Green Cleaning

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day...

I just read Katie's post about the baking soda for Shampoo, and I am going to start tomorrow!  Super excited about it!

You all are amazing women, and probably already clean your whole house with baking soda and vinegar, but just in case someone out there is looking for some more green cleaning ideas, here are some things that have worked for me.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner-I have two that I use depending on what I have around the house.  


1) pour some baking soda in the toilet and scrub it around a little.  Then pour some Apple Cider Vinegar in the bowl to make the soda fizz up.  Do one more scrub-a-dub and flush.  Or...


2) Pour borax in the bowl and scrub with the brush.  Flush.  I usually end up using this one, because I'm lazy and it's one less step.  It works just as well as the other for me anyways.


Mopping the Floor-I  have a little pail for cleaning that I fill with water and then add a cup of regular vinegar.  Use a rag and mop your floor.  Does just as well as the clorox mop (what I used for years and years)


Best Shower Cleaner ever-I take a cereal bowl and pour a bunch of baking soda in it and then put enough liquid dish soap (for handwashing dishes) and stir it up to make a paste.  I use a big hand brush with it and scrub the shower down while I'm taking a shower and nothing gets my shower whiter.  I used to use a lot of yucky stuff just to get my shower clean and it didn't work as well.


Stainless Steel cleaner-mineral oil (aka baby oil).  Wipe it on and buff it off.


Multi-purpose cleaner (a la martha stewart)-Fill a squirt bottle with water and pour a few drops of dish soap in.  I use this to clean everything first and then if it doesn't work, I try something else.  It does a great job and is a great every day cleaner.  Just shake the bottle before each use.


There's plenty of laundry soap recipes, so I'll not post mine... it's pretty similar, although, thanks Katie for the idea to use the food processor to chop up the Fels Naptha.  I've been using a cheese grater, and it's the only part about making the soap that I have hated!


Also, we tried the dishwasher detergent 2 dishwashers ago and it pretty much ruined our machine.  It left major film, though we added vinegar, and then for the rest of its' life, it continued to leave a white film on everything.  I got online to troubleshoot and it seemed that about half of people loved it and had no problem, and the other half had the same problem as we did.  And I could never tell if it was because of the hard water or what?  Do any of you have tips for homemade dishwasher detergent?  


What else do you use to clean green that I should try?  Or do you have a better recipe than something I'm using?  I also would love any tips on homemade deodorant (I've been hesitant to try) or toothpaste or anything else you gals do!