Home Made Cleaning Products

I clean my kitchen and bathrooms with baking soda. I also use it to deoderize my carpets and to spot-clean upholstery.

Can't top Anne-Marie's list! Nicely done! I did also want to add that I use a lot of baking soda in lieu of Ajax or Comet

Hi J.!
I love using homemade cleaning products! I started using them after becoming very unhappy with the "wellness" company I was purchasing from. Making your own is so much better.....and it's waaaayyyy cheaper.

I found a great series of recipes from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

*Furniture Polish.
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice.
Mix in a jar and daub a soft cloth in the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces.

*Window Cleaner
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon liquid soap or detergent
2 cups water
Combine ingredients in a spray bottle, shake to blend.

*Rust remover for sinks and tubs.
Sprinkle a little bit of salt ont the rust, squeeze a lime over the salt until it is nicely soaked in lime juice. Leave mixture on for 2-3 hours. Use the leftover lime rind as a scrubber to finish the job.

*All purpose cleaner.
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 tsp. borax
3 1/2 cup water
20 drops lemon or lavender essential oil (I actually prefer grapefruit!)

Mix the vinegar, borax, and water in a 32 oz. spray bottle and add essential oil. Add the dish soap last.

* Floor cleaner (non wood surfaces)
1/8 cup liquid soap
1/4 to 1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup herb tea (Peppermint has antibacterial qualities).
Combine ingredients in pail with 3 gallons warm water. Swirl until it is sudsy. Rinse with 1 cup vinegar in 3 gallons cool water.

I also love the book Green Up Your Clean Up. It has great recipes too!

I don't make my own laundry soap. I found a product called Charlie's Soap and will never use anything else! I also love Bac-Out by BioKleen if I need a bathroom cleaner. Works great and is safe!

*Edit....... Melaleuca is actually the company that made me want to switch to my own cleaning products!
I am intrigued by Norwex, though. I am looking into trying some of their cleaning cloths.

Melaleuca and Norwex have great safe cleaning products.

We use vinegar for so many things! You can just google something like household use vinegar and a ton of stuff comes up! To clean out the microwave, or anywhere that needs a great scrub...I dip half a lemon just the fruit part) in salt and microwave it for 5-10 seconds. It makes a great scrubber!

I use white vinegar, borax, and baking soda as bases for most everything I clean. I don't really mix cleaners, but I do use the vinegar and water to disinfect, use borax as a scrub (sprinkle in the sink, toilet, etc.) and baking soda the same way. I use baking soda and vinegar in the drains. I make my laundry soap (you can do a search for homemade laundry detergent and find several versions of recipes, but most are based with Fels Naptha laundry soap, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, and Borax), and love it. It is SOOOOOOOOOO much cheaper and I like it a lot more. (It is also not a pain to make at all and lasts a long time when you make a full batch.)

If you have the extra money, you can add different essential oils to homemade cleaners, but I never feel like I can afford it. My husband and youngest child both have asthma and with the homemade stuff I can clean around them without too much trouble. My husband can't handle the vinegar smell, but it dissipates quickly if I clean when he's not home. Baking soda is the best for cleaning the bathtub, and it generally makes everything smell better. I can't actually remember the last time I had to buy a box of borax and I bought a huge bag of soda at Sam's club which lasts forever. I go through vinegar more quickly, but again it is cheap.

I use a damp microfiber cloth to dust and then a dry microfiber cloth to dry right away. I think the furniture looks better and isn't as "sticky" than with pledge or another product. The method brand is non-toxic and great. Good luck!

You've got a lot of good answers. I make all my home made cleaning products too. One that I want to say that no one else has yet, is for your oven cleaner, instead of using that very toxic spray stuff, LIGHTLY spray the oven down with vinegar then sprinkle baking soda. Let it stay on there over night until you are able to wipe it down with a wet cloth the next day. For toughter spots, sprinkle salt on the floor of the oven and let it sit over night. By the next day, it should wipe out clean. But usually the first option works every time.
Also don't use bleach at all for any reason in your home. It is one of the most toxic and carcogenic (cancer causing) that most people usually have in their homes. Why put our babies at risk and your own health too.

Love the suggestions (although seriously you won't save any money if you start using Meleluca) However the very best thing I have found for natural cleaning is my steam cleaner. It cleans everything from floors to windows and uses nothing but water. I'm a child care provider and have a lot of kids in and out of the house and I use my steamer to spray down the toys every night and have really cut down on the number of germs being passed around. Rarely does someone get sick because a parent sent a sick child over. There are a lot of good ones on the market, but mine is a Shark brand, they are no cheap, but it's a one time cost and I've used mine daily for 3 years with no issues.

Hi J.! you have some great suggestions below! I am for sure going to steal some of them! ;) I also have switched to healthier cleaning products after noticing my own health problems including the coughing and also asthma attacks when doing laundry! I think I just bought what I saw advertised the most because like most people, I figured that had to be the best! But besides the chemicals in them, now that I am using products with higher quality ingredients, I realize that the products I had been using really didn't work all that well! Personally, altho we are not allergic to it, neither myself or my husband can stand the smell of vinegar with out gagging- so I don't clean with that! ;) And as the mom of 6 month old and 2 yr old boys, I don't have time to make complicated cleaning products. So finding a company that eliminates the known harmful ingredients, utilizes natural remedies, (lime, lemon, thyme, etc) and one that saves me $$$ by concentrating products that I mix (this also allows me to choose how strong I need the product to be). How much does your tub and tile cleaner cost you? I get mine for less then $1.00/bottle, and it works! cleaned rust spots out of my tub just this morning! ;) I have been asthma free, and my nephew has gone off of his asthma meds and inhalers after just 2 months of using safer healthier household products. I'd have to say this company is doing something right. While not for 'hard-core' home remedy die hards- this company has been a lifesaver for me and my family, literally! So I would ALWAYS recommend ANY steps you make in your life to make your home a safer, chemical free place for yourself and children. I second the comment below-stay away from bleach!!!

I have used peroxide to clean my counters as well as a bunch of other things in my kitchen! It is fantastic! I also use vinegar for a ton of things. Both my husband and son are allergic to so many things that we had to make sure that there were cleaning products that wouldn't cause their allergies to act up!

it is a bit pricy to start but i bought the shark steam products because of allergies....I love them...no cleaners just distilled water and they do a really good job. i can even steam my mattress and pillows regular as well as vacuum. the 2 products i bought cost almost 100 each but have bought nothing else for cleaning except wood conditioner for my precious dining room for about a year.

I use a vinegar, alcohol, water mix to clean everything, and I mean, everything! I clean my wood floors, glass tables, granite counter, and every other surface and they look great. I switched to homemade because I was using this expensive "organic" cleaner. When I stopped to read the ingredients I saw it was mainly water & vinegar. I also use baking soda as a scrub. Look on-line and you can usually find recipes.

I use half vinegar (plain, not cider) and half water to clean pretty much everything in the house. It works on all the same stuff you would use something like 409 on, and it works great on windows without streaking. In the bathrooms, I add about 5-7 drops of tea tree oil in for extra disinfectant (it's an anti-viral, fungal, and bacterial).

For polishing furniture, I use vinegar and olive oil (play around until you find the way you like it). Just dip the rag in and ring out well. For scouring, I use baking soda, Borax, or a combo of the 2. It's really simplified my cleaning b/c one product does so much. Also, castile soap works when you just need a bucket of hot, soapy water.

Vinegar is great for cleaning anything! I use baking soda in the bathroom because it gives some grit for soap scum. I've read that between those two items you should be able to clean your whole house! I've read other combinations using lemon juice or tea tree oil but I just haven't made the jump. Good luck, way to look out for your little guy!

I use safe, non-toxic cleaning and other household products but they aren't homemade. If you want info, let me know.

I mix up hydrogen peroxide half and half with water in spray bottles. I use it to disinfect in the bathroom and kitchen.

I clean my toilet bowls and sinks with baking soda and vinegar...real scrubbing bubbles!

I use melaleuca products, tough and tender or sol u mel also, but mostly use the homemade stuff.

Hi J.,

I am sorry to hear that your son is having a difficult time with the cleaners you have been using. That is actually not uncommon at all and you are right on with suspecting the cleaners causing his troubles. Household cleaners actually cause more trips to the ER each year from poison exposure then anything else does. They also create more pollution in the American home then factories do! I was really surprised when I learned that. Asthma and other childhood illnesses are on the rise because of them. Scary stuff. My second child was born 6 weeks early in August and had pneumonia in the NICU. I was told he would have a ton of respiratory issues early on but he is 14 weeks now and has not been sick since. I really attribute that to the use of the cleaners I now use in my home through Shaklee.

I found using Shaklee's Get Clean products, in particular their Basic H2 soluable concentrate, not only takes care of the toxins in my home, but also keeps my family healthy, AND saves us a ton of money! (even over using the vinegar/water solution I had been using because it saves on the packaging and doesn't stink like vinegar:) Basic H2 can be used on anything that water can and it works SO well. You just mix 1-2 DROPS into a 16 oz spray bottle of water and you have an awesome windows/glass/mirror cleaner. Much better then windex or anything else I have ever tried. You can mix 1/4 tsp into 16 oz sprayer and have a terrific multi purpose cleaner. I use that all of the time on my son's high chair tray and my toddler can even help me clean with it it is that safe. There are so many uses for this stuff and because it is so concentrated, you use SO little so it lasts a really long time. My mom has the same gallon she has been using for about 10 years!!! Now they sell it in 16 oz bottles, but it will still last you a really long time and save you money in the long run.

Because I love Shaklee so much and their cleaners have worked so well with cleaning my home and keeping my family healthy and safe, I can't help but talk about them so I decided to get the distributor discount and sell them too. I would be very happy to talk to you more about it if you are interested. I could even send you a sample of the Basic H2, which would give you two bottles of cleaning solution if you would like to give it a try. Feel free to PM me if you'd like. Here is my website to look at if interested:
www.waterways.myshaklee.com

I hope this is helpful and I hope you find something that works for you and your family soon:)

In the last year I have switched to natural cleaning products. I can tell a huge difference in my home and boy when I go to a restaurant or friend's house that uses one of those toxic cleaners, my sinuses hurt. I love that these products are more economical than what I used to use - so what a bonus - better for family, environment and cleaning. And even better, I have actually made some money too.