HomeMade Cleaners

HomeMade Cleaner #1: Magic Shower Cleaner

     This is a pretty simple cleaner but it was said to have "magical" results. I bought the blue Dawn liquid soap and more vinegar from WalMart and a spray bottle from the dollar store. I mixed it together this morning and sprayed down my shower. On all the blogs I read about this stuff, no one mentioned the smell. Maybe they didn't spray as large an area as I did. But man, the smell was nearly unbearable. I'd go in the bathroom to see if I could tell a difference (I'm so impatient :p) and I would be able to take a step or two into the bathroom before having to go back out. It hurt my eyes and my nose. :(

     The directions say to let it sit overnight for best results in really dirty situations. I couldn't wait all night...mostly because I didn't want to wash down my shower at 6:30 am before using it....let's face it, I'm just lucky to find the shower at that time each morning. haha So I let it sit for about 4 hours and washed it down while my little one was napping. All the comments I had read said that barely any scrubbing was needed....I'm not a fan of being the exception. I still had to use some major elbow grease to get my shower and tile sparkling clean. And it didn't do anything for the grout and caulking around the tub.

     The reason the grout and caulking look any better at all is because I scrubbed every inch of the stuff (yes, throughout the WHOLE shower) with a toothbrush and a paste of baking soda and vinegar. To me, that is the stuff that is magical!

  

     Despite the lack of easy cleaning, I will give this another try to see if maybe it was something I did wrong. If it works, it really is better than using harsh cleaners because all it takes is equal parts vinegar and the blue Dawn liquid soap.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

HomeMade Cleaner #2: Dry Laundry Detergent

     From WalMart I picked up a box of Arm&Hammer Washing Soda, a box of Borax, and a bar of Fels-Naptha. Then I went to the dollar store and picked up a small tuperware container, a set of measuring cups and spoons, and a hand grater.

     Using the hand grater, grate the entire bar of Fels-Naptha.


     Then I mixed the grated bar with 1 cup of washing soda and 1 cup of borax. Then into my nice dollar store tupperware it went with the tablespoon measuring spoon inside.

     After the picture was taken, I added sticky labels with the name and the ingredients. I use 2 to 3 tablespoons per load, depending on the size and the dirty-ness. And I like to use 1/2 cup of vinegar as the fabric softener. Our clothes are clean and I think this is a winner. Unless I'm in a really tight pinch, I plan on using this from now on. So much cheaper than bottle detergent and it doesn't take too terribly long to throw together. :)

Time to make more! :)