Homemade Green Cleaning Recipes

Step 8: Additional Green Cleaning Tips

Try to use cloth towels for nearly everything. If you can't afford towels, a good way to save money is to cut up old tshirts into rags. My mother and grandmother did this when I was growing up, and I think it's such a good idea! Just clean with them, rinse in hot water, and hang to dry. I tend to hang mine on the sides of my recycling bin.

Once you've used them a few times (or for a really gross mess) they're easily thrown in the washer. :)

Also, here are some other uses for the ingredients used to make the cleaners in this instructable:

• use water and baking soda to make a paste to clean especially nasty messes - a greasy stove top, a spill in the oven, your toilet bowl.
• vinegar and baking soda can be left overnight in the toilet bowl and then scrubbed in the morning - gets rid of stains and odors.
• baking soda sprinkled in littler boxes and mixed in helps control all those urine odors... I've been doing this for years with both plant based and clay litter.
• straight vinegar is awesome at getting rid of hard water stains in showers... simply put it in a spray bottle, spray down the walls and let them soak for a few minutes, and then grab a brush and get scrubbing! I cleaned my mom's shower this way - it was all orange streaks before and the normal cream color after! It takes a little elbow grease, but it so worth it to avoid something like CLR.
• you can use castile soap as a cheap but effective hand wash - just fill an old soap dispenser with half water and half soap. It might not suds up as much, but rest assured - it's still doing the job.

Anyone else have great homemade cleaning products? Tell us about them in the comments! :D

Comments

[redorchestra]

I make my own laundry detergent by mixing 1/2 a cup of borax and 1/2 a cup of washing soda in a gallon of water until it all dissolves, then melting 1 cup of grated sunlight bar pure soap into a medium pot of about 1 litre of water.
Mix the dissolved soap and borax/soda mixture together and let it sit for 12 hours.
Laundry soap for about 1 dollar.

[uberlazy]

Where do you find washing soda? I can't find it anywhere!

[rpguy]

Hi, how much would you use for a large load in a front load washer. What a great idea
Thanks

[redorchestra]

i use about a cup of my homemade soap for a load in a toploader. it is low foaming soap so it works great for front loaders though

[BluWriter]

Awesome instructable! Thanks so much for this. *-* <3 It's going to be really handy. :D

[iowa_girl]

These look great and I can't wait to try them. I wonder what you might suggest as a green cleaner and whitener for a porcelain kitchen sink? Or for getting hard water stains off the rim of the inside of a toilet. Any suggestions.

Thanks so much. Great job.

[jessyratfink]

Lemons should work on both of those - but it kinda depends how discolored the surfaces are.

You can just cut a lemon in half and rub them on the spots, or spray lemon juice on them. For the toilet, a lemon half dipped in baking soda should help. You can also do half and half borax and lemon juice and let it sit a bit before scrubbing.

If nothing else works, I'd try the pumice stone that rpatzman recommended. :P

I also did a little googling and there were a lot of people recommending making a paste out of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, but I've not tried that one.

[rpatzman]

Get a pumice stone for the toilet rust stains. A little elbow grease along with it and you have a sparkling toilet again. Pumice stones are a bit pricey at the hardware store, You can get the kind for calluses at your local drug store for a couple of bucks. Should be just as good for a porcelain sink, though I wouldn't recommend using the same one LOL.

[MsJaxFla]

Hey Jesse! I use most of these and they are GREAT. I don't add the essential oils though, mainly because I don't have access to them without going out of my area. I wanted to ask you if you had tried this one yet or if any of your followers had tried it YET? I have not, because I keep forgetting to get the lemons and/or oranges to use in it. And now my car battery died and have to get a new battery.

2 liter plastic bottle
100 grams of brown sugar
1 liter of water
300 grams (total) of lemon and orange scraps
Sharpie because you have to put a date on it and let it ferment for 3 months.
And I worry about it exploding as well, you need to loosen the lid ever so often, so not real sure about trying it yet. lol

Sheryll & Critters.

[jessyratfink]

Oh, wow, that sounds intense! I have not tried anything like that yet. I did do some googling, though, and they seem pretty popular. I saw a couple sites selling them for a ton of money - so they must work pretty well!

I think I'd like to give this a go. Next time I get a bottle big enough to make it in, I think I'll try. :)

[rpatzman]

Safe way to ferment the home made enzyme cleaner, is to put a balloon over the top of the bottle. Then it won't explode.

[MsJaxFla]

Thanks for reminding me, I meant to post that as an added thought and just got sidetracked and forgot. Like making homemade wine. And those vinyl gloves work as well. Just tie some twine around the neck of the bottle or use a rubber band. My ex boy friend always fussed about me saving stuff, but I reuse a lot of stuff. Partly because I was raised to reuse then recyle (my parents did this before it was fashionable) and partly cause I am rather broke all the time.

[jessyratfink]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for that - I was wondering the best way to do it!

[MsJaxFla]

Duh, the recipe is for Homemade Enzyme Cleaner. Sorry!

[DeliciousMystic]

A hint for cloth towels.. You can cut and hem old sheets, or curtains from a thrift store for napkins and towels... this can save you a ton of money. I haven't bought paper towels in several years, and I don't miss throwing away all the money I used to spend on them.

[MsJaxFla]

Same with me.

I just can not see spending the money. I do once in a blue moon (like once a year) buy paper for drying meat for cooking. And even then a nicely washed cloth towel, used just for that works great.

I found that men (sorry guys) I would have over as guests used to use paper towels like there was NO tomorrow, so I just quit buying them. They are forced to use a washable towel that way. lol