The Homemade Natural Cleaners We Use

Today I made laundry detergent and every time I mention that I do that, someone asks me for the recipe. So, I thought I'd share on here the various recipes that I use for household cleaners. This really falls under the category of "saves me a lot of money," although the ingredients that I use are also all-natural, so it's also a "green" alternative as well. ;o)

Laundry Detergent
This is a recipe that I got from my friend Cheryl who has been making her own laundry detergent for much much longer than I have.

• 6 cups water
• 1/3 bar Fels Naptha or Ivory Soap, grated
  
• 1/2 cup washing soda
• 1/2 cup borax
• bucket for mixing
• large container or several small containers for storing
• 8 cups boiling water
• 10 cups hot water
  

1. Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 6 cups of water, and heat until dissolved.
   
2. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until it starts to get thick, and remove from heat. (Let me add here that mine never really thickens and it turns out fine. I just keep stirring it until the grated soap pieces dissolve.)
   
3. Add 4 cups hot water to bucket.
   
4. Add soap mixture, and mix well.
   
5. Add another 8 cups boiling hot water and 6 cups hot water and mix well.
   
6. Pour the mixture into your containers after it isn't boiling hot anymore.
   
7. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens.
   
8. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per regular load. I;ve found that if I'm using anything other than Fels Naptha, I use about 1 cup per load.
   

I use Fels Naptha bar soap, and you can find it in the laundry aisle. I was never able to find it at Walmart, but a grocery store like Schucks (where I buy mine), Kroger or something to that effect might have it. The Arm and Hammer Washing Soda and Borax are also in the laundry aisle. I was able to find the Borax at Walmart, but not the Washing Soda. I had to get that at Schnuck's, also.

Also, I usually don 't wait the 24 hours, just until it isn't steaming. Be sure to stir it several times during the "setting" process before it turns to gel. You will need to shake it before using it at every load, and it will not always be liquid. After cooling, it won't turn back completely into a gel. You might get some clumps of gel with some liquid thereafter, but I've never noticed any difference either way. It still always work great for me!

As far as cost effectiveness goes, for me, it works out to be about $.08- $0.12 per load vs Tide or some other leading product, which works out to be about $0.20-$0.50 per load or more, depending on the type of detergent you use. Now that I know the recipe by memory, it takes about 10-15 minutes to make, aside from letting it set.

We use this recipe for all kinds of laundry and is especially helpful if someone in your house suffers from allergies or asthma, as there are no perfumes involved. We also use this for baby laundry as well and all the... um... special stains that go along with that. ;o)


Household All-Purpose Cleaner

This one's pretty simple.

• Baking Soda
• White Vinegar
• Lemon Juice
• Water

1. Mix equal parts baking soda and white vinegar, depending on how much you want. For a typical 20-oz spray bottle, I usually do 2-3 T of baking soda as well as vinegar.
   
2. Fill 3/4 of the bottle with warm water.
3. Add 2-4 drops of lemon juice (this makes it smell nice).
4. Shake it up!

I use this cleaner for, as the name implies, nearly all purposes. I use it to clean in the kitchen, the bathroom, mopping the floor, cleaning the walls. There isn't much of anything for which I don't use this cleaner. There may be some times when I have to add a little elbow grease, but I much prefer using something homemade and natural (and cheap!) to something store-bought, so I don't mind. :o)

The only area that I use something different is for windows and mirrors. When you use this mixture on windows and mirrors, it definitely leaves hard-to-remove streaks. Instead, I use this:

• One part vinegar to 4 parts warm water

Dishwasher Detergent

This one is sort of not all-natural. However, it IS incredibly cost-effective.

• One part baking soda
• One part borax
• Dishwashing liquid (the kind you use when you wash by hand -- Dawn, Ajax, some other off-brand, whatever you like)
• Vinegar

1. Mix equal parts of baking soda and borax. I keep mine in a medium-sized tupperware container, and it holds about 4 cups. So, I whisk together 2 cups baking soda with 2 cups of borax.
   
2. Scoop 2 T of powder mixture into the detergent loader.
3. Add 2-8 drops of dishwashing liquid.
   
4. Use white vinegar as your rinse agent and fill receiver accordingly.

Notes: My dishwasher is old. And grumpy. So, after using many commercial detergents that did NOT work at all, we turned to making our own and this has proven itself better for us. As I've offered this recipe to other people, I have noticed that what might work for one washer might not work for another. Some have found that the 2T is too much and leaves residue, so they reduce to to 1.5 T or 1 T. Others have found that they needed less dishwashing liquid or more. I tend to use more.

The cost effectiveness of this recipe is amazing. If you buy the products in bulk, you end up washing a load of dishes for just around $0.03 per load!


Carpet Cleaner

For spot cleaning the carpet, I use the all-purpose household cleaner detailed above. If the spot is wet, though (think a dog mess or spilled drink), I first apply the following:

• One part cornstarch
• One part baking soda

1. Mix 'em up!
2. Keep in an airtight container.

I spoon the mixture liberally over the wet spot and let sit for awhile, depending on the size of the spot. The mixture pulls the moisture up out of the carpet and absorbs it. Then, I use a paper towel or cleaning rag to gather it up and throw it away. Next, I spray the spot with the all-purpose cleaner, let sit 5 minutes and scrub it away. Sometimes, I'll go back with a water bottle and spray it again with plain water and scrub that up as well.

***Because we're dealing with carpets, always pre-test on an out-of-the-way spot on your carpet to make sure that it doesn't adversely affect it. You never know, so do this with anything you use on your carpets.


So, those are the recipes that I use to clean my house. Some may work for you, some may not. If you're interested in experimenting, there's tons of resources and different recipes online that you can find. We've been using these recipes for almost 5 years now, and I'd say they work pretty well for us!

Happy cleaning! :o)

Summer Pictures

okay, after that downer of a post last time, i thought i'd do something more happy and post somes pictures. i know it's been forever since i have, but things have been a little crazy, as always.

b/c it's been so hot and rainy this summer, we've done a lot of indoor crafts and playing in the pool. this first one is of a painting we did with everyone's handprints all over it. it turned out really well, although i don't have a picture of the finished product. sorry. :o(



next, we took a TON of toys out of the girls' room. they weren't playing with half of them and their room was always a mess. so, we decided to start a rotation so all of the toys get played with and there aren't so many in the house. now, our garage on the other hand.....

this is shiloh helping to make biscuits and gravy one morning. we have this a lot. it doesn't take long and it's sooooo good!

another craft. they spent hoooours working on these. i just gave them some sparkly pipe cleaners and a value pack of costume beads. it kept them busy literally all day and they still play with the things they made.

(they were still in their pajamas when i took these, obviously. shiloh's been on a thing lately where she wants to wear our shirts all the time.)


after pool time, waiting for me to come help her get dressed. demon child, anyone...? she sure looks creepy in this picture...

outside again, another day when the weather wasn't actually too bad.


she was trying to come up with a silly face to make, but it wasn't working out....


...then she found one. :)

she's so pretty.

helping rick dish out leftover cheese enchiladas. she really loves to help in the kitchen.


i'm not sure if you can see him, but there's a small frog on that tarp. we found him when we were uncovering the pool one day. we named him jeremiah.

and then moved him to a safer location.

then, when i sat down at the table to crochet while the girls played, i found another one! we named her lilly. i'm not sure how we knew she was a girl, but we knew. she stayed right there the whole time i was outside, like 2 feet from my face. funny.

what we didn't realize at the time, though, was that the frogs were spreading the word that our house was the place to hang out, and, apparently, to lay your eggs. about two days later (and after seeing a TON more frogs on our back deck), hundreds of tadpoles hatched in our pool. we had to clean it out, obviously, but it was craziness.

shiloh and lara, playing in the clown car...


mamaw, when it was still possible for her to come and sit with us...

so, rick shaved his head. and here are a couple of pictures. i'm not sure if there's really any more i can say about this.


shiloh being sweet, wading at the edge of her pool.


on another pool day, snacking outside.


this is phoebe, the stray we found a few weeks ago. she was pregnant and we took her to the humane society, where she was adopted. yay. :)


lump apparently didn't want his picture taken. he doens't look too pleased.
phoebe again. geez, she was so precious...
and here's dallas! he sure is getting gray, isn't he? he's almost 10, so i guess it's about time. he's actually lost some weight, although he could still stand to lose a few pounds. but, couldn't we all...? ;)

my friend, erin's, cake she made for her daughter's birthday. it was the Veggie Tales' "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." i thought it turned out so well!

something random to keep the girls' entertained. and it did for an hour or so. i cut out the middle of a paper plate and used a hole punch to punch holes all around the outside. i gave them some of my yarn and let them make whatever design they wanted and then decorate it afterwards. i think they mostly just liked getting to use "mommy's yarn," since they see me use it all the time. they still play with these, too, which i really like to see.


just hanging out, playing with shiloh's leapster.

shiloh at the park.
shiloh and lara, giving me scary smiles.
we stayed for awhile and found a big field area and had a snack picnic under a tree. i brough some embroidering stuff to work on, i let them pack a bag of toys, and we stayed there for almost three hours that day! it was awesome!

shiloh decided to wrap herself up in her blanket, it was so cute.



i though these were so funny. she just took off in the middle of the field, wearing her blanket.
still walking...

yeah, i'm not sure what this is about, but i had to take a picture. that poor panda didn't stand a chance...

showing me how she really feels...

and, lastly, these are pictures of a dress i made for her the other day. it didn't take long at all and it turned out MUCH better than i expected. she needed some church dresses, and i couldn't find a pattern i liked, so i just traced different parts of one that i knew fit her. i wasn't sure it would work out, but i think it did!



shiloh's only requirement was that it could "spin like a princess." she throws a major fit any time i try to put her in a dress that comes at or above her knees. it HAS to spin. :)


she was spinning and ran into the camera. hah.

pondering a leaf...


posing. i actually didn't ask her to do this, she just couldn't sit still. we were getting ready to go inside, and she plopped down and said "take my picture, please!!!" so, i did. :)

my two favorites of the ones i took:


i hadn't intended for that to be a photo shoot, but she was just being so cute, i couldn't help it!

anyhoo, that's it for pictures for now. off to bed. :)