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Simple DIY cleaning products
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This weekend, in a fit of inspiration aided by the long weekend, my husband and I decided to do something we rarely get the time to do...clean our house. I'm not talking the every day, wipe the counters, make the bed, pick up toys clean the house. I'm talking wash the windows, clean and mop the floors, scrub the bathrooms clean the house. And through it all I kept wondering, "Why on earth do we have so many cleaning products?"
I'm not kidding. We have about 10 different bottles of cleaning products, from furniture polish to glass cleaner to bathroom cleanser to toilet cleaner. All of them do virtually the same thing and none of them do a supremely spectacular job. It got me thinking that there had to be a better way to a)get my house clean and b)stop throwing money away on products that don't really work. So I did what every resourceful person does. I went to Google.
A simple Google search for "household cleaners" yielded more results than I could count (it's Google--I really didn't expect anything else). I read through the first dozen or so and realized that there are just as many ways to make your own household cleaners as there are products on the shelf at any big box store. It was overwhelming at first, but I was able to narrow down the "recipes" to the ones that were not only the simplest and least expensive to make, but had the most purposes (confession time--I do not like to clean and want as few things as possible to aid me in that endeavor. Too many products are just confusing).
But I would be selfish if I kept these to myself. Cynthia Townley Ewer at www.organizedhome.com published an article of simple, DIY household cleaners that involve ingredients most of us already have in our pantry closets: baking soda, white vinegar, rubbing alcohol, ammonia, olive oil, lemon juice and undiluted white vinegar. These simple ingredients make the following cleaners:
- Glass cleaner (rubbing alcohol, water, white vinegar)
- Furniture polish (olive oil and lemon juice)
- All purpose cleaner (vinegar and water)
- Bathroom scum remover (I'm not really sure what the technical term for this cleaner is, but it's really just a combination of baking soda and water)
- Drain declogger (also involves baking soda and hot water)
For the full recipes, you can visit the article at http://organizedhome.com/pantry-recipes-homemade-cleaning-products
I know what you're thinking...that's a lot of cleaners for just a few ingredients! And that's the beauty of the list. It makes you realize not only what you can do for less, but it makes you realize that for a under $10, you can have enough products to clean your house for the next year (or more!). And there's an added bonus to these wallet-friendly products--they're earth friendly, too. They can be even more earth friendly if you use rags instead of paper towels (quick tip for making rags--cut up old towels).
While the impetus behind searching for these cleaning products was to simplify and declutter our cleaning supplies, I'm looking forward to using them to have a cleaner and healthier house (have you ever smelled some of those name brand cleaners?) for a lot less money. Hey, if these cleaners worked for our grandparents, why can't they work for us?
What do you think about making your own cleaners? Do you have a favorite DIY household cleaner?
For more information on keeping a clean house, visit: http://organizedhome.com/articles/clean-house
