Cheap and Easy (Cleaning, That Is)

Not usually the two adjectives most associated with the refined lady, but in this case, they fit. My new cleaning regimen, that is. Or at least the one I am trying out with great optimism tempered with some trepidation because I SO want to be committed to it. Imagine a world without chemicals, without labels whereupon are listed ingredients that are unpronounceable and probably undigestible, yet we lather them around the rooms and places most likely to transmit those chemicals right into our bodies. My children spend most of their time very close to the floor (and, too often, toilets) so it seemed worthwhile to me to explore some natural cleaning options that would be safe for them to splash and lick and spill.

But I confess, I have been skeptical. My heart is saying, "Let's go!", but my mind is saying, "No, no." Oops, late 90's moment. (But stay tuned to read about cleaners that really are like a genie in a bottle! *zing!*) More accurately, my mind is saying, "I'm sorry, but there's no way common ingredients already in my kitchen will sufficiently clean my bathroom to a fresh, disinfected sparkle."

I read those blogs where hardy homemakers spread fantastic claims about their homemade, DIY ways of doing things. I thought, yeah, right. I've tried the baking soda and apple cider vinegar thing in my hair and was underwhelmed (until I came back to it with a few tweaks and have since been liking it much better...go figure). Natural products must be, like, meh. Better living through chemistry, as the saying goes. But I simultaneously have been feeling more and more convicted about the amount of chemicals and, just, waste that goes on in our house. Bleach and ammonia, paper napkins and paper towels galore. We're clean, but at what cost to our health and bank account?

(You're all "Get on with it already! I'm starting to fear scrolling down because I might find a "buy the book for $32.99!" And you're right. This is supposed to be more documentary than sermon. But the rationale might be helpful, no?)

The Strategy:
Make and replace one cleaning product per week. I am impatient, however, and it made sense since I was using so few ingredients to just mix everything up at one time. I did make my laundry detergent at least six months ago, so that's old news (but will still be reviewed here). We implemented the dishwasher detergent and dish soap the day after this big flurry of production. The glass cleaner I waited on because I needed Joel to visit the liquor store (more on that below) so bathroom cleaning was only tested today. So while I haven't kept to the one-per-week schedule very strictly, I also haven't undertaken too much at once. If you think you might try some of this, I will reiterate what I've read on countless other blogs, don't overwhelm yourself. Everyone is in a different place with the amount of time and resources and motivation they have to make these kinds of changes. I just happen to have a bit of the ADHD and OCD which combine to make me a bit of a productivity pinball machine at times. Different strokes, people, different strokes.

In case you're curious, the detergents are more time-consuming because of the food processing involved, while the liquid cleaners you just pour and shake in five minutes. But by "time-consuming", I mean I made all these within a couple of hours max one evening. And I was also taking pictures and getting organized. I should have been more attentive to the time. It won't be much of a time commitment to refill these when the time comes, though. These cleaners are easier to mix up and fewer steps than cake from a box.

A few websites/blogs that contributed to my recipes and motivation:
www.diynatural.com (this is my primary go-to site right now - SO much info and recipes!)
www.wellnessmama.com (stain treatment guide is handy)
www.theecofriendlyfamily.com (my laundry detergent; I use the one with soap for diapers and clothing alike)

The Process:
First, a look at my typical all-American kitchen, laundry, and bathroom cupboards. As Mikayla would say, I am "being brave, I am not afraid" to show you these humble areas of my home. Judge all you like, I bet yours don't look all Pinteresty either.

Kitchen: The usual ammonia floor cleaner, powder with bleach sink cleaner, dishwasher detergent, disinfecting wipes, some stove top cleaners and Murphy's oil soap.

Master bath: Glass cleaner with ammonia, bathroom cleaner with bleach, soft scrub probably with bleach, toilet bowl cleaner with who knows what crazy acid, powder with bleach sink cleaner.

Laundry: Bleach, fabric softener, standard commercial laundry detergent, OxiClean, and spray stain remover, as well as a couple stain remover pens.

And now, all of my cleaners relegated to Cleaning Product Purgatory in the blue bathroom closet, because I am chicken and not going to throw these in the outside trash until I'm certain I am satisfied with the new arsenal:

You can see my giant 5-gallon bucket of laundry detergent down there. I keep a couple glass jars full in my laundry cupboard for regular use and refill from here. Just thought I'd point that out while we're in here!

And here's what you've all been waiting for, the ingredient list:

 I couldn't tell you what I paid for everything because Joel does the grocery and liquor shopping. The vinegar was $1.99 for the gallon which I know because there's a sticker on it, and I paid around $30 at Wal-Mart (I know, throw tomatoes at me) for everything else except the Vodka and kosher salt, and that also included all my spray bottles. Oh, I forgot to put my Ivory and Fels-Naptha bar soaps in this picture.

My kitchen the night I made my cleaners:

I won't even try to caption this photo in any detail. Note the ingredients strewn about and my food processor at the far left, which is what I used to grate bar soap and mix the powder detergents (like a CHARM). It wasn't as chaotic as it looks.

The products and reviews:
Ok, actually THIS is the part you were waiting for. "After" photos and brief reviews of the products!

Rating system:
1 star = Will never use this again
2 stars = Meh; tempted to go back to my commercial cleaner
3 stars = It cleaned better than water, but I'm not convinced of its effectiveness
4 stars = Worked well, may require some tweaking to be fully satisfied
5 stars = Could tell no difference from my commercial cleaner, A+!

The products I'll note and review here are the dishwasher detergent, far right in the mason jar, and dish soap, middle left in an old dish soap bottle. The general cleaners in spray bottles are reviewed further down in the bathroom.

Dishwasher detergent: Recipe at DIY Natural

This detergent uses borax, washing soda, citric acid, and kosher salt. Click through to the recipe at DIY Natural for explanation of the recipe and what each ingredient does. Note that you should only use one tablespoon per load to start, and vary it from there depending on your results. I dumped it in there like I was using regular powder detergent the first time, and had a horrible film on my top-rack dishes. The next time I added white vinegar to the rinse aid compartment and still had the residue. Then I actually re-read the instructions and scaled way back on my detergent usage. This last time, Joel ran the dishwasher and everything looks awesome. Not sure if he used the vinegar, but he did verify the detergent amount with me so I know he used that. And to be clear, the dishes got clean of food even when they had the film remaining on them; there was just obviously way too much detergent in there to be thoroughly rinsed.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars; may increase to 5 star rating if results replicate.

Dish soap: Recipe at DIY Natural

This dish soap uses grated bar soap, borax, and boiling water. And a little essential oil, which I have not yet purchased but will add next time around. Essential oil adds some disinfecting power and a little fragrance; I will probably use orange or tea tree in here. And remember the "Cheap and Easy" title above? I ordered my oils from a seller on Amazon. Better prices than our local health food store, and decent reviews, so I figured I'd try them out. This soap does NOT suds up like commercial dish soap, which the recipe warns you about ahead of time, because it doesn't have sudsing agents in there. So it can be hard to tell where exactly the soap is and how much you're using, but let me tell you, this cuts through food on my dishes and pots like a BOSS. Also it comes out of the bottle looking a little gross, not all smooth, but in little clumpy spurts. Shake up the bottle before you use it, and it will look a lot smoother. Structural viscosity and all that (special mention of my late Papa, who taught me about viscosity over a ketchup bottle at Hoss's forever ago).

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars, only because the texture and lack of suds will make other people go, "hmmm"; but functionally it works awesome so far.

This is my laundry cupboard now:

Laundry Detergent: Recipe at The Eco Friendly Family

I made up the large batch in my five gallon bucket, sans soap because I wanted to try it that way first on our cloth diapers, but I found myself questioning the cleaning power on my diapers. I have been grating in the appropriate amount of bar soap when I refill my jars now, and use this on diapers and clothing alike. You only use one tablespoon per load, increasing to two tablespoons for a heavily soiled load (but I only use one generous tablespoon on my diapers and it works stellar). So I have only refilled once, and when I mixed it up with a bar of soap it made two jars' worth. I literally cannot tell a difference in laundering power between this and my commercial detergent. I have been using this six months and am completely satisfied. I no longer use fabric softener. I do have dryer balls in the dryer to help fluff clothes, but only got those a few months ago and was happy with my laundry far before that. There is no fragrance apart from a very mild scent from the bar soap (I used Ivory) so your clothes don't get all mountainy sweet smelling. But frankly, I recently smelled someone else's laundry and was somewhat surprised at how artificially fragrant it was. I don't miss it on my laundry. Totally not judging those of you who will provide me with Spring Breeze sheets to sleep on next time I visit; it's just part of the review process to comment on the fragrance aspect.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Fels-Naptha soap:
Rub directly on stains to pretreat. I'm still trialling this; it worked better than not treating at all, but didn't help my tomato-based stain come out completely. Using the spray bottle, which contains a 1:1 vinegar and water solution, helps more with those greasy or tomato based stains. I would also mention using corn starch to soak up excess oil before laundering, and then pretreating with some dish soap on oil or grease stains. That worked when I dripped straight up olive oil onto my jeans at a staff meeting. Can't take me anywhere.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars on the Fels-Naptha; 4 out of  stars on the vinegar spray used in conjunction with the Fels-Naptha and/or dish soap pretreat. This site has a strain treating guide to know what to use on what kind of stain. Too soon to review all of them.

Bathroom cupboard:

Glass cleaner: Recipe at DIY Natural

This glass cleaner is a vinegar and water solution with a high-proof grain alcohol added to eliminate streaks. Also a dab of dish soap to cut through whatever you spray your mirrors with at your house (around here, baby snot and toothpaste). I was most pleasantly surprised by this cleaner. I have no streaks whatsoever on my mirrors. Next time, I would add a bit more dish soap than this called for to add cleaning power. As it was, it just took a little extra wiping. Shake the bottle before using to make sure the ingredients are all represented in your mist. No stabilizers or preservatives added to keep it homogeneous, don't you know. Will your bathroom smell a little like vinegar and alcohol? I didn't smell the alcohol at all because it's so diluted. I smelled vinegar, mostly because I used several products that contained it, but only for a short time. And I'd rather have a brief salad-bar smell than a lingering synthetic-lemon-at-a-chemical-waste-plant smell.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, even without extra dish soap added. I am in love.

All-Purpose cleaner:

This is just a 1:1 white vinegar and water solution with a little tea tree oil added, except I don't have the TTO yet. The recipe is available at DIY Natural but...it's hardly a recipe, right? I used this on my counters, fixtures, bathtub. It's a little hard to know how well it's working. Vinegar is a natural mild disinfectant and it did cut through a decent amount of soap scum and whatnot immediately as I wiped it. On stubborn spots, I used my sprinkler of baking soda too for a little scouring power and that wonderful fizzing action. And I didn't even have to worry about my children splashing and "helping momma" and climbing into the tub while I cleaned.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars on the vinegar cleaner; 5 out of 5 using in combination with baking soda. This took everything off my shower, counters, and the plastic mat my kids use to keep their hineys from sliding around in the tub. It had a little mildew growing around the suction cups - GONE.

Toilet cleaner: Recipe on DIY Natural

DIY Natural has a few different options depending on your cleaning needs. I used the Tea Tree Toilet Bowl Scrub, which is funny because as I mentioned, I don't have the TTO yet. So I basically just used a more concentrated version of the baking soda and vinegar treatment described above. I will re-clean my toilets when my TTO arrives but I was itching to test this out, even if it was shy a few degrees of disinfecting power. Full disclosure: I was really looking forward to the science-project volcano that was going to happen in my toilet. The children were gathered around to watch. It wasn't nearly what I had hoped it would be, so don't worry about your toilet fizzing over. Next time I am going to be a lot more generous with my baking soda sprinkle. But this did an impressive job of immediately cleaning the toilet bowl and rim. I noticed no difference from my commercial cleaner in terms of speed and thoroughness of cleaning, and effectiveness as I scrubbed with the brush. The only difference was that I didn't have a coronary when I later discovered Isaac and Mikayla scooping water from the toilet onto the floor, and filling the bowl with bits of toilet paper to flush. No bleach! No germ-eating acid! The vinegar spray did a nice job de-gunking the outside of the commode too.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars, because it would be silly to rate it a 5 when the recipe is incomplete and I know it didn't disinfect the way it should. But I was impressed with just the aesthetic cleaning ability of this combo.


I think that concludes my reviews. I believe I linked to all of the recipes, which also provide more background info on the products and how/why they work. I did my best to be honest in my reviews, which can be a challenge when you are on a kick to MAKE something work. Admittedly, I would accept 4 and 4.5 star performance, maybe even down to a 3.5, simply because I know these cleaners are pure and not going to poison my children when they inevitably "help" me clean and either inhale the vapors or lick and drink everything in sight. My son has an astounding ability to be up to his armpits in something before I even realize he's left my side. And he knows how to open the "child proof" bathroom cabinets. Frankly they are more difficult to close than to open. What I'm saying is, if you try these and would rate them differently, don't blame me. But I would say all of these cleaners are worth a try because of the simplicity, frugality, and purity they will bring to your home. I will stick with it and let you know if my opinion changes!

If you've read this far, please help yourself to a cookie and a sticker because that took some stamina. Please comment below with any thoughts or questions because I'd love to interact with you as I continue to explore and refine our use of natural cleaners. Have a cleaner you love? Skeptical about one of my reviews? I would really appreciate hearing from you.

Still to come: natural beauty products. I'm testing these waters too. Interested in a review post on hair care, facial cleanser, and natural deodorant?

In closing, a thought just came to me. These are cleaning materials that have been probably used for eons by people who had no concept of modern "conveniences". How wise and generous is our God to provide naturally-occurring compounds and oils that have these cleansing, antibacterial properties? He has blessed us with ways to clean ourselves and our environment in order to care for our health and well-being. This just stirs an attitude of thankfulness in me, as well as awe. I feel closer to the Lord when I use simple materials He has given to take care of my home and family (not to imply that you are any further from Him when you Lysol the playroom). And I recognize the limitations to being "all-natural" and don't jump at things just because they boast this claim...poison ivy is natural, no? But a wise and careful approach is likely to yield great benefit, in my view. Again, thanks for reading; I've been excited to share these endeavors with you and perhaps learn from you in return.

Soli deo gloria!!