Oh, How I love DIY All-Purpose Lemon Cleaner!

 DIY All Purpose Cleaner

After a lapse in my routine, and exposure to commercial cleaners for 3 months, I am falling in love with natural cleaners all over again!  Oh, how I missed the sweet fresh smells- the aroma of essential oils- and the nontoxic clean!!!!!!! It just does not compare- really!  

Today was a shining example-  the task of cleaning the stove top and mainly the oven. I hate cleaning an oven- sorry no excuses - just stating a fact- I hate cleaning ovens. Awkward and the worst tough grease ever. People I know scream, "Easy Off!"  I respond with a resounding, "Noooooooo!"
 A former employer of mine would spray it without care- noxious fumes a flying! It was horrible- I won't go that route. Ever.

I made a batch of fresh DIY All Purpose Cleanser, and while the formula was still hot in temp I turned right around and sprayed down my oven! The worst thing that happened in my house is my husband asking-"Did you peel an orange?" (I'd added orange essential oil to this particular mix as well as lemon essential oil.) The result? My oven is shining! and I finished with ease in less than a half hour- that's with complete wipedown inside and out.

The best part- I saved a small fortune making a very effective cleanser, using basic safe ingredients already in the house.  I do not have a headache from fumes, my family isn't running from the house because of the horrible cleaners smell,  no one was exposed unnecessarily to toxic ingredients, and it's clean! So clean I want to bake! I am heading for the store now- Haha!  

All Purpose DIY Lemon Cleaner 

1 tsp washing soda
2 tsp Borax
1/2 tsp liquid soap (Castile soap or dish soap)
2 c hot water
10-20 drops lemon essential oil
pour into recycled spray bottle, cap and shake until dissolved. spray on surface and wipe away!* Works wonders on stoves, and counter tops!

Knowing I was cleaning the oven I added about 5 drops orange essential oil- just because it smelled so good. I was wanting the citrus smell! LOL

I have posted this mix before- I am just resinging the praises due to our personal lapse. You can find my original post at this recipe here: DIY All Purpose Cleaner





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DIY (Fake Shout) Laundry Stain Remover

DIY (Fake Shout) Laundry Stain Remover 

1 cup water
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup washing soda

Combine all ingredients well and pour into empty hydrogen peroxide bottle.(Hydrogen Peroxide requires dark bottles as sunlight decreases it's effectiveness.) Cap with spray bottle lid.

Pre-treat laundry by spraying directly onto stain, 5 minutes before tossing clothing into load.
Very similar to Shout- without harsh chemicals or toxins.

Another Green Clean! Yay!

For delicate material, or brightest colors- test a small spot first  to ensure doesn't bleach out color.
Great for whites, kid's clothes, ring around the collar and grass stains.

Label clearly, store with your homemade laundry soap, and keep out of reach of children.
(Note: Washing soda is more caustic than baking soda, and thus not recommended to eat  Be sure to label clearly.  To make your own Washing Soda: DIY Laundry Soap and Washing Soda.)





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DIY Greasy Hand Cleanser

 DIY Greasy Hand Cleanser

Have a man in the house always working on something? Mine is...
He was a Diesel Mechanic for Railway for many years. I learned over that time there is nothing to use against Cosmoline (a railroad mama's nightmare!) However, the regular grime and grease out that can happen with cars and small engine's is another story. And yes,  I have an answer for those greasy grimey hands that can often need extra strong cleaning.

DIY Greasy Hand Cleanser

1/4 c salt
1/4 c baking soda
1/4 c sugar
3/4 c Dawn dish soap-The blue stuff - (+-)
10 drops Tea tree essential oil (for anti bacterial properties) Lemon works well too! Or both. 
1 tbsp bentonite clay (optional -if you really need extra power)

In a tub that's reusable, but not breakable- (I used a rubbermaid tub that holds at least 2 c liquid) 
sift together the dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Add dawn dish soap and mix until thoroughly incorporated. If too paste- like, you can add more dawn until it comes out creamier, but not too liquid. You want the scrub capabilities!
Have that guy scrub, and rinse with warm water.

Works well as gardener's mix too. Especially after a long day in the dirt! :)Yay!

Better smelling than the orange gunk they usually use in the shop- but very effective. Better for them too, but you don't have to tell them that.   ;)

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DIY Glass Cleaner

DIY Glass Cleaner   

The blue stuff.... ugh....
millions of gallons of the blue stuff are sold daily- all just because the mass market media says it's what you should use to clean your windows. But.... do you HAVE to use the blue stuff?
NO.
Did you know the blue stuff contains: Ammonia, 2 Hexoxyethanol, Ammonium Hydroxide, Mirapol Surf S-210, Viden EGM, Sodium C14-17 Sec-Alkyl Sulfonat, and Synthetic Fragrances.

Not green. Not safe. More like a toxic concoction of mess.
Don't know what some of these are? Neither does your body, or the earth, or your pets, or your family. Like I have explained before in posts- if an ingredient listed on an item is non-pronounceable, non-recognizable to you- it most likely is non recognizable to your body! Toxic chemicals, when sprayed, go into the air you breathe, and soak into your skin on your hands that you touch. They are either inhaled or soaked in, and are dangerous either way to your health. They leave a toxic chem-trail behind that can affect you.

Many things clean glass.
Many things clean glass well: and are safe, effective, non-toxic, and GREEN.

Like what might you ask?  I'll address the 2 most common, that you most likely already have on your shelves: Hydrogen peroxide, and or - Vinegar.

Hydrogen Peroxide -

Did you know the nozzle to a standard spray mist bottle will fit directly onto a peroxide bottle? So perfectly convenient-  no mess no fuss?

Hydrogen peroxide as a glass cleaner?
Oh yes! And much more!
Hydrogen peroxide is cheap! And not only does it save money, it is Antibacterial, Antifungal, Kills mold, Kills mildew. It is a natural  disinfectant!!!!! Kills house hold germs and prevents spreading of germs due to common colds and flu!  My first grab if someone has been sick.

You can clean far more than your windows with it!
You can clean glass, counter tops, sinks, and other hard surfaces. Use the three percent solution undiluted in a spray bottle and spray it on the surface to be cleaned. Allow it to stand for several minutes and then wipe it off.
Hard surfaces that can be cleaned with hydrogen peroxide are: counter tops, stove tops, appliances, mirrors, windows, showers, shower doors. bathtubs, sinks, toilets, garbage cans, walls, door frames, door knobs, etc etc.

My favorite use for a bottle of peroxide is in the kitchen. It is the perfect disinfectant for my cutting boards! Wash the cutting board off in the sink. Then Spray on Hydrogen Peroxide, wait 10 minutes, and wipe away. This eliminates all bacteria from meats & raw foods and disinfects your cutting board! No cross contamination! Yay!

Vinegar

White Vinegar is incredible.
For DIY Glass Cleaner:  A 50/50 solution of water and vinegar in a spray bottle is all you need for glass cleaning! Spray on, wipe dry. It works! No streaks! Removes dirt, finger prints, and other grime that can build up. All natural, no toxins.
If gunk is built up on the glass surface you can apply vinegar undiluted and remove nearly anything. (An example for me was the bird poop that was graciously left on my car window the other day- by the time I got to it, it was dry and permanently stuck on....ugh...until that is I applied the vinegar! Yay! Gone in seconds!)

Vinegar is the best household cleaner! It cleans, disinfects, is anti fungal, antibacterial, eliminates mold and mildew, kills most household germs, and it's cheap! Making it extremely frugal for house cleaning!

Make Homemade Wipes with vinegar- these will clean your glass, windows, tubs tiles, counter tops, stove tops sinks, walls, doors. door knobs, shower- (oh! in the shower! get rid of mold and mildew with vinegar too!)


You can mop with vinegar solution as well! Shine those tile or linoleum floors! Safe and effective!


Here is my mirror after vinegar- see no streaks! Just clean clear shine. Yay!







Between these 2 cleaners- you can nearly clean your entire house! Frugal, and very GREEN cleaning!





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DIY (Fake Comet) Cleaner

"Honey! Where's the comet?!"

My Hubby had to do some clean up last night... I handed him my DIY cleaner - fake comet version- he glanced and didn't say a word. The look was enough- a kind of  'well, if I have to'...a glare that says it all. I left with a grin. :D...no worries!

He later told me it worked fine! By his standards, that's a huge compliment. I knew it would- I'd already used it for a while! But for him- it was new. LOL
It's simple to make-

DIY (Fake Comet) Cleaner

I reused/re-purposed a shaker  bottle and added to it
1 part baking soda
1 part borax
1 part salt
1 part washing soda

and I shook it to mix.
Sprinkle it on what you have to scrub just like you do comet. Take a damp sponge or scrubber, and watch the stains go away. Rinse well.
 Works wonders on the tub and toilet! Love it! Whitens, brightens, grime is gone, cuts grease and residue, without bleach alternatives and extra chemicals.
 No noxious smell. The baking soda naturally deodorizes, borax and washing soda cut grease and residues and whitens, and the salt acts as abrasive- it's a win win.
 That's it. Done. Can't get much simpler. DIY. Effective. Frugal. Green cleaning. No noxious smells. Just clean.
Yay! 

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DIY Homemade Dish Soap

DIY Homemade Dish Soap

Dish soap is so cheap, and so easy to grab, and just too easy...why would I replace dish soap?

Many reasons, actually.
It touches your skin- one of your most important organs on your body.
It touches the dishes you cook and eat off of.
It goes down the drain and flows back through the system, eventually retouching the earth we come from and live off of.
All Three very good reasons to consider using a product with far less toxic chemicals in it. Think green.
Green cleaning is so easy, it is even cost effective if your are on a tight budget.  It is also so much better for your family in the long run!

To make Homemade Dish Soap

you need a mixing bowl, a small sauce pan to boil water in, a grater and a whisk.
2 cups water
1 tbsp. borax
1 tbsp. grated Castile soap bar. (I use Kirk's Castile Original, but any Castile bar will work. Dr. Bronner's Citrus is excellent!) 
Essential oils (lemon is my favorite- but you can also use tea tree oil for antibacterial, or any combination you prefer! Lemon and Lavender is wonderful! So is orange and lemon for a bright energetic citrus smell of fresh and clean!)

Boil the 2 cups of water in sauce pan.
In bowl combine both the borax and grated bar soap
pour boiling water over the soap mixture and whisk until the soap dissolves.
Now let it rest. As it cools it will gel up.
Let it completely cool for a couple hours. 4-6 actually depending on your house's temp.
Add essential oils, if you choose to,  at the very last step.
Pour into recycled/ reused dish soap bottle and use as you normally would for dishes.

Note: This is not intended for dishwashers-just in the sink dish-washing.

Static! Eliminate Dryer Sheets!

Static! UGH!!!!

  Do you hate static from the dryer? I certainly do! I seem to always live in areas prone to static! UGH! Haha! :)
I have an aversion to dryer sheets. The smell alone from the chemical scents of commercial dryer sheets drives my allergies batty! The chemicals alone are what I am trying to avoid anyway, as I learn more about green cleaning. There are a few easy easy remedies that do not cost much at all! (Yay! Green and Frugal! Double bonus!)

1.  First, and foremost, to address the static alone- use aluminum foil. I take a square of my kitchen foil, loosely ball it in my hand and throw it in to the dryer with my wet clothes. When the load is finished, (I have never had anything from it come off on the clothes) and it removes the static build up. The balls are always in a tightly compacted ball when they come out- but it works! No noxious smell, no chemical residue, no STATIC!!!!!!! Win win! Easy, simple, frugal, and green. Yay!

 2. The second remedy is Vinegar. To add 1/2 cup white vinegar to your rinse cycle. It acts like a fabric softener. The best part is: it does it naturally, and the smell of vinegar evaporates off. Wonderful!  Your clothes come out softer, and you have done it naturally! Safer for environment - no toxic waste water, and better for your family and budget! Yay!

My Mix Laundry Soap

My Mix Laundry Soap. Yay!!
  Okay, it’s not homemade in the sense I got lye soap, a cauldron and bubbled and burbled my own concoction- haha!  but it’s my MIX, and it’s really good, lasts longer, and is a fraction of the cost of name brand laundry soaps! It’s more natural in ingredients than most name brands, and less offensive on the perfumey chemical trail. Plus, I do not have any allergic reaction to it! YAY!

  I have found I can make: 1 trip to the grocery store, spend about $39, use up about an hour of prep and mixing, and in the end, have an effective, and extremely good smelling laundry soap that is amazingly only a fraction of the cost of my old store bought brand.

You will need:

Ingredients:
1 (4 lb) 20 Mule Team Borax
3 (1lb) boxes of Baking soda  (for homemade Washing soda***) or 1(3 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (***make your own, as I  did; directions at the end- by using 3 boxes of Baking Soda)
1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean
2 (14 oz) Bars of Zote Soap
4 (1 lb) Boxes of Baking Soda
3 (28 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener (100% optional!) There are 3 scents offered by Purex Crystals, use whichever one you prefer- or leave this out to eliminate the fragrance altogether.

Supplies: 1 large bucket, clean, dry inside, with lid; 1 cheese grater and old mixing bowl, wood spoon, and 1baking sheet if making washing soda.

Step 1: 

 Grate the soap! Grate into a large mixing bowl. The grated Zote soap dissolves just fine, even in cold water;  but,  the finer the pieces- the faster it dissolves, so using a small grater is best. When you finish grating, the hardest part is over – now it’s just time to mix.

 

Step 2: Mix in the bucket!

I used a large bucket and poured the ingredients in segments. I took a small amount of each and layered it on top of each other, then I grabbed a large wood mixing spoon, and mixed it together each time.  My husband helped with this, I poured -while he mixed. We do this outside on the back porch, as it does pouf clouds of powder easily as you pour and mix. Go slow and less pouf will occur.  Pouring it in in segments just made it easier to completely mix.

To USE: 

 You only need 1-2 Tablespoons per load depending on the size! I just recycled/reused the Oxy Clean container. I had it available after all was poured in,  and it's so easy to refill as needed!   I just scoop my mixture right back into the now empty tub, and wahh-lahh, my detergent has a perfect container! YAY!!!! The Oxy clean scoop says 1,2,3,4, right on the side! Perfect to sit on your laundry room shelf! I have found the scoop filled to the line 2 is enough for my large capacity load! The Purex crystal bottles work great, too, especially if you are sharing! 

Note: because this laundry mix is low suds, it IS safe for HE washers.

Try to keep the remaining bucket mixture in a dry/cool location. To store the remaining mix,   I recycled one of my husband's 5 gal buckets from the garage, cleaned it out, and now store the remaining laundry soap in it! Sits perfect in the dry storage area in the garage, ready for refills.

 

  As with  most of these DIY posts, I am not the originator. Although all words & pictures are mine, the original recipe and concept was not.  I originally found this DIY Laundry Soap mix recipe by author Jen, from DIY Diaries. On this site: http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent/

.

**Washing Soda
The original recipe I found for this detergent, called for Super Washing Soda- and I couldn’t find it in the area I live in. :( Ugh. However, I did some more research and found you can actually make Washing Soda- DIY -at home, on your own.

It turns out Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda is Sodium Carbonate.which you can easily change from Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) using one key item- HEAT. The heat evaporates off the "Bi" of bicarbonate creating Sodium Carbonate.
 
So, Heat your oven up to 400-475° F. Pour the 4 boxes of Baking soda onto cooking sheets and bake for at least 1 hour. Each time you check it, stir it a bit to ensure all is changing. When I did, I noticed a "poof" of what appeared to be steam rising off the baking soda. After one hour, the “steam” was gone. (The ‘poof like steam’ is the water and carbon dioxide evaporating off)

Take it out of the oven, and let it completely cool. Once cooled, it’s ready to use in the laundry mix. (Note: Although Baking Soda is naturally safe to eat- sodium carbonate (Washing Soda) is NOT safe to consume- so take care in the kitchen to not spill, or wipe away from any surfaces that might touch your food later. And clearly label any jars or canisters you use when storing it. It's a fantastic cleaner! Just don't store it beside your regular baking soda.)

When making my laundry soap, I set the baking soda in the oven first, then went outside and started grating the Zote Soap. By the time I finished grating, dealing with the kids, taking a bathroom break, etc… about an hour was over, and all I had to do was let it cool while I gathered the supplies, bucket, and prepared to mix.

Done! Homemade laundry soap that cleans bright, doesn’t fade my colors, and smells fantastic! All for $39. For me this recipe lasts about 7-8 months- sometimes longer. Saving me mega amounts on my budget.  (Well over $100!) Super frugal, super smart and great results! It is worth the time taken once every 7-8 months.








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DIY All Purpose Cleaner

DIY All-Purpose Cleaner

I got left with a mess when my boys decided to cook, so I am using my homemade all purpose cleaner to wipe it away! This stuff is fantastic and smells too good! I am such a fan of lemon essential oil, not only does it smell bright and full of energy, I understand it's anti bacterial too! It is now a vital part of my cleaning!

I was left with this:



Before
I used my DIY all-purpose cleaner, and now I am cooking on this! Nice! (Starting a small batch of applesauce and using the peelings to make pectin for jelly later, ;) Yay! )

After: 

All Purpose DIY Lemon Cleaner 

1 tsp washing soda
2 tsp Borax
1/2 tsp liquid soap (Castile soap or dish soap)
2 c hot water
10-20 drops lemon essential oil
pour into recycled spray bottle, cap and shake until dissolved. spray on surface and wipe away!* Works wonders on stoves, and counter tops!

No extra chemicals, no noxious fumes, works fantastic and leaves my kitchen or whatever I clean smelling lemon fresh! I do not recommend it on painted surfaces as washing soda can remove paint- however, works like a charm on my kitchen counters, stove, oven, sink,  dishwasher and refrigerator surfaces, and in the bathroom sinks, tub and toilet! Great stuff and so easy to make! One batch cleans the house plus some!





Notes:
*Use a marker and be sure to CLEARLY label your bottle.  Do not swallow or leave within reach of little ones.Although this is safer than most commercial brands with no fumes involved, borax and washing soda are not edible items and still pose a danger to young ones.
** Use at your own risk. Recipe for DIY cleaner can be found on various internet DIY sites as a greener alternate to industrial strength cleaners. I do not claim sole ownership of recipe, or any rights there of. I am Simply sharing a useful recipe that can help others turn to greener clean.









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