Homemade Cleaning Products

[laraemily]

moredetails expressed interest learning more about  my homemade cleaning products. Here's what I do:

Some of you expressed an interest in the homemade cleaning supplies I use. Here are my current recipes. I got these from the book Green Up Your Clean Up by Jill Potvin Schoff. I really like using microfiber cloths for scrubbing and wiping things. If you have

Comments

[moredetails]

Thank you! I love the club soda for mirrors tip.. I'll have to try that one for sure.

I have never heard of castile soap and don't know where one might purchase it. Or essential oils, for that matter.

[laraemily]

I get my castile soap and essential oils (tea tree or lemon work best for cleaning products) online from Vitacost. I use the Dr. Bronners brand. You can get it at Whole Foods or Amazon, but Vitacost has the best price. It's a very concentrated soap, so a little goes a long way.

[moredetails]

Oh okay - thank you!

[my_everafter]

If you're interested here is another cleaning kit that is very similar that doesn't require castile soap. I love it and it works really well for me and it is sooooo easy to put together. http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html

I like how it gives you all the ingredients on the first page and then tells you how to make all the various cleaners in the following pages. It's just laid out really well. I've tried a lot of stuff and this works the best for me so far. :)

[mrs617]

A friend and I were talking about homemade cleaning products the other day and one question we had was, is it really cheaper? We were discussing homemade laundry soap in particular.

And I'm with Jessica, what is castile soap?

[laraemily]

I THINK it is. I've not had a chance to really crunch the numbers though. However, I started making my own cleaning products over a year ago and I've spent $50-$75 in a year for all my cleaning AND laundry supplies. And part of that was the initial start up. Things like essential oil, borax and castile soap can go a long way.

Castile soap is a natural soap made from plants. If you get the liquid castile soap, it's usually very concentrated and a little goes a long way.

[kimana83]

If you aren't a couponer (as in, to you coupon is both a noun AND a verb, as it is to me) then making your own will definitely save you money. If you are a couponer, the cost is usually about the same for making your own vs. buying from the store. My favorite couponing blog recently did a price comparison and for lots of things homemade "won" the price war: http://www.southernsavers.com/2010/05/homemade-vs-couponing-household-supplies/

[eattheolives]

Where do you buy your castile soap?

[laraemily]

I get my castile soap online from Vitacost. I use the Dr. Bronners brand. You can get it at Whole Foods or Amazon, but Vitacost has the best price.

[my_everafter]

I love my steam mop too!

[my_everafter]

This is very similar to the cleaning kit I make. It is so easy and it works REALLY well!
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html

However, I like this one particularly because I have the WORST luck with castile soap. I just haven't found it very useful for much of anything. (And I've tried it for so many things!) It could be how it reacts with our water, but even diluted, I can't stand the stuff! It seems to leave a coating on everything no matter how diluted and I don't even like the way it feels on my skin- like it'll never ever rinse away. It's so strange. So I avoid it.