DIY Mom Makes All-Purpose Cleaner #2

This was the homemade cleaner recipe that started it all for me.

Vinegar, distilled water, essential oil. Period.


This simple concoction replaced my: window and glass cleaner, kitchen antibacterial countertop spray, and my bathroom tub and tile spray.

It also blew my mind. How could I have never known before about something so simple, so easy to make, and so effective?

All-Purpose Cleaner #2 Recipe

For Kitchen Countertops, Mirrors and Glass, Bathroom Sinks, Tubs, Showers, Toilets (except the toilet bowl--I simply sprinkle borax in, let it sit for a little while, and scrub with toilet brush)

Supplies:
1. Spray bottle ($1 from dollar store or reuse one of your old bottles that
a commercially made cleaner came in)
2. Distilled water ($1.29 a gallon from pharmacy or grocery)
3. Distilled white vinegar ($.79 from discount grocery store)
4. Essential oil of your choice (an average of 6.99 or so for 1 fl. oz. from my local health food store; you can also find plenty of essential oil options online as well if you don't have a health food store handy. I'm thinking this essential oil sample set might be a nice Christmas gift idea Essential Oil Basic Sampler Set- 6/10 ml)

The recipe:
1. Pour 12 oz. distilled water, 4 oz. white vinegar, and 10-20 drops of essential oil (I like to use a fresh-smelling combo of Lemon
and Tea Tree Oil, which is known for its antibacterial properties) into the spray bottle.
2. Shake. (Shake before each use, since essential oils tend to separate from water when they sit.)
3. Use.
4. Smile.

Now, to evaluate. Does it meet the DIY Mom Mantra?

It must be affordable, it must be simple, it must be good.

$$$: About 47 cents per 16 ounces (compared to commercial kitchen, bathroom or glass cleaners, which average 19 to 22 cents per one ounce, or over $3 for 16 ounces.)

TIME: Less than 2 minutes to measure and mix.

PAYOFF: I'm getting significant savings over commercial cleaners, while also eliminating unnecessary and potentially toxic chemicals from my home. (I'm planning a follow-up post where I do an under-the-kitchen-sink audit of chemicals commonly found in cleaners and their effects.)

I've personally also been cleaning my sinks and countertops more since making this because I don't feel icky about the chemicals on my hands, and because it smells nice! I also feel like I can let my kids help clean because the spray is all-natural.

If anyone out there is reading, I'd love to hear from you. Who else uses a cleaner like this, and has it stood the test of time for you? What's your favorite use for this type of cleaner, or your favorite essential oil combination for scenting the solution?

The Swiffer Wars

DIY Mom and DIY Dad have a serious disagreement. DIY Mom wants to eliminate nasty toxic chemicals from the household cleaning regimen and replace them with natural, homemade products. DIY Dad is very skeptical as to whether or not:

1. DIY Mom will actually keep up with making her own products, and,

2. They really work as well as commercial cleaners.

I grant you, valid concerns both.

I've only been experimenting with homemade cleaners for a few weeks now, and I'll be posting more about them in the coming weeks--recipes, cost of homemade vs. store-bought, and effectiveness. Overall, I've been impressed. Impressed that baking soda and water (and some elbow grease) could clean out my horrific oven. Impressed that vinegar, distilled water, and essential oils cleans everything from my kitchen countertops to my sinks to my mirrors. Impressed that it's soooo quick and easy and cheap to mix these concoctions up myself. (I even love working with my growing shelf of supplies--natural soaps, essential oils, baking soda, borax, washing soda, and distilled water--like some fledgling domestic chemist.)

DIY Dad; however, remains skeptical. The main bone of contention: The Swiffer Wet Jet.

DIY Dad is passionate about his Swiffer Wet Jet. DIY Mom is just as passionate about getting rid of it. (Disclaimer: DIY Mom does realize she is a very lucky woman in that her husband actually cleans--quite a lot, in fact. She just wishes he'd come around on the natural cleaning front. Chemicals = bad, natural stuff = good.)

The Swiffer Wars started about a week ago. DIY Mom told DIY Dad the overwhelming chemical smell bothered her and to please not use it anymore. DIY Dad said there was no way in h$#$ he was going to clean the floors with a rag and bucket. DIY Dad went out on an emergency ice cream run. DIY Mom left the kids in bed with their stories and ran downstairs to go guerilla on the Swiffer bottle before DIY Dad got back. She hastily dug the plastic out of the Swiffer bottle opening with a kitchen knife, until she was able to empty out the toxic potion and replace it with her own "green" vinegar-and water-solution. She slapped a piece of duct tape on and put the bottle back in the Swiffer. It didn't leak, and seemed to work fine! Then, as if that weren't enough, she went and cut soft rag pieces to size,which fit perfectly and performed well in DIY Mom's test run. She was triumphant: Swiffer could stay, but had become both greener and a ton more cost-efficient.

DIY Dad found rigged-up Swiffer, and after about 2 minutes, proclaimed it a resounding failure. He furthermore claimed said rags didn't pick up dirt and the vinegar/water solution didn't clean. DIY Mom was not deterred. She said she would come up with something that worked.

So, last night, it was time to Swiffer again. DIY Mom had made up a nice batch for All-Purpose Cleaner #1 (see previous blog post) http://diy365.blogspot.com/2009/11/diy-mom-makes-all-purpose-cleaner-1.html for DIY Dad to demo.

It wasn't pretty. DIY Dad hated the cleaner. The bottle leaked (but a new piece of duct tape affixed more securely took care of that), the cleaner left streaks (alas, it did), and it didn't clean (DIY Mom still isn't sure about DIY Dad's anal-retentive "clean" standards, which would even make people who pass white-glove tests nervous.)

DIY Mom and Dad had words. It got even less pretty. DIY Mom emptied the bottle and refilled it with Murphy's Oil Soap and warm water. She Swiffered the whole kitchen with the solution and the store-bought pads, which DIY Dad still insisted on. She got lots of dirt on the pad, which, evidently, according to DIY Dad is the point of the whole exercise. DIY Dad still wasn't convinced. DIY Mom went upstairs to put the kids to bed. She can't be sure, but she thinks she heard the sounds of DIY Dad rewashing the entire tiled hallway and powder room, as well as the linoleum-floored kitchen with a rag and bucket.

DIY Mom hid from DIY Dad for the rest of the night.

DIY Mom Makes All-Purpose Cleaner #1

Do I have the time?

Do I have the money?

Is it really worth it?

When I’m looking at a new DIY/MYO project, these are the questions I ask myself.

I’m a busy mom of two—with another on the way—and, quite simply, I don’t have loads of extra time to spare. And, of course, as a single-income family, we don't have gobs of excess cash lying around either. I doubt any of us do.

That’s why I came up with this simple mantra:

It must be affordable, it must be simple, it must be good.

Today's the time to put the mantra into action. I'm making an all-purpose alkaline household cleaner from my new book on "green cleaning" (Annie Berthold-Bond's "Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living"). The recipe for the homemade cleaner is below.

I'll examine cost vs. time vs. effectiveness later in the post, but first, let's get down to the nuts and bolts.

Ingredients needed:

1. 1/2 teaspoon Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (as I'm mixing, 1/2 tsp. seemed so minuscule, so I made it 1 teaspoon)

2. 2 teaspoons 20-Mule Team Borax

3. 1/2 teaspoons liquid soap or detergent (I also made this 1 tsp., and I used Dr. Bronner's Almond Organic Liquid Castile Soap)

4. 2 cups hot water (nuked it in a 2-cup glass measuring cup for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes)

To Create:

1. Measure all ingredients directly into the hot water in the 2-cup measuring glass.

2. Stir.

3. Pour into a plastic spray bottle (a funnel is helpful here)and shake well. Shake before each use to ensure minerals are mixed in well.

This basic alkaline cleaner is good to tackle grease, neutralize odors, and remove stains and dirt. Use it for things like cleaning floors and wiping walls and baseboards (vs. a basic acidic cleaner, which usually includes an acidic agent like distilled white vinegar, and is good for glass and mirrors, sinks, bathrooms and the like).

I have to talk a sec about ingredients, before evaluating the success of the project, because, if you're like I was when I began learning about natural cleaning, you are going "huh?" on the washing soda and borax. Both are widely used in "green" cleaning. Washing soda is is 100% sodium carbonate and does not contain fragrance, surfactants or other additives. It is used as a laundry booster and household cleaner and is considered an environmentally acceptable alternative to other household products. Borax is a naturally occurring mineral that is mined and is also used as a natural laundry and multi-purpose household cleanser.

Most books and blogs I've read say you can find them both in the laundry aisle of your local grocery, but I have very little luck. I did find borax in my local grocery chain in Pittsburgh, Giant Eagle, but only in its larger "market district" store. I couldn't find washing soda, though, but discovered I can order it online through Ace Hardware and have it shipped to my local store for free. They have borax too, so when I need to restock, I'll be ordering both through Ace. It's a pretty painless process.

For liquid soap or detergent, I chose to use an organic liquid castile (olive oil) soap that's pretty widely available online and at health food stores, Dr. Bronner's. I love the almond scent of my Dr. Bronner's--it reminds me of the spritz cookies I enjoy making around the holidays--but there a variety of scents available in Dr. Bronner's liquid soaps (8, in fact, and almost all sound yummy to me: Peppermint, Rose, Lavendar, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Citrus, Unscented and Baby Mild).

But, enough about delectable organic soaps. Did this cleaner meet the DIY Mom Mantra? Remember: It must be affordable, it must be simple, it must be good.

$$$: Excuse the pun, but dirt-cheap: A whopping 13 cents per bottle.

TIME: Speedy. About 2 minutes to measure and mix.

PAYOFF: I saved a massive $3.55 a bottle over store-bought, and I feel much better about cleaning with natural products than toxic chemicals.

But, the million-dollar question is: How effective is this homemade concoction, compared to commercially made cleaners? Since I've just made this particular recipe for the first time, I'm going to be evaluating it for different cleaning tasks around my home. Stay posted for blog updates.

DIY Mom's Math Notes for Those Fiscally Inclined:

* Borax-$4.99 for 76-ounce box, .02 cents for 2 teaspoons (I figured out the cost per ounce and then divided that by 6, since there are 6 teaspoons per ounce and used that figure to come up with cost per tsp.)

*Super Washing Soda--$3.79 for 55 ounce box--.01 cents for 1 teaspoon

*Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap--$9.29 for 16 fl. oz., or .10 cents for 1 teaspoon

*Spray Bottle--free, reused bottle from another household cleaning product

Cost of 22 fl. oz. bottle of Clorox Daily Sanitizing Spray--$4.99, or .23 an ounce--$3.68 for 16 ounces

My 16 oz. homemade cleaner--.13 cents. for 16 ounces