Amanda's Saving Money the Homemade Way - Homemade Cleaners

Thanks to commercials from modern companies, we have been told that we need multiple cleaners for every different job. We are told that we need window cleaners, toilet cleaners, floor cleaners, wood floor cleaners, dusting spray and disinfectants - of course different ones for the kitchen and bathroom! These can get quite pricey and be a strain on any budget, as well as being full of harmful chemicals. These chemicals can, at the very least, be unpleasant to breath in, or at worst, be possible carcinogens.

Last month I posted about homemade laundry soap. This can be considered a continuation of that. Making my own laundry detergent led me to research homemade cleaners and again, I CAN NOT believe how simple and cheap it is!

Throughout this post, you will see a recurring ingredient:

Vinegar! Did you know that vinegar is a natural disinfectant?? And, it is about as cheap as you can get; this giant bottle was only about $2! Here are some homemade solutions to clean your house.

General All-Purpose Cleaner:

(I have been using this recipe and I love it!)

You will only need the following:

• 2 TBSP Vinegar
• 1 tsp borax (which you already have if you do homemade laundry soap...)
• a few drops dish soap
• hot water
• 10 drops essential oil if desired
• 16 oz spray bottle

Simply fill bottle partially full with hot water. Add vinegar and borax and swish around until the borax is dissolved. Add soap (and essential oil if you choose, I don't use it) and fill the rest of the way with water.

**Also, if you do not making your own laundry detergent and do not want to buy the borax, you can still clean with a mixture of vinegar and water!

Looking for a comet type cleaner?

Simply use baking soda! Sprinkle on your counter tops or in the tub and scrub with water and a sponge. This does great at removing build up and stains!

Dishwasher Detergent:

(I have been using this one!)

• 1 cup Borax
• 1 cup Washing soda (not baking soda- again, if you make your own laundry detergent, you already have both of these ingredients on hand!)

Mix together and store in an air tight container. Use 2 TBSP per load.

Use Vinegar as a rinse agent - no more Jet Dry!

A few tips here:

• If your water is hard, you may need to add more washing soda.
• If you get a slight powdery film on your dishes, try using hotter water in the dishwasher or less of the detergent. I have had some issues with this, but not bad. It rinses right off and using less detergent seems to prevent it.

Not into making your own dishwasher soap? I read that dishwashers today are so efficient that you don't need to fill the whole compartment. You can still save by simply using less soap. Try using only 2 TBSP of dishwasher soap- it will clean great and last forever! I read about a person who buys the big box of cascade at Sam's club and uses only 2 TBSP per load and it lasts a year!

Window Cleaner:

The all purpose cleaner given above works great for windows as well OR:

• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 gal warm water

Mix together and put in a spray bottle. Crumpled up newspapers work great, way better than paper towels, at wiping windows clean!

Microfiber towels with only water work great too! See section on dusting below....

Vinyl Type Floors:

• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 gallon water-mix together in bucket and mop as usual!
  

Hardwood Floor Cleaners

• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 gal water

Mix together in bucket and use a sponge mop, squeeze out well before mopping, and mop floor. Do not put product directly on the floor, but apply with mop. Wipe up any pools of water or streaks.

You can also use a 1:1 ratio of vegetable oil and vinegar to get tough stains off! I even read about using mineral oil or even tea to clean the floors with! I read about it here.

You can find the cleaning recipes I provided above (as well as some more), on The Family Homestead website. This website has the above cleaning recipes and some more as well:

You can also find tons of recipes and homemade ideas as well simply by googling "Homemade Cleaners".

Dusting:

I have not used dusting spray in probably a couple of years now. We bought some microfiber cloths and we simply use those! These cloths are amazing! You simply get them wet and squeeze out all excess water and then use them to dust and they are great for windows and mirrors as well! Plus, they can be washed and reused, which is for sure better for the environment and our wallets in the long run! These are also great for anyone with chemical sensitivities, you truly use only water and it gets things CLEAN!

So, you can say bye to those hazardous and smelly cleaners! You no longer need that cabinet full of random cleaning supplies and you can save so much money by using these inexpensive and easy recipes. Good luck and enjoy the freedom of no longer needing to spend time or money in the aisle of multi-purpose cleaners!

~Amanda

New Column: Amanda's Saving Money the Homemade Way

We are very excited to announce yet another great monthly column addition to the blog: Amanda's Saving Money the Homemade Way. In these monthly posts, Amanda B. (one of our own CMOTC moms) will share with us homemade cleaners, recipes, children's items and more! Saving money, going green, healthier product for your family... it's all good! Thank you Amanda!

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As a stay-at-home mom with 4 children, a husband (who I consider a 5th child sometimes! ha!), a dog and two cats, life gets crazy as it does for everyone. We are a one income family so money is always short. I frequently look for ways to save money, be more economical and even a little more earth friendly. I do just about all baking from scratch and most of my basic cooking as well (though I am like anyone else and buy my share of frozen chicken nuggets, pizzas and such!). I find if I keep a few basic ingredients on hand, I always have what I need to whip up some pretty yummy treats! I feel this in itself saves a lot of money off my grocery bill. For example, I no longer buy brownie mixes, cookie mixes, pancake mix, Bisquick, pre-made rolls or pizza dough. I always have what I need on hand to make them! I have also been looking for other things I can make myself to save money and reduce my dependency on expensive store bought items. For this reason, I will occasionally post here on topics involving making homemade items. Today, I want to tell you about my most recent discovery!

I recently attended a women's night at my church. One woman did a demonstration on homemade laundry detergent. I had heard of it before, but was never really interested- I figured it would be too time consuming or difficult, not cost efficient or not work as well as store bought laundry detergent. I was shocked at how easy and incredibly cheap it is! And, it works at least as well as my regular laundry detergent! Here is how to make it:

Ingredients needed:

• Borax

• Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (NOT Baking soda- there is a slight chemical difference...)
  

• Soap- either Ivory or Fells Naptha
  
• and a large bucket with lid.
  
  

To make:

Grate 1 bar of Ivory Soap or 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha soap into a small saucepan. Add 6 cups of water and heat until soap is melted. Add 1/2 cup EACH of the Borax and Washing soda to saucepan and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and add 4 cups of HOT water to your bucket. Add soap mixture and stir. (I find one of the large paint stir sticks you get for free at the hardware store works great for stirring it!). Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups water and stir. Put the lid on it and let it sit for 24 hours and it will gel. Before using, stir. It will be sort of semi-gelled and gloppy- this is normal! Use 1/2 cup per load just as you would use your regular detergent! The whole process took about 5-10 minutes to make it!

This will work well for high efficiency as well as normal washers. It is low sudsing- in fact, you will find it doesn't really make any suds. That is okay! It isn't the bubbles that cleans your clothes- it is the components involved!

For step by step instructions with pictures, refer to the post on my personal blog here.

Other than the soap, it is unscented, but if you wanted you could add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to scent it.

Now, I am sure you have two questions: how well does it work in comparison AND is it really cheaper?

I find it works just as well as my regular detergent. I do still pre-treat stains as usual and between pre-treating and washing the stains come out as they did before.

So... Let's talk money. Is it really worth it?? You be the judge.....

With a family of 6, I find I do about 12-13 loads a week. I would usually buy one of those large vats of laundry detergent from Sam's Club for $20 that would last for about a month- sometimes a little longer. I figure I was spending at least $200/year on laundry detergent.

For the above homemade version- here is the cost layout:

The box of Borax costs approximately $4. The Washing Soda was about $2.50. The bar of soap, less than a dollar. Using only a 1/2 cup of the Borax and Soda with the soap, it costs about 75 cents to make the whole recipe which makes about 2 gallons! It will do about 64 loads at 1/2 cup per load. That works out to about 1 cent per load!!! (note- I found both at Kroger, I have also heard Meijer has them. I did not find them at Walmart. One person said she found the borax and Walmart but not the soda. You can find them in the laundry detergent aisles of the store.)

My total investment between the soap, borax, soda and my bucket was about $10. Other than buying more soap, the borax and soda will last about a year! So, for about one cent per load, or about $10-$15 a YEAR, I can do my own laundry detergent! That is a HUGE savings from $200/year! And, as I said, it only takes 5-10 min to make a batch! So, even the busiest among us could pull that off.

Want to add to that savings? Would you like money saving fabric softener alternatives? Did you know that dryer sheets are made from petroleum by-products (as are many things we use)?

Here are a couple options:

1. Vinegar! Use 1/2 cup vinegar in your rinse cycle and your clothes will be very soft and your towels so much more absorbent! And no, it won't make your clothes smell like vinegar. Combined with the above detergent, your clothes will be unscented. If you would like a scent, I know a friend of mine uses "dryer pillow sheets" that she bought of someone on etsy.com. You just need to be cautious not to use vinegar EVERY time because over time, it can break down elastics. But, the effect of the vinegar should last a while. A large jug of vinegar costs about $2!
2. You can also get a small bucket. Buy a small jug of downy and pour into bucket. Refill the downy jug with water twice, and dump into bucket. Add a couple cheep sponges. When you put your clothes in the dryer, squeeze out a downy filled sponge and toss into dryer. Your clothes will smell great and be soft! However, the trick with this one is that it doesn't work well with whites- it can dull the whiteness. But, it works great on colors!

Good luck in trying these out! Look for future posts on homemade cooking topics, homemade cleaners and even making your own hair bows for your little girls and more!! You can learn along with me as I am learning that we do NOT have to do as we have been told by the commercials- we do not need all these expensive, prepacked Earth damaging products!

If you have any questions or have some helpful tips yourself on homemade laundry soap, please send me an email or comment below.

~Amanda