Posts in category homemade cleaners

Homemade All-Purpose Scrub 2.0

Aug15th
2012 4 Comments Written by Jennifer

What on Earth am I going to do with all that refined salt in my kitchen?

In honor of Baby Step to Better Health # 1, I thought I would share my favorite all-purpose scrub so you could find a better use for all that toxic salt. Added bonus: You’ll quit singeing nose hairs and make your home that much safer by chucking a toxic cleaner out of your life.

I originally posted the recipe here, but I thought I would change it up a bit and share the “NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION”! I feel like an Irish Spring commercial. But seriously, give it a try. It’s really good stuff.

I actually use this scrub every week for cleaning water marks off of my Formica countertops. Those water stains drive me nuts.

Because you now have all of that refined salt just lying around polluting usable space, let’s give it something useful to do. READ MORE »

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Carpet Cleaning (non-toxic, allergy-friendly, and frugal)

Jun12th
2012 Written by Jennifer

My carpet needed a serious deep clean. With a 4 year old, a husband, and a cat, it gets its fair share of wear and tear. It is also old and secretly wants to be laid to rest, but hardwood floors aren’t anywhere near the top of the to-do list. I make do…grudgingly.

We used to get the carpet professionally cleaned once a year. Because of the chemicals, cost, and inconvenience, I held off this year until a better solution could be found. I could rent a cleaner from a local grocery store, but there’s still the cost and the chemical cleaners that those machines use. Plus, it’s anyone’s guess what was in the carpets of the other homes it cleaned.

Picky much? I know.

I am lucky enough to have thrifty in-laws who take ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ to heart. Here is their carpet cleaner:

I’m pretty sure it is older than I am. It is also missing one of the brushes and tilts drunkenly to one side. As soon as I find the brush and put it back on, it will look a little better and work a little faster.

The benefits? I know where this shampooer has been. I know that I can use my own cleaning concoctions in it without damage to the machine. I also know it’s FREE. And it worked pretty darn good.

I use a combination of 1:1 white vinegar and warm water. This shampooer has a reservoir to hold the cleaning solution and is squirted directly onto the carpet. Vinegar helps deodorize and clean the carpet without leaving a soap residue. Soap residues left after cleaning will quickly collect dirt and leave your carpet looking dirtier and dingier than it did before you cleaned it. If you do use a soap solution, running over the carpet a second time with vinegar water or plain water will help wash out some of the residue.

Carpet Cleaner Solution

1 cup warm water
1 cup white vinegar

Check with your manufacturer’s instructions to see if this solution is safe in your machine. Many people use their own regardless, but it is done at your own risk. You can also use a scrub brush and some good old-fashioned elbow grease in place of a machine. I plan to do this on my stairs in the coming weeks. Once the carpet is dry, vacuum the area to lift up any residual dirt and fluff the pile. Don’t forget to spot check it first to be sure that vinegar will not damage your carpet.

Look mom! I’m learning to be frugal.

This post is part of GAPS Friendly Fridays.

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detox, GAPS, GAPS Resources, money, primal diet / lifestyle, recipes, traditional foods / Weston A. Price (WAPF) Carpet cleaning, frugal cleaners, uses for vinegar

Homemade All-Purpose Scrub

Apr24th
2012 5 Comments Written by Jennifer

Why use expensive chemicals to clean?

We began to use natural cleaners and phase out harmful ones a few years ago. I always had a strong aversion to the harsh burning smell of cleaning chemicals and cover perfumes, and I can remember trying to hold my breath as much as possible while cleaning even as a teenager. Store-bought natural cleaners were an improvement but expensive and something about using them still bothered me. Enter homemade recipes stumbled upon from the Internet. This is what I was looking for! I’ve been hooked ever since. Here’s another part of the ‘wisdom of the grandmothers’ that I am sad to have missed out on. What did my great-great grandmothers use to clean and care for their homes? Not Comet or Scrubbing Bubbles, that’s for sure. What tips and tricks did they use to make their clothes cleaner, hair softer, and keep their wood furniture shining?

This scrub is based on a great-looking recipe from Family Naturally. She uses Borax, baking soda, salt, rubbing alcohol, and essential oils for her mix. I was a little hesitant about Borax, because 4 year old Katie should be able to safely use this cleanser. Scratch that part. With only Celtic sea salt in the house, I wasn’t about to use it all up on a cleaning scrub. That stuff’s expensive. Deciding to go my usual route, I modified the recipe. I seem to make adjustments to every recipe I come across to meet our needs…and because I can’t follow rules. I’ll probably end up whipping up a batch of Family Naturally’s amazingly powerful cleaner to keep around for heavy-duty cleaning jobs (like the stubborn dingy spot on my white vinyl floor that drives me crazy).

All Purpose Scrub

Ingredients

1 cup baking soda
1 Tablespoon salt (I ground coarse Celtic sea salt in my mortar and pestle for a finer consistency)
2-3 drops essential oil (rosemary, lavender, citrus, tea tree, etc.)

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a container with a lid and shake vigorously to combine. Scoop, pour, or shake out as needed.

I like to add a drop of Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap to the scrub. It’s great for cutting grease and getting rid of those pesky rings left by dishes on Formica counter tops. Those drive me batty. Family Naturally’s author mentioned that a shaker-top Parmesan cheese container is perfect for shaking these cleaners out. I love that idea. We don’t use products like that here at 20-Something Allergies, so I will probably use the next spice container that comes up empty. The little glass jars will be perfect for holding smaller amounts that I can tuck in cabinets around the house.

I cleaned my kitchen from top to bottom last weekend – including behind and under the stove and fridge – to test the scrub’s effectiveness, and it held up to every job I tackled. Katie chose rosemary for our essential oil, and it was nicely reminiscent of Pine Sol. This surely is not the super miracle cleaner that will let you throw out all other cleaners, but it works pretty darn good. The only thing that it wasn’t effective on is the ground in dirt on vinyl flooring I mentioned earlier. There is a heavy traffic spot that only scrubs clean with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. We no longer use them, so I live with a dingy spot that drives me crazy. If you have a tip for that one, I’m all ears!

Here’s a couple of examples of the scrub’s muscle (shown by some poorly taken pictures):

long-standing reminder of a black streak after several attempts to scrub it off (yes it really was that orange after I scrubbed the black off)

one application of all-purpose scrub: GONE

paint splatters from painting the laundry room about a year ago

one application of all-purpose scrub: GONE (along with some other scuff marks that I didn’t realize were there until I was nose deep in the floor)

I hope this will give you the incentive to try out some truly natural – and frugal! – cleaners in your house. Share with us how it worked and what jobs you tackled. Any changes to the recipe? Share them here too!

This post is part of Traditional Tuesdays, Fresh Bites Fridays.