I really like homemade cleaners…they are usually better for your health, and often cheaper than the cleaners you buy at the store, no matter the brand. Below are a few of the cleaners that we’ve tried and liked!

{Window Cleaner}
Mix 1/4 cup of white vinegar with a quart of water

OR for a cleaner that removes dirt even faster

Mix 2 tablespoons of dish-washing liquid soap with 1 bottle of rubbing alchohol.

We have a window in front of the kitchen sink, and the spots that get caked on there are SO hard to get off! I sprayed straight alcohol on it (we didn’t have any liquid soap), let it set a few seconds, and it came off a lot easier than usual! One thing…don’t breathe in right after spraying the alcohol!  Bleh! The fumes will get in your nose.

As a side note, a  really great window tool that I LOVE using is one of those “squeegees”…it has a rubber edge that wipes the window clean, and cuts down on all the paper towels you have to use drying up the window cleaner you’ve just sprayed on. You still have to go back and do some touch up work on stubborn spots, but it is still a time saver!

{Fabric Softener}
Pour 1 cup of white vinegar into the softener cup.  We’ve had friends who have told us that their regular softener causes a build up on their dryer lint catcher, which can cause problems later on with your dryer. White vinegar helps reduce the static cling, and vinegar is also a great color-setter.

{Laundry Soap}
As of now, we use about 1/3 cup of borax and 1/4 cup of washing soda for a regular load of clothes. Borax does get kind of expensive, though, if you are using it all the time, so we’ve found a recipe that we are anxious to try!  It uses a lot less borax and lasts a whole lot longer!

1 Fels Naptha soap bar, grated

1 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax

Grate the soap bar into a small saucepan.  Cover with hot water.  Cook over med/low heat, stirring constantly, until the soap completely dissolves.  Put washing soda and borax in a 5 gallon bucket and pour in the hot melted soap.  Stir well, until all the powder is dissolved. Fill the buket to the top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover securely, and let set overnight. The next morning stir the mixture. To use, mix equal amounts of the soap concentrate and water and store in a smaller laundry soap container.  Shake before using.  Use 1 cup of the soap mixture per load for a top loading machine and only 1/3 of a cup for a front loading machine.

{Dishwasher Soap}
Fill the soap dispenser in your dishwasher with plain borax.

I wouldn’t recommend using this all the time, as we did for a while, because it doesn’t seem to be able to “cut it” when it comes to keeping the dishwasher clean when you only and always use borax.  Since we run our dishwasher 2-3 times a day, we use borax the first one or two times, and then always use a “healthy” or just a regular dishwashing soap at least once a day. Using vinegar will also do disinfect dishes and appliances.

{All Purpose Cleaners}
We read one time that if you spray vinegar and then peroxide (or vice versa, order doesn’t matter–just don’t mix the two in one bottle!) it will get rid of 99% of any germs and bacteria. One source I read said that white vinegar alone will kill 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of viruses!  We keep a bottle of each and clean our showers, sinks, and the outside of the toilets with this.

Happy cleaning!

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