DIY Household Cleaners

For my Clean and Organize 2013 Challenge, I have put together my cleaners all in one place, easy to take from room to room when cleaning.

Here are the cleaners I use:

* 50% Vinegar, 50% Water - in a spray bottle

* Baking Soda - I put it in a shaker I found at the Dollar Store (looks like the ones used in restaurants for parmesan cheese)

* Tub/Shower Cleaner - in a spray bottle (I posted about this cleaner here)

* All-Purpose Cleaner - in spray bottle (recipe below)

* Window/Glass Cleaner - store brand

* Sponges

* Microfiber cloths and/or rags

* Small brush (mine is a grout cleaner, I believe, but you can use an old toothbrush)

* Swiffer Duster (I forgot to include this in the picture, but I do keep it in this bucket as well)

Ever since I made my own laundry detergent, I have been trying out different recipes for homemade cleaners as well (I've also, very unsuccesfully, been experimenting with homemade shampoos and body washes - someday I'll get it).

I posted about the Tub/Shower cleaner here and have continued to use it ever since. I primarily use it for the tub and shower (duh), however, it works well on greasy areas (like the oven hood). You really could use it on all of your surfaces, but it isn't necessary and it's more expensive than just vinegar and water or vinegar and baking soda. It is also soapy and foamy and takes a little more effort to rinse clean.

I use the vinegar and baking soda combo when I need a little more scrubbing action. I just sprinkle the baking soda over the area, then spray the vinegar solution, let it fizz, then scrub it off. You can use this combo on just about anything (even carpets), but baking soda is abrasive, so don't use it on surfaces that should not use abrasive cleaners (i.e. glass top stoves).

I've recently tried a new recipe for an all-purpose cleaner:

1 cup Water
1 cup Vinegar
4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
15 drops Tea Tree Oil

Tea Tree oil is a germicide, fungicide and anti-bacterial. The vinegar also kills mold, germs and viruses making this cleaner especially useful during the cold and flu season for wiping down door knobs and light switches.

You can use this cleaner the same way you would the vinegar and water solution. I kind of like the smell of the tea tree oil after cleaning, where sometimes the straight vinegar smell bothers me(although, it does dissipate quickly).

I have not yet tried out any homemade window cleaner recipes which is why I just have a store bought window cleaner in there.

All of my spray bottles are from the dollar store (similar bottles are $4-5 at Target). You may also notice that they are all less than half full. I do this because my kids are a little heavy-handed in their use of cleaners, so if the bottle isn't full, there is less for them to waste. Feel free to fill your bottles if you don't have this problem :)

Alrighty. All ready for cleaning!

Clean and Organized 2013 Challenge







Linking up here:

Cleaning the Garbage Disposal

The first cleaning task of my Clean and Organized Challenge is the garbage disposal. Check out the post from Clean and Scentsible about cleaning the "garburator" (That makes me laugh. I've never heard it called that before :) and the microwave.

Start by running the disposal quickly to clear out any food that may be in there. Then, pour some baking soda and then vinegar and let sit (and listen to the fizz :), then run the disposal with hot water to help loosen anything that may be stuck on there. Use an old toothbrush to clean the under side of the rubber guard over the disposal. Food that gets stuck under there can cause it to smell.

And that's all you need to do to clean it. Vinegar is a germ killer and a deodorizer, but if you like to use another method for deodorizing in addition to the vinegar, run some citrus rinds through there.

Here's what each of these things do for your garbage disposal:

1.Lemon/Limes/Oranges – Place a couple halves of lemons or limes in the garbage disposal and process them through. The acid from the citrus will remove the odor and leave your disposal smelling much fresher. The oils from the rinds will also freshen it up, so you don't have to use the whole fruit.

2.Baking Soda – Baking soda is well known for its odor absorbency and can be added to other items being processed through the disposal to aid in odor removal.

3.Vinegar Ice – Fill an ice cube tray with vinegar and freeze. Place a couple of ice cubes in the disposal and process with cold water. Be sure to label the remaining cubes or someone may get a surprise in their beverage!

4.Ice/Salt – Place some ice in the garbage disposal and sprinkle with rock salt or 1 cup of vinegar. Process the ice through the disposal with plenty of cold water.

I've read in several places that ice in the garbage disposal helps to keep the blades sharp, so #3 and #4 would work for that.

Today, I decided to try frozen lemon rinds.

There was a crazy sale on lemons at the Farmer's Market, so I made lemonade. I didn't want to just throw away all of those lemon rinds, so I froze them. Today, I ran them through the garbage disposal to freshen it up and sharpen the blades. I only used a handful, so I still have several in my freezer for next time it needs freshening up :)





Linking up here:

Clean and Organized 2013 Challenge

As you know from many of my posts, I am always on a quest to be more organized. Many times that quest involves a lot of wishing and hoping and looking at pinterest, but not a lot of doing. Well, that's kind of me :)

So, for 2013, I have resolved to get clean and organized and, of course, blog about it. Now you may remember that in 2012, I had a similar goal. So nice of you to notice. It's true. And the reality is, it will likely be my goal in 2014 too. But, let's not forget 2012 was not all a wash in this area. I did actually get some organizing projects done and they are still working for me today!

My Kitchen Pantry came as a result of another blogger's challenge and it has remained organized and functional even a year later.

I also made a kitchen drawer into a School Lunch Station. Ok, yeah, so that was in 2011. I guess I do about 1 organizing project a year. But, we still use that lunch station and it still looks clean and organized.

I swapped out the bigger white utensil baskets for smaller black baskets and added one for straws (not so much for school, but because I like to use straws a lot around the house).

Now those white baskets are in my pantry holding boxes of jello and dry mix packets. The skinny black baskets just worked better for the utensils.

Onto this year's challenge:

Clean and Scentsible is hosting the Household Organization Diet which is the total inspiration for my challenge. She is having us focus on one area of the house each month. January is the kitchen.

Before starting the challenge, she had us make a binder with 13 tabs (one for each month and one for notes). So, here is my binder:

Cheapest 1 1/2 " binder at Staples

Slide in my little cover page and add some tabs

And there it is. I kept my tabs blank at this point because I am not completely sure if I will organize my binder in the same way she does. I want to play around with it and decide on the best system for our household, so they are blank for now. I'll keep you posted on my binder progress as I go.

To get started, Clean and Scentsible also had us get our cleaners organized. Check out mine here.

Kitchen Projects for January::

Clean and Organize under the kitchen sink
Clean Garbage Disposal
Clean and Organize Kitchen Cabinets
Clean and Organize Refrigerator
Organize the Junk Drawer
Tile Floor Face Lift






Linking up here:

Pinterest Shower Cleaner

I've seen several pins on this amazing shower cleaner. All the posts on it are the same, but this one from Fabulously Frugal has a good explanation on how to make it.

My friend at One and One Eighth Danish also posted about how this cleaner makes an unpleasant chore (scrubbing the shower) a little less unpleasant.

Now, I live in an older house. And as is sometimes the case in older homes, I have "old shower/tub syndrome". Ok I just made that up as I was typing. But, you know, old showers that just look dingy? No matter how much I scrub, our painfully tiny (that's a separate issue) shower never looks clean. The grout is dirty, there are stains, rust, who knows, stuff that just never comes off no matter what cleaner I use.

So, when I saw all these amazing reviews of this magical stuff, I had to give it a try.

Something I also noticed is that of all the people raving about this cleaner, no one posts before and after pics. Now, Fabulously Frugal did post a before and after. However, her before looked like something a washcloth and some water could've easily cleaned. So, it's well, not that impressive.

I know, it's not everyone's fault that they don't have "old shower syndrome".

So, here I go showing you my nasty old shower. I have no shame.

Here is the before of a corner of our shower where this black - I don't know what it is - stuff has always been. I've tried bleach, baking soda and vinegar, various types of all purpose cleaner, this really expensive "miracle" cleaner I bought from a door-to-door salesman (yes, I did fall for the sales pitch) and anything else I thought might remove this black stuff. None of it worked.

It's sort of just become another part of the awesome 80's tile pattern that our shower is clearly rockin'.

Here it is after. I did not intentionally take the "after" picture further away :) It is not completely gone, but it is much better than any of the aforementioned cleaners.

Here is another wall:

I know what you're thinking. "I can't believe she is showing us all her dirty shower" and "these pictures are terrible" and "that tile is truly an amazing work of art, like straight out of a time capsule".

It's true. I am slightly mortified at sharing how gross my shower looks, but it's for the greater good, people. How else would you know exactly how well (or not so well) this cleaner works? The pictures are bad because, like I said before, my shower is teeny, tiny. Like, I can barely stand in it and turn around, tiny. There is no natural light in our bathroom and I was using my phone camera. This is not a photography blog, people. And, lastly, don't go thinking about getting some tile put in to replicate this masterpiece. It's an original. Let's keep it that way.

Here is the same wall all covered in the cleaner:

I let the cleaner sit while I cleaned other areas of the bathroom. Some have said they let it sit overnight, others say they wipe it off right away. Now, let me just say that I did not merely wipe this stuff off. It was full on scrubbing. Lots and lots of scrubbing. I even had a small knuckle injury that I contemplated taking a picture of to show how much I really did scrub (even some of the skin off my knuckle), but decided that was kind of weak. And, well, I'm no weenie. But, just know, this was hard work.

Here it is after:

My review of this cleaner:

1. I had way too high of expectations for it (i.e. it won't give me new tile and new grout and it won't prevent me from having to scrub)

2. It worked better than all of the other cleaners I have tried over the 8+ yrs we've lived in this house.

3. While, it didn't get the grout as clean as I would've liked, there was some nice sparkle to those tiles (not sure if you can tell in the pic) and that required very little scrubbing.

4. I also used it on the sinks and counters and other areas and liked the results.

5. I hear it works on shower doors (we have a curtain, not a door) really well, getting off the build up that seems so hard to get rid of.

So.....

I like it.

It's good.

I'll keep using it.

If you don't have "old shower syndrome", you may love it a whole lot more than me :)




Linking up here:

Tater Tots and Jello

Homemade Rice Milk

At the start of lent, I gave up meat with the intention it would evolve into being vegan at some point. Starting this week, I have stopped eating milk, eggs, cheese etc. I still eat bread that I know is made with eggs and I am sure there are other products I have had that have hidden milk or eggs or whatever in them. So, I'm "vegan enough".

I am not a milk drinker, although I do have it in cereal on the rare occasion I eat cereal. So, having a milk alternative is not imperative to me. However, we have recently begun experimenting with limiting milk and milk products for one of our children since we suspect she may have an allergy or intolerance or whatever. Here is where the homemade rice milk comes in. She eats cereal pretty much daily and also enjoys drinking glasses of milk. I know there are all kinds of milk alternatives on the market (soy, coconut, almond, rice etc) and they are readily available at the regular grocery store, but they are pricey and I'm a bit of a freak and like to do things like make my own.

So, here it is.

Rice Milk:
1 cup organic, long grain brown rice
8 cups water (for cooking)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp agave nectar
1/3 whole vanilla bean, split

I added the agave and vanilla to mine, but the original recipe I found just had the rice, water and salt.

Wash rice and strain. Bring 8 cups of water to a boil over high heat, add 1 cup brown rice:

And 1/3 whole vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Cover and lower heat to simmer, cook for 3hrs. It will look like a thin rice pudding/porridgey kind of stuff

Fish out the vanilla beans (store in a baggy if you want to try to reuse them, like me :). Let cool, stir in salt and agave nectar:

In batches, fill blender half with rice mixture and half with water. I did up to the "2" line with rice, then the "4" line with water, so my blender was not full to the top and had room to blend.

Blend until very smooth, stopping and scraping sides etc to make sure it's all blended. Then strain over fine mesh strainer twice.

If you are a freak like me, you can save the rice that you strain off and add it to your homemade dog food (more on that later).

After straining, the milk is still pretty thick like cream. I added about 1/2 cup of water before pouring into the jars.

Even with the added water, it's thicker than my taste, so I add more water to it at the time of using it. Store in the refrigerator in glass jars and drink up!

As far as how this tastes, it's hard for me to say. I'm not a milk drinker and I don't enjoy a nice cold glass of milk alternatives either. It has a nice vanilla scent, but not so much vanilla flavor. I may add vanilla extract as well next time. It is also not sweet at all, so if you want a sweeter milk, add more agave nectar (or real sugar or honey or whatever). I have not yet tried it with cereal myself, but the 3 little girls in our home have all tried it and they drank it just fine. I have cooked with it and it has been perfect for that use. I mixed chocolate syrup into it and the kids all liked it that way. I think it would be great in baked goods, so I plan to use a lot of it that way. So, it will for sure get consumed, but not sure it cuts it for a daily milk alternative (at least not in our home).


Linking up here:

Homemade Laundry Soap

This is just way too "Little House on the Prairie" for me. But, I have seen several posts online about making your own laundry soap, so I thought I'd give it a try. I plan to also eventually make my own household cleaners and soaps and shampoos as well. We'll see how that goes. But, so far, my first crunchy, granola, tree-hugging project was easy and it works!

You will need:

1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda (different than baking soda)
1 bar soap (I used Ivory - they make bar soaps specifically for laundry as well)

I used a hand grater, but have seen others use a food processor. I found it easy enough to grate by hand, so I'd rather not soap up my food processor.

Once grated, add the cup of Borax and the cup of washing soda, mix well (it took several minutes to make sure it was all mixed to an even consistency).

Use 1-2Tbsp per load of laundry. That's it!

I am currently storing it in a yogurt container with a Tbsp inside. I think the container is ugly. So, I was thinking if I go find a cutesy container or decorate one, does that counteract the "Little House on the Prairie" effect? Yes, Yes it does! :-)

The powder does not get sudsy like regular detergent and it doesnt have a perfumy smell like detergents do. But the clothes do smell clean and they look clean. I have read that you can use 1/4 cup if you are washing a particularly soiled load. The big test for me was washing our 2 year old's little Eeyore. It's her snuggly comfort item and she takes it everywhere. It was dirty, had food and other stains and wasn't smelling so great. I washed it with 1 1/2 Tbsp in a regular load of laundry and it came out clean. No stains. And smelled good. So, I was sold!

Today, I had a lovely vomit mess to clean up. Here is the yucky pillow pet before:

And here it is after:

I washed it with 3 Tbsp of powder instead of my usual 1 1/2 Tbsp. along with the other yucky bedding. There were some faint stains, but they are barely noticeable. Good as new!

Vinegar is also a natural fabric softener and can be added to the rinse cycle. I have not yet tried this as the little cup thingy in my washing machine that holds fabric softener is broken. I plan to buy a downy ball and put vinegar in that and see how it works.

There are also recipes online using the same ingredients, but melting the soap and adding water to make a liquid laundry detergent. This seemed kind of messy to me, so I opted for the powder eventhough, I typically use liquid store bought detergent. So far, no problem switching to powder.

I have not done any kind of cost comparison on this. But other people have, so I'm taking their word for it :-) I also know it doesn't have all the chemicals that store bought detergents do, so it's better for my family and the environment. That's good enough for me.

Have I convinced you to try it, yet?