Newest Job Title: Producer of eco-friendly, budget-friendlier cleaners!
The average American household spends something like $600 per year on cleaning products. Many of these products contain chemicals that are harmful, if not toxic, to you, your family, and your pets...and they are bad for the environment. In the past few years, I have replaced my cleaners with naturally-derived, organic products that are eco-friendly, but let me tell you friends, it has not been cheap! No longer will I have to sacrifice the budget to ensure that my cleaning products are safe for my family and Mother Earth.
I have done the research. I have tweaked the most common "recipes," and I will be testing them and tweaking them. I will do the leg work to assure that we can all share the best products... Let's go green and save green!
You will need only six or seven ingredients to make all of these cleaners. Some you likely already have in your house. They are: washing soda (sodium carbonate), borax, white vinegar, kosher salt, lemon juice, liquid Castile soap, and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).
Window Spray: a couple of teaspoons of vinegar mixed with a spray bottle of warm water; my cousin Jenna says plain newspaper does a great job...if it's good enough for Bali-wood, it's good enough for me!
Toilet Cleaner: a sprinkle of baking soda and a drizzle of vinegar
Air Freshner/Odor Eliminator: baking soda
Ceramic Floor Cleaner: 1/4 c. vinegar mixed with 1 gallon warm water--my mom has been using vinegar and water to clean her kitchen floor for years...great for pet accidents, too.
Tub/Sink/Tile/Grout Bathroom Cleaner: 1/2 c. baking soda mixed with 2 tbsp. liquid Castile (to create a paste); some people use just a sprinkle of baking soda and a wet sponge.
Garbage Disposal: grind ice and citrus fruit or lemon juice; I just toss down the rinds to oranges or grapefruits.
Dish Soap: 2 c. liquid Castile, 1/2 c. distilled water, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1/2 c. white vinegar
Leather Cleaner (for tack): bar Castile--a Pony Club secret for years!
Dishwasher Detergent: 1 c. borax, 1 c. washing soda, 2 tbsp. white vinegar, kosher salt, lemon juice
(use one tbsp. per load and put 1/2 c. white vinegar in the rinse pouch); there are a lot of variations on this recipe, so this is a composite of the most common ones. We will have to play with the ratios...
Frugal Guru's Variation on the Duggar's Laundry Detergent (this one for front-loading HE washers):
1. Add 1 bar of grated Castile or Ivory soap to a saucepan with 4 c. hot water and dissolve. (I wonder
how this compares to liquid Castile?)
2. Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water. Add dissolved soap, 1 c. washing soda, and 1/2 c. borax.
Mix. Fill the rest of the way with hot water and allow to sit overnight.
3. In a recycled laundry detergent jug, use 1/2 of your soapy mixture and fill the other 1/2 with water.
4. Add essential oil if you'd like: 10 drops for 2 gallons.
5. Shake and use 1/4 c. per load.
Good for 640(ish) loads!!!!
Please be aware that I did not pioneer these recipes; I researched various sources (Eco-Cycle, Planet Green, Vinegar Tips, and e-How...thanks!) and modified the most universal recipes to fit my 7-ingredient list. Please try some yourselves and be sure to let me know how it goes, so that together we can tweak them to perfection :-) Can you think of other cleaning products that we should try to make ourselves? Let's MONOPOLIZE this home-making business!
(I want to thank a friend for inspiring me to look into this. She is my "frugal guru", and she recommended the laundry detergent recipe listed above. She made it for less than $10, and she has been using it for THREE YEARS NOW! I did the rest of the research to figure out how else I could use the left-over ingredients...)
As the "frugal guru," I take pride in doing what I can to be the CEO and/or COO of my household! If we don't take charge of what our family is exposed to as far as chemicals or food ingredients (don't get me started there), then who will? The government? Yikes!
ReplyDeletePlus, who wouldn't want to save money and our beautiful Earth (both of which our amazing God loans to us)?
You CAN do both!
Being frugal had become a necessity for our family at one point, but is now our reality and all along, not jeopardizing our health or well-being with "easy" fixes, such as prepared food or premade chemicals.
One of my favorite (and cheap) tricks is baking soda to clean sinks and tubs. A box of baking soda (doesn't need to be A&H) is like $0.33 and lasts for a long time! Shines up great!
As far as the laundry detergent, I wouldn't go back to buying my own! 15 minutes of your time...and you DON'T have to be a SAHM (stay at home mom) to do this.
That drives me nuts to hear..."Well, you are home all day and have time to do stuff like that..." Ugh! Seriously. Do YOU have 15 minutes to run to the store to purchase your laundry detergent every 2 weeks or so? Then you have time to mix up a few ingredients every month (or more for our family)! I have been making my own detergent for about 3 years now and I have yet to purchase ingredients besides maybe a few bars of Ivory soap (which I use instead of Castile soap or Fels Naptha for sensitivity purposes).
I encourage anyone to take inventory on your daily duties in whichever role you play (SAHM, working mom, wife, etc.) and then open your mind and close your pocketbook to what you can do better...for your health, for your wealth, and for our Earth.
I would be happy to share what I have learned and what has worked for me and my family. I never considered myself to be a guru, but frugal...YES! And I say it with pride ;o)
also, as someone who works as a set dresser and props girl on various productions, when it comes to cleaning glass for a shot it is a no go on windex and paper towels! of course, sometimes we go all out if the shot is directly through the glass with some fancy no-lint shams, but usually, the best fix is a newspaper with nothing on it. cleans the glass, leaves no lint and no streaks. AND, (here in NYC at least) it's free on most street corners :)
ReplyDeletePlain newspaper? No vinegar at all? That would be fab...because, truth be told, I sort of hate the smell of vinegar.
ReplyDelete