anyone making their own cleaning products?

[alton]

One of my new year resolutions is to be a bit more enviromentally friendly. I'd like use more natural cleaning products but I don't know where to start. I'm a bit worried that if I start cleaning with lemons or whatever we'll all end up with gastroenteritis, but also worried that if I keep using detergents the kids will end up with god knows what!

[Alyantavid]

Sort of. I have a spray bottle of vinegar and water that I use to clean almost everything. Baking soda for scrubbing and that's really all I use.

If you don't want to use those, I really like the Method stuff as well.

[calebsmommy25]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

Sort of. I have a spray bottle of vinegar and water that I use to clean almost everything. Baking soda for scrubbing and that's really all I use.

If you don't want to use those, I really like the Method stuff as well.

Yep! This is what I use too. I do wipe handles, light switches, etc. down with hydrogen peroxide when anyone is sick. Method has some wipes out now that are great. They are a bit more expensive than the spray, but I use them for quick clean ups or when company is coming over. I don't really like the house to smell like straight up vinegar! Plus, it is the only cleaning product I buy, so I can justify it.

[motheringforme]

I use a bottle of vinegar, water, and tea tree oil. Amazingly, not one of us has died from e-coli. Use vinegar and water with a little bit of dish soap for glass. If I need to remove soap scum, I use either one of those green scrub pads or one of those metal looking kitchen scrubbies.

[Jaxinator]

Same here, 50/50 vinegar and water. Use it for most things, some baking soda or borax here and there.

My friend just gave me a recipe for an all-purpose cleaner:
For large (3 liters) quantity:

12 cups HOT water
8 tsp borax (almost 1/4 cup)
1 tsp liquid castile soap
1 cup vinegar
40 drops antimicrobial essential oil

I was thinking of going with it because I would really like to use something with a bit of scent in it. I'm thinking lavender.

[Drummer's Wife]

vingar and baking soda is pretty much all I need.

I do buy seventh generation and ecover products for dish soap, dish detergent, and toilet bowl cleaner.

I haven't used chemical cleaners for years...

[crl]

I have a spray bottle of vinegar and water. I use that to clean the bathrooms, along with baking soda and a squirt of castille soap for the sinks and tub/shower.

In the kitchen I use dish soap and hot water. When the stove top is grimy, I use baking soda and dish soap.

I'm not sure what you are using now, but most of the stuff that kills germs has to be left on for awhile to actually work and very few people follow those instructions. So, you may not be killing bacteria/viruses with conventional cleaners anyway.

You might find this link interesting: http://www.slate.com/id/2213259/

Catherine

[AustinMom]

I used to dust the coffee tables with vinegar when baby was smaller and touched them a lot and I didn't want him touching chemicals. Also, they are glass toped, and vinegar is AMAZING for cleaning glass, but it did make my house smell somewhat of a pickle jar. Now, I use peroxide. It's cheap, doesn't smell, kills germs, and I don't it all that much anyway.

[luv-my-boys]

I have a couple different things I use. My "main" cleaning spray is water with Tea Tree oil. TTO is anti bacterial/fugal and is a disenfectant plus it has the up side of not smelling like vinegar which I hate. I also make a paste of baking soda if I want to clean something say like the sink.

[alton]

Thanks for the feedback. Ideally I'd rather be cleaning with something that won't kill the little monkey if he gets hold of the bottle, but I'm not sure about vinegar. I know the spell is supposed to disappear but I think it's made the house smell like a chipper anytime I've used it!

I might try teatree oil - how much do you put in with water (I presume if I dilute it too much it won't be any good).

[Alyantavid]

I've never found the vinegar smell to last long at all. Even the first time I tried it, dh whined, but even he noticed it didn't last long.

[lucifugous]

I use half vinegar/ half water for wiping down everything in the kitchen, glass around the house, etc. If you have been using commercial glass solutions for a while, there will probably be streaking when you first switch- it might help to put a couple drops of soap in the spray bottle to cut through the waxy residue left by those cleaners. I have heard that castille soap also works in some of those foaming dispensers but haven't tried it. I keep that around but we go through it very slowly. Baking soda scrubs the glass cooktop (if a scrub is necessary before it gets wiped down with the vinegar), the sinks, tubs, even the walls. You can sprinkle it onto carpet, upholstery, a mattress, etc. and vacuum it off after it has sat for a little while soaking up any odors. It is gentle but effective. For the cooktop and walls, I sprinkle the soda, dampen a cloth and press into it with just one fingertip so it picks up a nice layer of the stuff and then you can apply that to any surface. For the sinks or tubs I would use something more scrubby but also just damp. I used to really like the Soft Scrub cleaner (which is free of phosphates, at least) and could never figure out how to make baking soda work the same way until I realized DUH you have to pre-mix it, if you just spray water on top of it you will never get the right consistency! While most things can go in a spray bottle, you do need to mix some cleaners in a bowl for each use- but it's never complicated. I still use murphy's oil soap for wood, not sure how eco-friendly that is, castille works but doesn't seem to condition the wood quite as well. I bet with a little olive oil added to the mix it would! Whichever one of those you use, it should go in a bowl with warm water. This is much better for your furniture than any of those sprays, they just build up gunk. You could add an essential oil (lemon or whatever is your favorite) to that or almost any other homemade cleaner recipe. For hardcore disinfecting, spray vinegar and hydrogen peroxide from separate spray bottles, then wipe them off. Studies have shown this to be more effective against viruses and bacteria than bleach or any other commercial cleaning product (though slightly less convenient than something in a single bottle)- you can look it up!! So... those are several very simple things you can try with ingredients you might already have or could certainly use for other purposes. If that works out for a couple months and you want to take it a step further, you could even start mixing your own detergents for the clothes washer & the dish washer!

[alton]

lucifugous - wow! thanks for that detailed information. Loads of ideas to get me started.

Alyantavid - I think I might try using some vinegar solutions and say nothing to see if the smell is really that bad, or it is the thought of vinegar that sets of the complaining

[mysticmomma]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

Sort of. I have a spray bottle of vinegar and water that I use to clean almost everything. Baking soda for scrubbing and that's really all I use.

If you don't want to use those, I really like the Method stuff as well.

Yeah, me too. I do like ecover's toilet scrub.

[Dingletwitz]

The cleaning products I have in the house: dr. bronners, arm and hammer washing soda, bar soap, baking soda, cornstarch, vinegar, olive oil, peroxide and very sparingly I have bleach and ammonia--I use the bleach in the sinks and tubs as we have a rental and there is just no other way I've found to whiten them that doesn't involve a serious backache. The ammonia I use with vinegar and baking soda as a wall-wash about once a year.. nothing has ever matched it for wall goo. oh, and admittedly I use oven cleaner once in a while on awful pot bottoms or drip pans--again because I haven't found anything that matches yet--but I'd be open to alternatives!
I've been more concerned with limiting purchases of containers and packaging/saving $, honestly, not as much with harmful effects of the cleaners, but that is in the works and seems to come naturally with homemade stuff. My dream someday is to have a gray water system--so anything that would kill plants would be out. So far, homemade laundry soap has been the best godsend.
Good luck in your quest!

[crl]

I honestly don't mind the smell of vinegar so I'm not the best judge. DH hates it and complained at first. But I started cleaning while he's at work and he never says anything anymore. It seems to me that the smell is gone within an hour or two of cleaning. (I do run bathroom fans while cleaning and for a while after and if it's not horridly cold, I open windows. But I would do that for commercial cleaners too as I don't care for that smell.) Vinegar is really cheap so the cost-savings argument also helps counter the I hate the smell argument around here.

Catherine

[sunanthem]

Originally Posted by alton

Thanks for the feedback. Ideally I'd rather be cleaning with something that won't kill the little monkey if he gets hold of the bottle, but I'm not sure about vinegar. I know the spell is supposed to disappear but I think it's made the house smell like a chipper anytime I've used it!

I might try teatree oil - how much do you put in with water (I presume if I dilute it too much it won't be any good).

Whenever you use essential oils for anything, always use very very little. You will only need a few drops, especially if you are only using a spray bottle. Essential oil is very, very, concentrated, powerful stuff.. I doubt you would be able to dilute it too much.. even a drop would still have an effect on water/vinegar.