Homemade Cleaners--An Update

As I posted awhile back in some blog posts (click here and here for the posts)I decided to start making homemade laundry detergent and other homemade cleaners. I have been using them for some time now so I thought I'd give you an update.
HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT
First of all, I must say the laundry soap has been SUPER easy to make and is working no differnet than expensive store bought brands. I kinda played around with different recipes and came up with one of my own. I've read lots of information about making laundry detergent and many say that you just have to "play" around with it. That it's not an exact science. The first few batches of mine were made according to a recipe I had. It did come out rather watery. (the liquid homemade detergent should thicken up and be kind goopy--that is what I've read online). I used Irish Spring bar soap and I think they may have been the problem. Then I started using Yardley all natural soap. And I added more borax and washing soda to my recipe. That 3rd batch I made seemed to turn out better. (at least it was thicker and had the consistancy of store boughten laundry soap). I don't know if it was my imagination but my clothes seemed "cleaner". Maybe just "fresher"??? Not sure but I liked the result so I'm sticking to the recipe I came up with.

Here is MY recipe:
1 bar of Yardley soap (you can find this at Dollar tree for $1 but if you watch the Walgreens ad they have it occassionally for 69cents). You can also buy this in a variety of scents. I've used the Oatmeal & Almond (this was my fav) & lavender. I don't use the whole bar of soap. I grate 2/3 of the bar. Once grated mix it with 4 cups of water and put it on the stove until the soap is all disolved.

In my 5 gallon bucket I put 3 gallons of water and mix in my soap mixture (from above).

Next stir in 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda.

I keep stiring until it thickens up a bit. Then put the lid on and let it sit over night. The next day it will seem real thick. I just stir it and there you have it. Laundry detergent.

Here's a few things worth mentioning about the detergent:
--the soap will need to be stirred before each use. I have been actually pouring some from the 5 gallon bucket into an old laundry detergent bottle. I just shake before I pour.
--I use one cup of detergent for a large load of laundry. If they are more soiled clothes I add a little more.
--the soap will NOT suds up when added to the water in the wash machine. THAT IS OKAY! it's not suppose to have lots of suds. It's still working, it's just low sudsing soap.
--I've made 5 batches of laundry soap already (each batch fills my old laundry soap bottle about 3 times). I haven't kept track of how many loads i've done. but I have went thru roughly 15 judges of laundry soap for a total cost of about $10!!!! even buying the cheapest brands out there would have cost more than that!


HOMEMADE DISHWASHER DETERGENT:
I've also started making homemade detergent for my dish washer. WOW, I'm shocked at how wonderful it works. You do need a rinse agent or else your dishes are kinda dull looking BUT the dishes are at least clean. Seriously, when I use the powdered detergent (I use the store brand) my dishes never seemed to get completely clean and my dishwasher itself seemed dirty. WELL, after using this recipe even my dishwasher looks clean! Here is what I used:

1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda (use BAKING SODA not washing soda)
2 cups Casacade (this is optional but it helps give the dishes a shine)

For a rinse agent you can buy it or use vinegar. I used vinegar and that seems to work well. So for a fraction of the cost I can make it homemade with better results!


HOMEMADE FURNITURE POLISH:
I used a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice. So far so good. Works great!

HOMEMADE ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER:
I used vinegar and water. Decided to not use this. The smell was just not that pleasent. I missed the "clean" smell. Especially when cleaning the bathroom. Yes, this worked but decided to buy my own bathroom cleaner.

HOMEMADE GLASS CLEANER:
I use this recipe:
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup water
2 tblspoons vinegar

This works great! I even use my old newspapers when cleaning the windows! No streaks and the windows are clean!

So there you have it. A "homemade cleaner" update! Let me know if you have any questions! :)

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Awhile back I posted THIS post. And finally a few weeks ago I made my homemade laundry detergent! I've been using it for almost 2 weeks and I must say it's working WONDERFUL! I can't tell the difference between using homemade and store bought. Besides the savings left in my pocket! Actually I think it might even get the clothes cleaner. My kids get their clothes SUPER dirty. We live in the country and the kids are CONSTANTLY getting muddy or dirty from playing outside. I don't know if it's my imagination but I honestly think that my kids clothes are coming out cleaner than before. I don't notice any stains left on their clothes. Usually the dirt or in Gracie's case--baby food leave stains on their clothes. They seem to come out REALLY clean now! So I have to say I'm 100% happy with making it homemade! Here is the recipe I used:

* 4 cups of water.
* 1/3 bar of cheap soap, grated.
* 1/2 cup washing soda (not baking soda).
* 1/2 cup of Borax (20 Mule Team).
* 5-gallon bucket for mixing.
* 3 gallons of water.

First, mix the grated soap in a saucepan with 4 cups of water, and heat on low until the soap is completely dissolved. Add hot water/soap mixture to 3 gallons of water in the 5-gallon bucket, stir in the washing soda and Borax, and continue stirring until thickened. Let the mix sit for 24 hours, and voila! Homemade laundry detergent.

Homemade Household Cleaners

Over the past few months I have been givng much thought to making my own household cleaners. From Laundry Detergent to glass cleaner. I've done some research online. My inital reason for researching homemade cleaners was to save money. I knew that the staple ingrediants in most cleaners are actually cheap items to buy. (ex. baking soda & vineger). I'm all about saving money. I've been considering making our own laundry detergent for some time now. Actually probably a year ago I saw an episode of 18 Kids & Counting where they showed how they make their own laundry detergent. They talked about how much money that saves their family since they have SO much laundry. I feel like we go thru TONS of laundry soap and I hate to spend that much money on it. So the thought of making my own was something I thought about a lot. I mentioned it to my husband. He said, "sure go ahead if you want". But I still haven't done it yet. Then the other day I read this article on yahoo finance about making your own detergent. Then later on that same day my husband said, "You need to start making laundry detergent". He read the same article I had read. So we have decided to do it. I haven't done it yet. But we will be making it soon since we are almost done with our current jug of detergent. I'm so excited to start making it & to know that we are saving our family money! A few weeks ago I ran out of my window/glass cleaner. I found a recipe for glass cleaner and since I had all the ingredients in the house, I made some. The recipe I used was:

1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup water
2 tablespoons vinegar

I do have to say I was VERY pleased with it. It worked just as good as any glass cleaner I have used before. I will continue to make it.

Another reason I have decided to make my own cleaners is because of the harsh chemicals used in most of them. I came to the realization of this the other day. I have been using Swiffer Dust & Shine when I dusted. (it's similar to using Pledge). I actually had 4 bottles of this product thanks to some coupons I had that made them practically free. Every time I used them I noticed my eyes would feel all itchy, my throat would itch, my nose would itch. I felt like I had really bad allergies or something. The funny thing was when I sprayed it, it didn't spray all thru the air or anything so it's not like I was breathing it in. But just the smell of it caused this. Part of me thought it was my imagination. Then the other day it happened. I could hardly breathe for quite a few hours after I used it. The scent just stuck in the rooms. SO i went back thru and used a mild soap and water and re-cleaned everything I had used that on. Once the smell was gone, my symptoms were gone. Now I'm not saying that everyone will get that reaction from this product. I'm just saying it affected me that way so obviously there are harsh chemicals in it that is causing me to feel that way. So I threw it out. I'm planning on just using 1 cup olive oil mixed with 1 cup lemon juice as a furniture polish when I'm dusting.
So not only will I be saving my family money, I will also be using products that are more natural and not so harsh.
Here is another website that I looked at that gives a lot of good info about what is safe to mix and what's not. I found a lot of good info on that site as well as recipes for the cleaners. Another site that has good recipes is this one right here.
Oh and yesterday I was pretty proud of myself. I found a load of laundry in the dryer that had melted orange and blue crayon all over them! Luckily they were still wet when I noticed. I didn't know what to do. In a panic, I franticly threw the clothes back in wash machine. I threw in a cup of laundry detergent then grabbed the baking soda and poured 2 cups in. Then poured a cup of vinegar in as well. I was so worried about our clothes since that was a load of our best clothes. After about 5 minutes I went and checked the clothes. As I pulled out piece after piece of laundry I found that my solution had worked! There was not a spot of crayon on ANYTHING! WOW! I was so relieved. Now I think the biggest trick to that was that I found them BEFORE the crayon had dried on them. But still I had clean clothes!
I will be sure to update once I make more cleaners and let you all know how they work.