[g-rant] diy green cleaners

Rather, I’m ranting about the people who are wasting their hard earned greenbacks by purchasing these “manufactured” natural cleaners. This is DIY at its easiest, people! Interested in making your own natural cleaning products for disinfecting your pad, protecting your body, your kids’ bodies, and the planet from harmful chemicals found in typical chemical-laden cleaners, and saving a wad a money in the process? Then please keep reading.

White vinegar cures most, if not all dirty issues around your home. Vinegar. The wonder cleaner. Inexpensive. Chemical free. And you already have it in your pantry. And when you need more, you can purchase gallon jugs for about $2.50, which is roughly half the typical price for a much smaller spray bottle of most natural cleaners. A gallon of vinegar will make several batches of the following highly effective cleaners:

Multipurpose cleaner

To make an effective all natural multipurpose cleaner: Just take a re-purposed spray bottle, such as the green cleaner you were previously using and fill about 1/3 of it with white vinegar. Fill the rest with water. Do a little shake up and get ready to clean. I use this for cleaning just about everything: sinks and sink handles/spouts, drains, countertops, windows, mirrors, around toilet (not inside bowl), baseboards, and for dusting all over the place. I will also soak a cloth in mix, wring it out, and wrap it on the Swiffer mop to clean the hardwood and tile floor on weeks in between thorough mop jobs.

Toilet cleaner

To make a toilet bowl cleaner: pour 3-4 “glugs” of white vinegar into the toilet bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes. Then clean with your toilet bowl cleaner brush. If your toilet is especially dirty, add a 1/2 cup of baking soda.

Shower cleaner

Use your multipurpose solution, and make a little paste of baking soda and water to scrub those harder stains. You can also make up a separate batch of the multipurpose cleaner to keep in the shower to spray on after you finish your shower – this helps keep the shower cleaner in between heavy cleanings.

Making it smell pretty

The only real drawback I hear of this DIY multi-purpose cleaner is, “But I just really miss the scent of my old traditional cleaner and how clean it makes the house smell!”My response? “Mmmm, the wonderful scent of your brain getting fried, much like when people smell gasoline, glue, and other harsh chemicals!” Ok, that may be a bit extreme, buy why blanket our house’s environment with harmful chemicals for the sake of “smelling good” or “smelling clean” when studies prove they are harmful to us?Sara sometimes falls into this camp, so she saves citrus peels from the copious amounts of grapefruits and oranges that we’re eating this time of year and dumps them in some vinegar, lets it set for a few weeks, and then gives it to me to make another round of citrus-smelling multipurpose cleaner. (Side note: this makes an easy Christmas or hostess gift during this time of year).

Step 1: Put some orange, grapefruit, lime, or lemon peels in a large glass jar. Cover completely with white vinegar.