Cleaning Supplies - Can You Make Them Yourself?

Eco-Scrub- for toilet bowls, tubs, sinks, stove tops, hard water marks, & more: Cream 1/2 cup Dr. Bronner's castile soap with 2 cups baking soda. Add 1/4 cup water and 1/2 tsp essential oil (peppermint is great); then add 2 tbsp vinegar. Store in wide mouth mason jar.

Eco-Shine- 1/2 part water, 1/2 part vinegar, 30 drops essential oil (lemongrass, tea tree, or fir needle are great)- put in empty spray bottle. Use on glass, tile, laminate, windows, and stainless steel.

Eco-Clean- 1 tbsp Dr. Bronner's castile soap, distilled water, and 30 drops essential oil (lavendar, tea tree, thyme, clove bud, lemongrass, eucalyptus, or other anitbacterial essential oil). Put in spray bottle- this is a great all purpose cleaner for appliances, counters, cabinets, toilet seats, walls, and is safe on granite.

Eco-Polish- Mix one tbsp light olive oil with 30 drops essential oil (lemongrass is good here) and 1/3 cup vinegar, plus water to fill spray bottle. This is your wood polish for wood furnitre, hardwood floors (always test of course), wood cabinets, and wood blinds.

These are from "Clean House, Clean Planet". Also "Better Basics for the Home" is a great one, lots more recipes for everything including natural pest control. I love cleaning my house with these and the kids can help me. Dr. Bronner's soap is vegetable based and fair-trade; a little goes a long way so its worth it to buy the large size and it will last you a good long while (unless you start using it for other things- which you'll be tempted to!). I buy the large 2 oz size of my favorite essential oils instead of constantly buying the .5 oz bottles. Essential oils not only smell good but different ones have different properties- anti-bacterial, anti-viral, etc.- so don't skip them.

Empty Spray Bottle. Fill 1/2 water and 1/2 white vinegar. Clean away.

I use this solution to clean EVERYTHING. Its cheap, its safe and it works great. As soon as it dries the vinegar smell is gone and it leaves a fresh, clean scent.

I've read people swear by vinegar and newspaper to clean glass. I've never tried it, but its worth a shot.

Also, vinegar in the laundry works wonders. It gets out smells and leaves a clean scent.

Good Luck!

baking soda works really well on lots of things too.

I buy toilet wipes.. and I add Lysol or Mr. Clean and make my own wipes this way.. it turns out to be alot cheaper then the Mr. Clean or Lysol brand wipes... The toilet wipes ( by toilet paper in the supermarker) cost about 1.79 or 1.99 for a pack. I add about 1/2 cup of Mr. Clean or Lysol... and 1/4 cup water.. let them stay in the pack they come in.. and I use one or two a day. Check it out.

when they say vinegar - make sure you use white vinegar only!

Try Shacklee products - they are a direct selling company like Avon. You can find them in the white pages or try online for a distributor. The are enviromentally safe and biodegratable. Love them

I'm sure you already know this, but NEVER NEVER NEVER mix bleach products with Ammonia products.. it produces ammonium-chloride, a deadly gas.

You can do almost anything with Baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and orange oil.

Baking soda is a mild abrasive that makes a great scrubber.. Vinegar and water cleans most surfaces without streaking... combining vinegar and baking soda into your toilet helps foam it clean, and peroxide kills mold, mildews, and removes any organic stains from white clothing. Use it to pre-treat soiled whites... ..

baking soda

vinegar and water for glass

venegar, water and a little dish soap for other surfaces

lemon and orange essential oils, diluted, for tough grease

don't use chemicals! for the sake of your family and the earth