Cleaning Product Recipes
Wow, I had no idea so many of you were interested in cleaning recipes!
All of these recipes are from Better Basics for the Home, which I absolutely cannot recommend highly enough. It’s packed with over 800 recipes, it’s not preachy, and each section gives a store-bought, natural alternative for each product. She admits freely that she doesn’t make every single thing in her home, and that you can pick and choose what fits your lifestyle. There are recipes in there from window cleaner to face cream to paint thinner. If you’re at all interested in making your own cleaners, you need this book! Don’t look online; the advice is way too basic with no research or info behind it.
Of course, the info you’ll get in this post is just as basic.
We kind of fell into this; we ran out of spray cleaner, had company coming over, and said, “Shit, can’t we use vinegar and water?” And we haven’t bought commercial cleaner since.
I think the most shocking thing so far is how well these cleaners work. We were ready to sacrifice a bit for more kid-and-environmentally-friendly product, but these work just as well, if not better, than the store-bought stuff.
On to the recipes!
You can make almost all cleaning and beauty products with:
-Vinegar
-Baking Soda
-Castile Soap
-Borax
-Washing Soda
-Glycerin
-Empty spray bottles
**She recommends using essential oils, which would love to do, but they’re expensive. I get castile soap with tea tree oil (an antiseptic and bug repellent) for cleaning and castile soap with lavender for body/hand soaps.
Dr. Bronner’s is the brand of castile soap you find most places. I buy it in bulk at my local health food store, which is way cheaper that buying the bottles. (And if I can get this stuff where I live, I bet you can get it too.) Borax, washing soda, and glycerine were all at Wal-Mart. The first two are found with the laundry soap and the glycerin is in the pharmacy.
Honestly, we just use 50% vinegar/water most of the time. If something is really stuck, you can make a paste of baking soda and water, (just a little of each) and scrub with that.
Here is her all-purpose cleaner, which is a little more heavy-duty:
½ tsp washing soda
2 tsp Borax
½ tsp liquid soap (castile soap)
2 C hot water (water must be hot to dissolve the minerals.)
Did you know that Murphy's Oil Soap is all-natural? Why mess with that?
Basic Floor Cleaner:
¼ C liquid soap
½ C vinegar or lemon juice
2 gallons warm water
Soft Scrub -- this one is AWESOME on sinks and showers
½ C baking soda
Enough liquid soap to make a frosting-like consistency
Essential oils (optional)
It’s gooey and frostingy and it works so, so well.
I generally toss washing soda in the toilet, scrub, then splash a bunch of straight vinegar in and flush as it fizzes.
I haven’t tried this, but I want to.
8 drops lavender oil
4 drops each bergamot and clove oil
2 drops oil of peppermint
½ C vodka
½ C distilled water
Combine in a spray bottle.
Is there anything specific that you want recipes for? Hair and skin care products? Any other questions?
All of these recipes are from Better Basics for the Home, which I absolutely cannot recommend highly enough. It’s packed with over 800 recipes, it’s not preachy, and each section gives a store-bought, natural alternative for each product. She admits freely that she doesn’t make every single thing in her home, and that you can pick and choose what fits your lifestyle. There are recipes in there from window cleaner to face cream to paint thinner. If you’re at all interested in making your own cleaners, you need this book! Don’t look online; the advice is way too basic with no research or info behind it.
Of course, the info you’ll get in this post is just as basic.
We kind of fell into this; we ran out of spray cleaner, had company coming over, and said, “Shit, can’t we use vinegar and water?” And we haven’t bought commercial cleaner since.
I think the most shocking thing so far is how well these cleaners work. We were ready to sacrifice a bit for more kid-and-environmentally-friendly product, but these work just as well, if not better, than the store-bought stuff.
On to the recipes!
You can make almost all cleaning and beauty products with:
-Vinegar
-Baking Soda
-Castile Soap
-Borax
-Washing Soda
-Glycerin
-Empty spray bottles
**She recommends using essential oils, which would love to do, but they’re expensive. I get castile soap with tea tree oil (an antiseptic and bug repellent) for cleaning and castile soap with lavender for body/hand soaps.
Dr. Bronner’s is the brand of castile soap you find most places. I buy it in bulk at my local health food store, which is way cheaper that buying the bottles. (And if I can get this stuff where I live, I bet you can get it too.) Borax, washing soda, and glycerine were all at Wal-Mart. The first two are found with the laundry soap and the glycerin is in the pharmacy.
Honestly, we just use 50% vinegar/water most of the time. If something is really stuck, you can make a paste of baking soda and water, (just a little of each) and scrub with that.
Here is her all-purpose cleaner, which is a little more heavy-duty:
½ tsp washing soda
2 tsp Borax
½ tsp liquid soap (castile soap)
2 C hot water (water must be hot to dissolve the minerals.)
Did you know that Murphy's Oil Soap is all-natural? Why mess with that?
Basic Floor Cleaner:
¼ C liquid soap
½ C vinegar or lemon juice
2 gallons warm water
Soft Scrub -- this one is AWESOME on sinks and showers
½ C baking soda
Enough liquid soap to make a frosting-like consistency
Essential oils (optional)
It’s gooey and frostingy and it works so, so well.
I generally toss washing soda in the toilet, scrub, then splash a bunch of straight vinegar in and flush as it fizzes.
I haven’t tried this, but I want to.
8 drops lavender oil
4 drops each bergamot and clove oil
2 drops oil of peppermint
½ C vodka
½ C distilled water
Combine in a spray bottle.
Is there anything specific that you want recipes for? Hair and skin care products? Any other questions?