Natural Homemade Cleaning Recipes and Tips!

So I decided since so many loved when I shared about making my own laundry detergent (http://rebeccajeanneroutine.blogspot.com/2012/11/homemade-laundry-detergent.html) perhaps I should share some other recipes and tricks I have come across and use!

Leather Couch Cleaning

Recently...as in today...I had saved a tip on how to clean leather couches and tried it out.  We have matching leather couches in our family room; a full couch, love seat, and single arm chair with foot rest and with dogs and people daily using them they are bound to get dirty.  The worst is after it rains and our dogs would come running in with muddy paws and of course trample all over our couches.  For the longest time we would just wipe it up with a damp wash cloth using straight water.  This did the job for a quick clean however lately I have noticed the "shininess" our couches once had has faded.  I looked in the household cleaners for a leather conditioner but beyond the hefty prices and harsh chemicals I worried how many stated they may dye or stain your couches!  Our couches are in great shape and I'm not about to try to make them shine and end up with couches we have to throw away!  So I turned to the good ol' Internet looking for budget friendly, natural, and successful way to condition our couches.  Why I have not done this before now is beyond me!  They turned out phenomenal and look brand new plus I made $0.68!

 
So what to know the trick and how to make the cash?  Here it is.....olive oil (cheap works) and white vinegar (Great value gallon size is a staple here)!  Yup that's it, two things!  We had about a small half bottle of olive oil and we always have white vinegar.  The combo is 2 part olive oil to 1 part white vinegar.  The white vinegar is your cleaning agent and the olive oil will condition.  You need two rags, one for applying and the other for rubbing and buffing.  Start off by vacuuming and collecting all the change (that's how you make the extra cash!).  Then use your bottle or spray bottle by always shaking it first and putting a tiny bit on your wash rag....a little goes a LONG way!  Then rub it all over like you would cleaning anything else.  Then when you are done use your clean wash rag and just rub it on down to get any remaining solvent off and to buff it all up.  That's it!  I spent about an hour this morning cleaning and buffing each of my couches and I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out, plus it didn't cost me a dime (I actually made money!) as I had all materials already here.  For those who worry your couches will be left all sticky and oily let me tell you we have been sitting/laying on the couches all day and they are not sticky or oily the least bit yet they all have their shininess back! 

Hardwood Floors

Again come to the rescue white vinegar!  When we pulled up our carpeting throughout our house we were left with beautiful original hardwood floors that luckily for us were already sealed and finished yet carpeted right over.   Talk about hiding the real beauty!  The floors under the carpets that we checked for when we walked through our house for the first time was one of the main selling points to us.  Knowing they were already finished meant all we would need to do is rip it all up and wash it and boom hardwood floors for nothing but sweat and never wanting to rip out another staple in your entire life!  Now before with carpet I would run the vacuum about twice a week and the carpets looked fine.  Now with hardwood floors I gag at the thought all that dog hair and "stuff" was clinging in our carpet after each day.  Every day I need to sweep which takes but 5 minutes and that alone is immediate gratification as I can see that the floor is clean and dog hair free.  Every so often the floors will get dull or those lovely pups of ours will track in mud and I will need to wash it.  While we don't have a mop (plan to get one soon, one of those Rubbermaid wet jet like things that you can put this solution of yours in and has reusable wash pads you just throw in the laundry and reuse!) I fill up a gallon bucket with warm water and throw in about a cup of white vinegar.  No your house will not smell like pure vinegar and even if you catch a faint smell of vinegar it will dissipate in a matter of minutes when it dries.  We do the old fashion hands and knees approach washing and making sure our rag is rung out well and only damp.  This does the job every time and disinfects, cleans, and deodorizes all naturally and inexpensively.  One can spend hundreds on hardwood floor cleaners but again they are full of harmful chemicals and expensive, these is a near free and natural way that leaves you with awesome results!  The good news is you can also use this on laminate and any other kind of flooring with the same results!

Cleaning Microwave

 

(No this is not my microwave so please don't be calling in the HAZMAT CREW!)

 

Oh how white vinegar thou art amazing!  Fill a coffee mug or any microwave safe bowl or cup filled with plain white vinegar in your microwave and nuke it for a good 4 or so minutes.  Remember when taking out the cup or bowl it will be as hot as the sun so remove carefully!  All you need then to do is simply wipe down and all that baked on mess and volcanic spaghetti explosions will slide right off.  I use paper towels that I can just throw out though normally I clean with wash rags, but what comes off the walls of my microwave needs to just be thrown out right away hence paper towels work wonders!   

Smelly Garbage Disposal

So hold on and don't just throw that white vinegar you just used out your window!  If you have a garbage disposal you know every now and then you end up with this funky smell coming out of it.  Well you can use your white vinegar that you just heated up to use to clean your microwave and pour it down your garbage disposal while it is turned off.  Then take some ice cubes and throw some in there, still while it is off.  Fill it up with ice cubes then sprinkle some baking soda on in there.  Doesn't get more natural than this!  Then the fun begins and you can throw your garbage disposal switch and let out an evil laugh as you hear the ice cubes being chopped all up and that funky smell disappear!  If you have a lemon laying around you can throw some pieces of that in for an even fresher smell.  Always be sure to run water while your disposal is on.  Then when all is chopped up you can halt your evil laughing and turn off the garbage disposal and water and boom clean garbage disposal!  No more buying those pricey toxic cleaning tablets at the store that we found don't even work; all it takes is some warm vinegar, ice cubes, baking soda, and an evil laugh!

Homemade Febreeze

OK my white vinegar gets a rest here.  I'm sure there is a Febreeze knock-off that uses white vinegar but that's not what I use!  This is so simple and easy to make get your palm ready to bonk your forehead for not knowing this sooner!  All you need is a spray bottle (we dollar store or W*lmart it up for cheap spray bottles) and fill it with 1/8 cup of fabric softener, 2 tablespoons baking soda, and the rest hot water.  Shake and spray away!  We personally are not fans of fabric softeners since many have been linked as cancer causing agents so we do a baking soda/hot water mixer and lay off the fabric softener.  I have heard of people using different essential oils, but again we aren't all hippy like and into the magical power of essential oils at this point in time.  Baking soda is a natural deodorizer and neutralizes the odors so you are not just masking but eliminating them and is safe for you and me, kids, and pets.  So much so safe for pets we may have even been known to spray our pups down with it in between baths if unexpected last minute guests show up....ok not really but that does give me a good idea for if that occasion does occur in the near future!  You can spray anything from your couch, rugs, the room air, even down to your husband!  It works trust me!

 

Foaming Hand Soap

This one is so simple and easy.  All you need is to keep on of those nifty foaming hand soap bottles that grandma bought you for Christmas.  All the power is in that little pump!  All you need to do when it comes time to refill it is 1 part of your favorite liquid soap or dish washing soap and fill the 3 parts rest of that baby up with water and shake her well.  Bang batta boom you have great smelling foaming hand soap for a fraction of the price of buying a new bottle!  Can you believe we are paying for mostly water when we buy store bought foaming hand soap?  Umm you stores can keep your water and I'll just add my own for a fraction of the price!  I have heard of people adding a little bit of rubbing alcohol in with their concoction for some added bacteria killing especially during the winter, however we hold the alcohol because we aren't really those partying type of people! 

 

 

Homemade Dishwasher Soap

Personally we have not given this a try yet as we still have a giant bin of dishwashing tabs.  Once those are gone we are for sure going to whip up this recipe and make our own!  There are quite a few we have come across and since we have hard water where we live, we decided on this recipe to give a whirl:

 

Dishwasher Detergent ingredients:
1 box Borax (4lbs 12 oz or 76 oz ) (2.15 kg) found in the detergent isle
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55 oz or 3 lbs 7 oz) found in the detergent isle
24 packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix, like kool-aid. (**Note: lemonade will stain soap dispenser yellow, another option would be to use citric acid instead of lemonade. You can usually find citric acid in the canning isle )
3 cups Epsom Salt
Lemi Shine rinse aid (this recipe does not work very well without it) You can find Lemi Shine in the dishwasher detergent isle at just about any store. You can also use vinegar as a rinse aid. If your dishes are coming out with spots on them that means you do need a rinse aid.

 

Directions: Mix Borax, washing soda, salt and lemonade together in a large, very large, bowl. When ingredients are mixed together well put soap in a container of your choice.  Use 1 tablespoon per wash cycle. It has no fillers so you do not have to use nearly as much to get the job done! This recipe is for hard water users.

 

Dishwasher Rinse Aid

While some may not be comfortable making their own dishwasher soap, you can get a little crazy and use a great rinse aid alternative....cue in my love white vinegar!  Yup that's, fill that rinse aid compartment up with white vinegar and a smile (Yes the smile is mandatory to give it the full powerful ability!) and run your dishwasher the usual way you do and you will end up with sparkling clear cups and dishes!

 

Rust on Knives/Pots and Pans and Stainless Steel Cleaner

This is another simple one.  All is needed is a lime (or lemon), salt, and a non-scratch scrub pad.  Squeeze lime (or lemon) juice on orange rust spots and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  Then sprinkle some salt on and scrub away.  A little elbow grease will go a long way!  The citric acid in the lime (or lemon) dissolves the rust and build-up while the salt helps as an abrasive to scrub it away.  So before you throw those knives away or hide them when company comes, try this little trick out and you will have brand new looking knives and pots and pans.  You can even use this on any other stainless steel surfaces, even your faucet!  Be sure to also save an extra lime slice and some salt to use with a shot of Tequila...um heck yes you should do a celebratory shot for saving your expensive cutlery and cookware!!!!


 



 

It honestly kills me knowing how much we pay for just mostly water in most cleaning products!