Homemade Windex and 409!

I have so many random cleaning supplies in my cupboards. Some were inherited from the widowed man we bought our house from and some were acquired during an overzealous cleaning frenzy during the nesting stage of my four pregnancies.

But I’ve got a lot.

Just sitting there.

Collecting dust.

And instead of putting those supplies to good use, I’ve just continued to buy my tried and true products. But, I just ran out of Windex and 409 all purpose cleaner and since today is grocery shopping day and I really want to get food to eat, not cleaning products, I went to the trusty internet to find out if I could make these things with the stuff I already have in my cupboard.

What I came up with was some recipes from a great little book by Karen Logan called Clean House, Clean Planet.

All purpose cleaner (like 409 or Fantastik)

16 oz trigger spray bottle
2 Tablespoons distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon of borax
Water (if you have hard water this needs to be distilled or purified water, otherwise use tap)
1/8 of a cup of mild liquid dish soap (ivory, palmolive….)

Mix the vinegar and borax with 1 cup of hot water until dissolved. Let the mixture cool and then poor into your spray bottle. Add enough water to the bottle leaving room for your dishwashing detergent. Then add the liquid soap. This cost me about 35 cents per bottle versus $3-$4 per bottle for the store brand.

Window Cleaner (like Windex)

Fill your spray bottle with club soda and spray on window or mirror. Wipe with wadded up newspaper for a streak free shine. The club soda cost me 99 cents and will probably fill my spray bottle 4 or 5 times. Homemade Windex cost me close to $4.

If you ever want to scent your cleaning supplies, you can pick up your favorite essential oil and use 15-20 drops per spray bottle. So if you just HAVE to have the lemon or orange or pine scent, you don’t have to give that up.

Frugal Spring Cleaning!

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Toward the end of each of my pregnancies I would get an overwhelming urge to sort, clean and organize. I was a crazed woman for the last few weeks before each baby’s birth as I purged my house of all excess clutter and scrubbed every nook and cranny until it passed the white glove test. I made honey-do lists as long as my arm and my husband quickly learned to convincingly pretend it was just as important to him that the baseboards were dust free and the contents of the freezer were all color coded. And even though my pregnancy days are over, that feeling still visits me every year to some extent. When it starts to get close to spring, I get the urge to clean away all the germs and clutter that have accumulated over the winter.

Now, spring cleaning doesn’t mean you have to spend hundreds of dollars on toxic cleaning supplies to get your house sparkling. In fact everything you need to clean your entire house is probably already lurking in your cupboards. You just need to know what it does and how to use it. Homemade cleaners are a great way to save money. A three to four dollar brand name store bought cleaner can be made for just pennies at home and cleans just as well if not better. And most of the time the ingredients in the homemade version are much healthier for your family and the environment. Do you have these items in your house already?

Ammonia – Disinfects and cuts grease

Rubbing Alcohol – disinfects

Distilled White Vinegar – effective for killing most mold, bacteria and germs

Borax – cleans, deodorizes, disinfects and softens water

Baking soda – cuts grease, gently scours and neutralizes odors

With these few household items that you probably already have on hand, you’ll be able to scrub away the winter grime and save a bundle in the process.

All Purpose Cleaner

Empty Trigger Spray Bottle

2 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon Borax

Water

1/8 cup of liquid dish soap

Pour the vinegar and borax into the spray bottle with a funnel. Follow with one cup of warm water and swish around until dissolved. Fill the rest of the way with water leaving about 1 inch of space at the top. Pour in the dish soap. You now have a cleaner that can cut kitchen grease, disinfect counter tops, and wipe out odors at about 10 cents per bottle.

Window Cleaner

¼ cup ammonia

1 cup rubbing alcohol

1 teaspoon liquid dish soap

6 ¾ cups water

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a spray bottle. Store extra in a jar for later use.

Soft Scrub

½ cup baking soda

Enough liquid dish soap to make a texture like frosting

Apply with a sponge and some elbow grease. Good on bathtubs because it doesn’t leave any grit behind.

Furniture Polish

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon vinegar or fresh lemon juice

Mix the ingredients in a jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces. Cover and store indefinitely.

Oven Cleaner

1 cup or more baking soda
Water
A squirt or two of liquid detergent

Sprinkle water generously over the bottom of the oven, then cover the grime with enough baking soda that the surface is totally white. Sprinkle some more water over the top. Let the mixture set overnight. You can easily wipe up the grease the next morning because the grime will have loosened. When you have cleaned up the worst of the mess, dab a bit of liquid detergent or soap on a sponge, and wash the remaining residue from the oven.

Getting Stuff Done

Today is the day where I complete all those kitchen chores I've been putting off....


Making a batch of homemade yogurt....

and a double batch of laundry soap...

and filling all my squirt bottles with homemade all-purpose cleaner.


Dinner is in the crockpot, getting ready to make a crustless cheesecake and feeling good about all that I've accomplished.

Trying NOT to focus on all that I didn't.....trying.....trying....