Home made cleaners: safe, effective, and extremely cheap!!
Most household cleaners are harsh and toxic. They can become extremely poisonous when mixed together. There is a much better way! Commercial cleaners average about $3 per bottle, but you can make your own safe cleaners for $.03 to $.30 per bottle. You can get as fancy as you like with your home made cleaners, but “keep it simple” really does work!
Most of these ingredients are things you probably already have:
scouring powder – all you need is a sprinkle of salt or baking soda and an old sock or sponge. An empty spice bottles are good for air-tight storage and for dispensing the powder. I keep mine in an empty peanut butter jar and scoop it out with a little plastic spoon in the jar.
glass cleaner – Fill a spray bottle with water and add a half-teaspoon of white vinegar or rubbing alcohol.
disinfectant spray – Mix equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Vinegar is an excellent disinfectant and when it dries, there is no vinegar smell. Honest! We use vinegar and water to clean everything.
floor cleaner – Mop with 1 part vinegar to 2 parts warm water
wood floor cleaner – Mix freshly brewed black tea into warm water and mop. This leaves a nice shine on wood floors.
If you have vinegar and baking soda in your pantry, you are already set to refill your household cleaner containers at one-tenth the cost!
One great side-effect of using simple home made cleaners, is that you only need a fraction of the space to store them. No more cabinets crammed with cleaning supplies!