My Cleaning List

Um. . . my house is dirty.And I need to clean it. So I started making lists again- did I mention I love lists? And recipes. I love recipes, too. So now I have these:

Did you know you can make your own cleaning supplies? It is very easy to do. I’ve been making and using them for years, but ran out last fall and hadn’t taken the time to make up a new batch. I mainly use baking soda and vinegar, with just a few extra special things when I need a little more oomph in my potions. I use Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap for my sprayables and the solid bars in my laundry soap, and I  also use essential oils for their cleansing properties, and the way they make the house smell yummy. This month it is all Lavender, all the time- except for the laundry soap, which is rose scented. I also am testing a dishwashing machine “soap”, which so far is working just great, but I ‘m only three days into the trial, so we’ll see how I shakes out. 

Whenever I start a new project, be it sewing, cooking , or simples making, I always do lots of research before I even start to gather my materials. My research starts with a Google search, then lots of reading: blogs, wiki’s,company websites, forums and also the comments sections of blogs- that’s where you find the most important information, the testers’ results! I compare and contrast reports, tips, recipes, and comments on other blogger’s sites, then start checking books out from the library. My favorite resources are Annie Berthold-Bond’s Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living and  Organic Body Care Recipes: 175 Homemade Herbal Formulas for Glowing Skin & a Vibrant Self by Stephanie L. Tourles. My favorite websites for homemade recipes are SouleMama and angry chicken, and a new on I recently found, asonomagarden. I do a lot of testing and tweaking to make things that work for me and my family, and on the whole we are very pleased with the things we use.

The benefits to using homemade cleaning products (can I call them products if they weren’t made in a  lab? Hmm… supplies? Potions? Concoctions?) are threefold. They cost less to make- the initial outlay for a box of baking soda, washing soda, borax and a bottle of vinegar is less than the price of most laundry detergents I have found, but the Dr. Bronners soaps will cost you a bit. The cool thing is the liquid is a super concentrate, and will last me an entire year because most of my recipes only call for a teaspoon per potion! They also make it easier to breathe- they are healthier to use, won’t cause flaking or burns if they come into contact with your skin (unless you’re allergic to one of the ingredients! so be careful with them until you determine if you are folks) and the scents are soothing to the nerves and senses. No more holding my breathe until I can get out of the room after I’ve sprayed something! And lastly I have a great sense of peace of mind about using these cleaning supplies because I know exactly what’s in them. I clean more often because I like to use them, they work great, and I love the satisfaction of making something useful from basically nothing more exotic than baking soda and vinegar!

Of course, now I have to actually go use them, and whip this house into shape!