Homemade Cleaners That Work & Save You Money

Everyone has to clean their home. That is one chore that none of us can avoid! There is no need to buy expensive and toxic cleaners to accomplish this task though. With these inexpensive and easy to find products, you can clean anything in your house.

I have been making my own laundry soap for several years now, and it has saved me a bundle! I make up a 5 gallon bucket of detergent concentrate twice a year. That is for a family of seven, doing more tubs of laundry than I care to count a week, in my front-loading machine. I initially found this recipe in A Love That Multiplies: An Up-Close View of How They Make it Work by Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar. That one recipe is what got me started. This year I made it my goal to make all my own cleaners and now I am happy to say that I no longer use any commercially prepared products! Yeah for me!

My ingredients and cost:
  Borax (76 oz) - $3.97
  Washing Soda (55 oz) - $3.24
  Baking Soda (4 lbs) - $2.24
  White Vinegar (1 gal) - $2.38
  Ammonia (64 oz) - $1.00
  Isopropyl Alcohol (16 oz) - $1.00
  Hydrogen Peroxide (32 oz) - $1.00
  Laundry Bar (5.5 oz) - $0.97

Total Cost = $15.80

These ingredients last a long time! For example, I purchased my Borax and Washing Soda 3 yrs ago (for less than it costs now). I have made 7 batches of laundry soap and still have a lot left. I did have to buy a laundry bar each time so, I have spent $14.00 for 3 1/2 years worth of laundry soap. This is just one example of how great a savings you can see making it yourself!

So, with no further ado, here are the recipes that I use. There are lots of them out there on the net so if one of these doesn't appeal to you, you have many other options. Let's get started!

Homemade Laundry Soap Concentrate
For front-loading machines use 1/3c per load, for top-loading 1c per load

Ingredients:
1 Fels Naptha soap bar, grated
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax

Directions:
Grate the soap bar in a small saucepan. Cover with hot tap water. Cook over Medium-Low, stirring continually, until soap is completely dissolved.

Put washing soda and borax in a 5 gallon bucket. Pour in the hot, melted soap mixture. Stir well until powder is dissolved.

Fill the bucket to the top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover securely, and let set overnight. (You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil at this point if you want your soap scented.)

In the morning, stir the mixture. Mix equal amounts of soap concentrate and water in a smaller laundry detergent dispenser or container. Shake gently before each use.

{tips: 1- When melting soap do not let it get too hot or stir too vigorously or it will foam up, making it difficult to melt. 2- I just reach in and stir with my hand in the morning. I find it easier to break up the gel. 3- I use White Vinegar or Hydrogen Peroxide instead of Bleach. I no longer keep Bleach in my home.}


Dishwasher Detergent Powder
1 Tbsp per load

Ingredients:
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
1/2 cup Kosher Salt

Directions:
Mix together all ingredients and store in an airtight container or jar.

*I also use White Vinegar in my rinse aid dispenser and my dishes come out beautiful every time! No spots, streaks or residue even though I have hard well water.


Floor Cleaner
For tile, laminate or vinyl floors.

Ingredients:
1 cup White Vinegar
Warm water

Directions:
Pour vinegar into a 1 gallon jug (I use a clean repurposed milk jug). Fill the remainder with warm water and shake to mix.

*This is what I use in my stick mops refillable dispenser. You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil if desired.


All Purpose Cleaner
For general cleaning of Kitchen, Bathroom and other surfaces.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp White Vinegar
1 tsp Borax
a few drops of liquid dish soap
hot water

Directions:
In a clean 16oz spray bottle, mix white vinegar, borax, and a some hot water until borax is dissolved. Add your liquid dish soap and fill the spray bottle up the rest of the way with hot water. Shake gently to mix. You may add your favorite essential oil if desired.


Window Cleaner

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp Ammonia
1 Tbsp White Vinegar
Water

Directions:
Combine ammonia & vinegar in a 16oz spray bottle. Fill the remainder of the bottle with water. Use on windows and mirrors with a microfiber cloth.


Scouring Powder

Baking Soda! Simple as that!

*** Never combine Bleach with Ammonia or Vinegar (or any other acid) as it will produce toxic fumes!!! ***

As you can see I have been busy! I love using these cleaning products that I make myself though. I just feel like my house is cleaner! No more toxic residues on everything. I absolutely love it!!! I know you will too. (The only recipe that I didn't include was liquid dish soap. I am still tweaking that one. I'll post it once I decide what works best for me.)
   
Now, just a few words on storage and containers. I use repurposed containers when I can (coffee cans, milk jugs, mason jars, old laundry detergent bottles, etc...). When I do purchase containers I visit my local Dollar Store. That way I pay $1.00 for a spray bottle instead of $3.00 at a big box store. (I can also get microfiber cloths there as well some of my ingredients.) Don't pay more than you have to!

As you can see, I like to label my cleaners as well as write the recipe on the bottle. That way I have it right there when I need to make it again. The skull and cross-bones should amuse my family (we are a little warped like that). I use these same 3Qt containers (from the $ store) in the kitchen to store bulk flour and sugar. Didn't want anyone to be confused. :)

About Essential oils. Several oils have anti-bacterial properties and are a good addition to your cleaners. Tea Tree Oil, Lavender and Lemon are just a couple of the more common ones. Not only will they add more germ killing power to your cleaners, your home will smell amazing! I get my essential oils at Mountain Rose Herbs . 

What is your favorite homemade cleaning recipe?

 

What scents do you like best?

 

Where do you get your supplies?

 

I would love to hear from you so feel free to comment. Have a great day and I'll talk to you soon. God Bless!

 

 

Tina :)

DIY Stick Mop Cleaning Pads

Welcome again to MAKE IT MONDAY! I trust you had a restful weekend and are ready to jump into another fun sustainable home project! I am having so much fun here on the homestead crafting ways to make our lives better. I hope you are enjoying it so far.

Todays project as you can see is making reusable cleaning pads for my new stick mop. A little background info before we start though.

I have used a bucket and mop for cleaning my floors forever. I even used a Swiffer for quick clean ups for a while. The refill pads can get expensive though if you use it a lot. Since I have switched to natural cleaning products I was looking for a way to save on my ingredients while cleaning as well. I hated to mix up my cleaner in the bucket and soon after have to dump it and remix when the water got dirty. So, I decided to look into stick mops with a reservoir for my cleaning solution.

I visited my local Walmart to see what was available. There are a lot of different models out there now. All stick mops are not created equal though! Here is a general review of what I found and my impressions.

Some models serve as a vacuum or steamer and mop together. I have a vacuum, broom and steam cleaner so I don't need those features. Plus, most used batteries or had to be plugged in to power the unit. Not interested!

Many do not have a refillable cleaning solution reservoir. They want you to buy their pre-packaged chemicals. Now I have seen pins on Pinterest where people have figured out ways to refill those bottles but for me that is too much work.

Others are your basic stick mop with refillable reservoirs and have various sized heads and cleaning pads. I eliminated those with hard plastic heads and sharp corners. My concern was scratching walls and baseboards. Next I ruled out those with Velcro attached cleaning clothes. I knew that I would be making my own replacements (the refills they sell can be pricey) and I have found in the past that after a while, Velcro seems to not want to stay attached.

So, what did I end up with? A Dirt Devil Spray+Mop with Swipes. It has an easily refillable reservoir which holds a decent amount of my homemade cleaner, swivel head which is not to large to get around toilets and narrow spaces and rubber ends on the head which flexible enough not to mar any walls, furniture or baseboards. Not to mention there was an attached $3.00 off coupon attached by the manufacturer. I just couldn't pass it up. It's perfect! Now, on to our project.

I went to my local dollar store and bought a couple of microfiber cleaning cloths. I chose the ones with mesh on the back because I thought it would lend a little more durability.

Now the refill pads you buy have a foam core. I needed an absorbent layer. I happened to have a brand new package of chamois cloths at the house that had been given to my hubby as a gift. FREE! The only other thing required was elastic strapping to hold it in place on the mop. I happened to have some (yes I'm a pack rat) which was cut off an adjustable medical belt. Perfect for what I needed! I would imagine that any absorbent fabric would do. Terry cloth, thin sponge material or layers of flannel would work as well. Right now JoAnn Fabrics has flannel on sale for 60% off. Solids are $2.40 a yard. Great deal if you would like to use that! Whatever you choose, all of your materials for this project can be purchased at your local craft or sewing store.

I first traced the pad which came with the mop on my chamois cloth and cut them out.

Next, pin and sew the elastic to the chamois. I used a simple straight stich on my machine. Make sure you stich around the whole end of the cloth so it holds better to the mop.

Now pin your chamois piece with elastic sewn on to your microfiber cloth with wrong sides together. Make sure that the elastic is facing up and the microfiber down. (You can see the stitching around the end of the elastic in this pic)

I know that not everyone has a serger, so I decided to sew this with a regular machine. I did a satin stich around the entire edge. I chose to sew before I cut the microfiber to make the edges easier to handle. This is what it looks like.

Cut around your cloth making sure not to cut your stitching. I then sewed three lines of straight stich down the center to hold everything in place. I didn't measure anything, I just eyeballed it. Just don't sew over your elastic.

You have now made your own stick mop replacement cloths! Yeah for you!

I have found that I prefer my homemade ones to the one that came with the mop. I made up several so when I'm mopping, when they get dirty I either switch it out or rinse it out and keep going. Throw in the wash and lay flat or hang to dry. So easy!

I love being able to use my own cleaning solutions with ease in my home without the waste. I know it probably sounds silly, but I can't help smiling when I mop now knowing that I made these and my cleaner myself! I hope that this inspires you to give it a try. Mopping can be fun!

Have a blessed day and I'll see you soon.

Tina:)

FRIDAY!!!

Every week we look forward to Friday. I'm sure a lot of you do too. It's the end of the work week and the weekend finally arrives. For us, Friday night is Family Night. We play games, watch movies and stay up late spending time together. It is so much fun! It has been a wonderful tool to keep our family closely bonded. We love to spend that time together.

One of my boys favorite things about Friday Family Night is dinner. Pancakes! They love pancakes, so when we started having Family Nights last fall they decided that we should have pancakes every Friday. We don't just have regular pancakes though. We try to come up with different pancake creations each week. We add all kinds of things to our batter, peanut butter, chocolate chips, different fruits, cinnamon, even bacon and many other things. So far they have all been successful (thank goodness) and it makes it really fun to try and come up with original concoctions each week.

So, in honor of Family Night I thought that I would share my "Master Pancake Recipe". I originally got this from a the book Food from an American Farm
by Janeen A Starlin. It has lots of different recipes that I have used over the years. This by far has been the most used and I have tweaked it a bit but I will list it as published here today.

Master Pancake Recipe

Ingredients:
  2 Eggs
  2 cups Flour
  2 Tbsp Sugar
  2 Tbsp Baking Powder
  1 tsp Salt
  1 1/2 cups Milk
  4 Tbsp Butter (melted) or Vegetable Oil
  1 to 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil for greasing pan

Instructions:
  In small mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk and butter or oil; beat until smooth. Heat pan until very hot. Lightly grease with oil and pour 1/3 cup batter into pan. Cook until puffed and dry on edges; flip over and cook until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Makes 12 - 6" pancakes

I have found that these freeze well so you can make these ahead and reheat at breakfast time. For fluffiest pancakes, use the batter when you make it. I use my Presto 07037 Jumbo Cool Touch Electric Griddle, Black
to cook these (link is to the latest model as mine is pretty old) and use a temp of between 350 & 375 degrees. If you get the book there is also an recipe for Old Fashioned Griddle Cake Syrup too that is amazing.

I hope that you enjoy the pancakes and have a great weekend. If you don't have a family time of your own, start one. We only have our kids for a short while...enjoy them! You will never be sorry.

Tina

Cinderella?

It is such a beautiful day! It is sunny and about 33 degrees here right now. There was a time when 33 degrees would make me shiver, but now it is truly welcome! I feel energized today and know I will get a lot accomplished!

Yesterday was a pretty productive day. As I stood in my bathroom yesterday afternoon, I looked down at the tile floor and thought, YUCK! Now don't get me wrong, I am not a slacker housewife. The floor has been swept and mopped, but it is a textured tile floor with wide grout lines. I honestly don't think that anyone has given it a good scrub since the house was built about seven years ago.

We have lived in our home for 4mos now. When we first looked at it I thought "Oh, what beautiful tile work". You see the builders must have LOVED tile (or got a really great deal on it) because it is everywhere in the house. Our home is about 3200 sq ft and I would say that 2/3 of it is done in tile and stone. Floors, countertops, backsplashes, fireplaces and of course bathrooms have all different kinds of tile and stone. Only the bedrooms and office do not have tile. Of course I wasn't thinking that I was the one who would have to scrub all that beautiful tile. Silly me!

Well, since we moved in I have been little by little scrubbing grout throughout the home. After all, I can't have people over and see a dirty house! Since no one but my family even sees my master bathroom it has been on the back burner, till now. Yesterday I decided to do something about it. After all, my bathroom is my sanctuary. My family all know that if mom is in the bathroom, unless you are bleeding, have broken a bone or the house is on fire...do not disturb! LOVE my bubble baths. Besides, I do my best thinking in the bathroom!

I'm a little embarrassed to show you my before photo, but here it is.

Yucky isn't it. So, time to get down and dirty and make it sparkle!

  Time for a housewives best friend....White Vinegar & Baking soda!

Some of you may still be buying commercial cleaning products. Until we moved here, I was too (although I have made my own laundry soap for several years now). After cleaning 3200 sq ft with those "cleaners" my eyes burned, my hands were painfully dry and cracked and I couldn't breath! That certainly opened my eyes to what I was exposing myself and my family to. I vowed NO MORE! If you aren't convinced, read the back of the labels of your cleaning products. It is enlightening.

Women have been cleaning house FOREVER without the use of chemicals. Since I have switched to making my own cleaning products, I honestly think that my house is cleaner! I love it! Plus, as an added bonus, it is much cheaper. 

Now there are all sorts of web sites and blogs that have recipes for natural homemade cleaning products. One of my favorites is www.eartheasy.com. There is an article on non-toxic home cleaning solutions with tons of recipes. I have tried several grout cleaning recipes and find that good old fashioned vinegar and baking soda works best for me. I don't measure my ingredients but I would guesstimate that I use one part soda to two parts vinegar. For really stubborn spots you can through in a bit of table salt for extra scrubbing power. Although it is not pictured, I did grab my oval scrub brush too. (It would have taken forever with a grout scrubber and toothbrush!)

So, I began scrubbing. Isn't it funny the things that pop in your head when you're working? I began to picture the mice from Disney's "Cinderella" singing. "Cinderella, Cinderella, night & day it's Cinderella..." (Those of you who are Disney fans know the rest.) I almost expected one of my cats to come pouncing through with muddy paws so I'd have to start over!

Then I began to wonder how Snow White got all of those woodland creatures to help her clean the house. That sure would come in handy! I'm sure you can tell that I have 5 children. Most  Disney movies I can recite by heart, songs and all!

 

Halfway finished! Looks way better already. You don't really realize how dirty something really is until this point.

 

About this time I am beginning to ask myself if there was an easier way to do this! I started to ponder the question when something that Jesus said came to mind. When the Disciples asked Him why they couldn't cast out a demon after He was able to, He said that "this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." (You can find the story in Matt 17:14-21) I thought, this floor can't be cleaned except by getting on my knees and scrubbing! Oh well, I'm to do everything as if to God. Would I get down and scrub Jesus' floors? You bet I would! Since I was already on my knees, I thanked Him for providing such a beautiful home for us to live in!

 

Well, after several hours of scrubbing every nook and cranny of my tile and cleaning the rest of the bathroom, I was done! My body ached but as I looked around I was quite pleased with the result. My sanctuary was spotless and beautiful. Hopefully, it stays that way for a while. I will have to add hand scrubbing floors to my quarterly list of chores though.

 



 

Now, since it is such a nice day, I guess I'll move on to the next project! What are your plans for today?

 

Have a great day!

Tina :)

 

   

DIY Fabric Napkins

Happy Monday everyone! I trust that you all had a wonderful Valentines weekend. Today is President's Day so most kids are out of school, so have a fun day today.

Saturdays are my "play day" right now. I take a break from the everyday stuff (cleaning, laundry, homeschool, shopping, etc...) that I do during the week and do something fun for me. It could be crafting or baking, spinning or sewing, making products for my online shops, or whatever floats my boat on that particular day. This last Saturday, I decided to sew some fabric napkins. I am working towards eliminating all the paper products in my home. I thought that this would be a good and simple place to start.

So, welcome to Make it Monday! I will try to post a new DIY project each Monday. It could be anything from sewing projects, cooking, woodworking, gardening, or whatever I am currently working on. It should be fun so check back for the latest and greatest on Mondays. This week will be my fabric napkins project.


First, here are some stats on paper napkins for you to think about. I did the math as to how much I could save a year by not buying paper napkins. If my family of 4 used one napkin at each meal, (I won't count snacks) that is 12 a day. Multiply that by 365 you get 4,380 paper napkins a year. I went online to Walmart.com and a 200 count package of Bounty paper napkins is $2.97. With tax that's $3.15. Ok, 4,380 divided by 200 is 21.9 which we are going to round up to 22. I will add one additional package for guests, parties, holidays to make it 23. $3.15 x 23 = $72.45. Now that is a very conservative number as it doesn't allow for messy meals and the actual cost of birthday napkins and such. Not a huge savings but every little bit counts.

A little more food for thought...

  *Paper napkins consume natural resources and pollute landfills.

  *Napkins bleached with chlorine may contain dioxins and other toxins.

  *Paper napkins are thin, tear easily, may not absorb well and may be abrasive to the skin.

With all that in mind, let's get started on our, better than paper, fabric napkins.

I happened to have a couple of tablecloths for a round table, that I no longer have, in the closet. They are 100% cotton so I figured they would be perfect for my napkins. The bonus is that one was a gift (still new in the package) and the other a hand-me-down so both were free. SCORE!

I love to repurpose things whenever I can. It's always better to give something a new life instead of throwing or giving it away. I like to get every last bit of life out of everything I have. It is not only a great thing to do but has saved me a ton of money over the years. Now, use whatever you have handy. I often have top sheets that are still in good shape after the fitted sheet is worn out. I like to use those for projects. If you don't have anything to repurpose you can always purchase fabric at your local fabric store. Just make sure it's on sale!

I did a quick wash and press of my tablecloths (since one was new) and folded them in half to do some measurements. Now, here is where you'll have to do your own math. Depending on what you are using you will have to decide how large and how many napkins you can get out of your fabric. "Fancy" napkins can be as large as 21" square. That is kind of big for everyday family use so, I decided to make mine 12" square. It seemed a good size for us and gave me the most use of my materials.

After deciding on my measurements, I folded the cloth again so that I could cut my 12" strips with my rotary cutter. If you don't have one, you can usually buy a starter set at your local fabric or craft store, or simply mark and cut with shears.

I then cut my squares from my strips using my quilting square as a guide. This gave me 12 squares. I had a chunk left, and since I hate to waste anything, I cut 4 additional 6x9 inch mini napkins. (Who says napkins have to be square!) All together that gives me 16 napkins.

Now, there are a couple of different ways that you can finish off the edges of your napkins. I chose the quick and easy serger. (Another hand-me-down, thank you Grandma Peggy!) You could also fold over 1/4", press, fold over again, and straight stitch the edge with a regular sewing machine or by hand. Or, if you have a rolled hem foot for your machine (serger or regular machine) you could used that. Whatever you have access to and works best for you. 

Some fabric napkins that I have seen surged have rounded corners so that you can go all the way around without stopping. Granted that is easier and you can do it that way if you like. But, I am a purist at heart (and a little OCD) and prefer nice square corners. They are a little more work but it makes me happy, and that's what it's all about. Right?!


Well, whatever your finishing method...you're finished! I am really pleased with how they turned out. All together I was able to make 32 fabric napkins out of two table clothes. I think that my family will enjoy using them for years to come and this will be one less paper product in my home. Yeah!!!

I hope that you enjoyed this project. Check back next week for my next Make it Monday. Since this has been my very first tutorial, please feel free to comment if there is something unclear or that I could improve on. Also, if there is a DIY you would like, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for visiting. See you soon!
Tina

Happy Valentines Day

Christmas 2013

Well, hello world!

This is my first post on my blog and I am so excited! There is so much that I want to say and share with all of you.

I am new to this whole blogging thing personally, although I have followed many wonderful blogs (that I will share with you later) over the years. It was suggested to me though that I start my own to share some of my thoughts and adventures, so here I am. You see, I love to craft, sew, bake, can and a million other things. It fills my life with joy and I want to show you how you can do it too.

Since recently moving to the country this last fall, I have been very busy doing all the things that I love to turn our new "homestead" into a home. This is what I'll be writing about. Our adventures (as well as many misadventures I'm sure) in homesteading. If you have read my "about me" page then you will know that I am a beginner in this whole living in the country thing. I think that my family and I have what it takes to make it work for us though. We are certainly enjoying it so far.

View of our corral and neighboring farm from my bedroom window

Our goals for the Stowers Homestead are...
  *Be self-sufficient
  *Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse 
  *Live a more healthful life
  *Have lots of fun and create strong bonds and lifelong memories as a family!

Will we succeed or will we fail... that remains to be seen. With faith, hard work and happy hearts I think that we will! Either way, I hope that you will enjoy "My Homestead Journey". I know we will!

Tina