
2 cups of baking soda
20-30 drops of essential oil
Blend together very well and pour into a shaker bottle. I use the cheap glass ones at my local big box store (even the parmesan glass containers would work but won’t hold two cups of baking soda so adjust accordingly). Shake onto carpet and sweep in with a broom or brush. Let sit for a half hour or for heavy odors overnight. Vaccuum up.
SL: Indefinite
Dishwasher soap
1 cup Borax
1 cup Baking soda
Mix together and pour into a glass container for storage.
SL: Indefinite
Air Freshener
1 cup warm water
5-10 drops of favorite essential oil or blend
Mix together in a small spray bottle and use as needed.
SL: Indefinite
All purpose cleaner 1
2 Tbsp Borax
1 qt. Hot water
Mix well together and pour into spray bottle. It will need to be shaken together as it separates if not used all in one day of cleaning.
Shelf Life (SL): Indefinite
All Purpose Cleaner 2
1 tsp Super Washing Soda
2 tsp Borax
½ cup Castile Soap (I really like Dr. Bronners)
10-15 drops of whatever essential oil you like
Mix all of these ingredients in a 16 oz spray bottle or double and put in a qt. bottle.
SL: Indefinite
Carpet deodorizer
2 cups of baking soda
20-30 drops of essential oil
Blend together very well and pour into a shaker bottle. I use the cheap glass ones at my local big box store (even the parmesan glass containers would work but won’t hold two cups of baking soda so adjust accordingly). Shake onto carpet and sweep in with a broom or brush. Let sit for a half hour or for heavy odors overnight. Vaccuum up.
SL: Indefinite
Dishwasher soap
1 cup Borax
1 cup Baking soda
Mix together and pour into a glass container for storage.
SL: Indefinite
Air Freshener
1 cup warm water
5-10 drops of favorite essential oil or blend
Mix together in a small spray bottle and use as needed.
SL: Indefinite
My laundry soap recipe
Ok, I've jumped on the bandwagon and have now made my own laundry powder. I have to be honest it wasn't too much work and I really like it. It works just as well as any powder I'd buy in the store.
Ingredients:
Borax 2.99
Super Washing Soda 2.99
Fels Naptha Bar 1.29
Baking Soda .99
Oxyclean 7.69 (after coupon and sale from Target)
Essential Oils (nominal because I already had them and use them for other applications)
In a large recycled pickle jar, like the one you buy at Wal-mart that has the whole pickles in them Vlassic brand and probably had 25-40 pickles in it. So the really big one. It was a couple years old and hadn't been used in a while so it didn't have the after smell anymore that sometimes sticks around. Anyway, in this large jar I poured 1 1/2 cups baking soda, 3 cups of Borax and Super Washing Soda each, and about 5 cups of Oxyclean. Close up the jar and shake really well to mix together. Then I used a cheap metal grater specifically for cleaning products and grated up the Fels Naptha bar. It took me about 45 minutes to grate because my hands got tired and I made the mistake of not watching once and grated my knuckles...Ouch. Once this was grated I added the bar to the previous mixture. I shook this up really well until I could see the yellow of the Fels Naptha bar throughout the container.
I then took about 3/4 cup of the mixture and poured it into another non food use cup and blended in about 20 drops each of peppermint and sweet orange essential oils. When they were blended really well I poured this into another recycled jar (I used a Orchard Select fruit jar that you get in the refrigerated case of the produce section since my child loves the fruit from them) and then added another 3/4 cup roughly of the unblended (in terms of EO's) to the blended mixture and shook very well to incorporate the two together and gave it a stir for good measure. When ready to do laundry I put 2 Tbsp in a measuring cup and quickly dissolved with warm water and poured it into the laundry tub for use. It works great. I got probably 15 or 20 loads out of this mixture. I'm not sure since our summer student used some as well while she was here and loved it too. But, I still have the big jar to use and can change up the essential oils as it pleases me since I take some out and do smaller batches to have the scent that I want. I will say that you don't have to use any fragrance. The Fels Naptha seems to have it's own scent which is pleasant enough especially when mixed with the rest of the ingredients, but I like being able to do what I want. And that big jar I will guestimate has over a 100 loads in it. Plus, this is my second batch of making my own soap. So, the $15.95 I spent to get probably close to 200 loads of laundry soap which equates to roughly $0.07975 per load is better than anything I can get in the store. However, for those that might be wondering, do not use this on your cloth diapers as I don't recommend it or consider it safe for them.
Shelf life without essential oils: Indefinite
Shelf life with essential oils: 3-6 months. Scent will slowly fade.
Ingredients:
Borax 2.99
Super Washing Soda 2.99
Fels Naptha Bar 1.29
Baking Soda .99
Oxyclean 7.69 (after coupon and sale from Target)
Essential Oils (nominal because I already had them and use them for other applications)
In a large recycled pickle jar, like the one you buy at Wal-mart that has the whole pickles in them Vlassic brand and probably had 25-40 pickles in it. So the really big one. It was a couple years old and hadn't been used in a while so it didn't have the after smell anymore that sometimes sticks around. Anyway, in this large jar I poured 1 1/2 cups baking soda, 3 cups of Borax and Super Washing Soda each, and about 5 cups of Oxyclean. Close up the jar and shake really well to mix together. Then I used a cheap metal grater specifically for cleaning products and grated up the Fels Naptha bar. It took me about 45 minutes to grate because my hands got tired and I made the mistake of not watching once and grated my knuckles...Ouch. Once this was grated I added the bar to the previous mixture. I shook this up really well until I could see the yellow of the Fels Naptha bar throughout the container.
I then took about 3/4 cup of the mixture and poured it into another non food use cup and blended in about 20 drops each of peppermint and sweet orange essential oils. When they were blended really well I poured this into another recycled jar (I used a Orchard Select fruit jar that you get in the refrigerated case of the produce section since my child loves the fruit from them) and then added another 3/4 cup roughly of the unblended (in terms of EO's) to the blended mixture and shook very well to incorporate the two together and gave it a stir for good measure. When ready to do laundry I put 2 Tbsp in a measuring cup and quickly dissolved with warm water and poured it into the laundry tub for use. It works great. I got probably 15 or 20 loads out of this mixture. I'm not sure since our summer student used some as well while she was here and loved it too. But, I still have the big jar to use and can change up the essential oils as it pleases me since I take some out and do smaller batches to have the scent that I want. I will say that you don't have to use any fragrance. The Fels Naptha seems to have it's own scent which is pleasant enough especially when mixed with the rest of the ingredients, but I like being able to do what I want. And that big jar I will guestimate has over a 100 loads in it. Plus, this is my second batch of making my own soap. So, the $15.95 I spent to get probably close to 200 loads of laundry soap which equates to roughly $0.07975 per load is better than anything I can get in the store. However, for those that might be wondering, do not use this on your cloth diapers as I don't recommend it or consider it safe for them.
Shelf life without essential oils: Indefinite
Shelf life with essential oils: 3-6 months. Scent will slowly fade.
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