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!

Laundry Links

Here are the recipes I've used for homemade laundry soap:

• This link has a list of 10 or so recipes and a link to a pretty good FAQ for homemade laundry soap. I've been using recipe #9 lately. I'm not sure yet if it's quite as cheap as the next link, because I don't know for sure how long it will last....(but for sure a while) but I do feel like it cleans better.
  
• This link is the first liquid recipe I tried. Definitely very cheap. The bucket lasted me about 6 months and cost me about $11 to make. It seriously calculated out to cost me less than a penny per load. I used to buy a box of powder soap at the grocery store that cost that much and only lasted me 3-4 weeks.

A few things about homemade laundry soap:

• It's definitely better on your skin. I've never used the store-bought brands that are recommended for sensitive skin, but I did always have to run an extra rinse or my kids would have a rash. I don't have to do that with homemade.
• The softer the water, the better it cleans. I think this is why I like the recipe in the first link better. It has more borax compared to everything else, which is supposed to help soften the water.
• You can't use chlorine bleach with the recipes I've tried or it will dull and gray any whites. But, if the source I got this from is correct, Washing Soda is chemically the same thing as Oxi-Clean, so you're covered.
  
• You have to be more on top of stain treating. With the store-bought soap I could throw anything in the laundry basket, leave it there for a week, and use a little Spray 'n Wash right before I tossed it in to wash. Now I have to spray everything as I toss it into the basket.
• If you're making a powder soap, it's best to use a food processor to get the soap as fine as possible, to help it dissolve better in the water. Especially if you use a cold water wash, or have hard water. If it doesn't dissolve it leaves little greasy looking marks on your clothes, (they'll come out though). Plus it's tons faster. I used my food processor to pulverize 7 bars of Fels Naptha in about 2 minutes. (Use the grating attachment first, then put the chopping blade in to make it fine.) It would have taken FOREVER to grate that by hand.
• Using vinegar instead of fabric softener is not only cheaper, but helps rinse your clothes better if you have hard water. Use 1/2 c. per load.
• Not that I'm lucky enough to have an HE machine, but if you are, everything I've read says that homemade detergents are safe to use. The whole issue is the suds and these recipes are non-sudsing.
  

Sorry, this post is getting really long.....but one more thing! If you buy these ingredients in bulk, there are more uses for them. You can use the washing soda and borax (or I've seen baking soda and borax) in equal parts, (like 1 c. each) and mix together to make dishwasher detergent. Use 1-2 T. per load. Again, if you have hard water you'll want to use 1/2 c. of vinegar in the rinse aid cup.

And, I've been using the baking soda to wash my hair. LOVE it! Read more here if you're interested.

Now, if you want to kick me off the blog team for my first three ridiculously long additions, feel free. :) Much love!