Very simple for me:

Water
Vinegar
Baking soda
Lemon juice (fresh if available, concentrate is fine though)

This takes care of everything for me.

I have the book Green This! Greening Your Cleaning by Dierdre Imus. It has many different "recipes" for homemade cleaners and changed my whole outlook on what we put into our environment. I save money and a little bit of the environment at the same time!

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"It's time to move from what we can do, to what we must do, to what we will do." ~Hillary Clinton

I am going to have to check out that book! Thanks for posting the title. I have been looking for a book that would help my cleaning products go green (er). Do you find they clean as well as store bought products?

Mix baking soda w/ liquid dish soap to form a paste to clean bathrooms and kitchens.

I'm not sure what the rule here is on links but I figured since I didn't make these and I have quite a few I use it'd be better to just post the original links....

Homemade Wipes (Recipe for Baby Wipes, After Bath Wipes, Multi-purpose Wipes, & Car Cleaning Wipes. Note: You could use the multi-purpose recipe with Windex to make ones for Windows.)
Homemade Wipes Recipe | Recipezaar

All-Purpose Cleaner (Note: Thjis one makes 4 bottles worth so you can have refills. Don't forget the gallon jug to hold it in.)
The Best All Purpose Cleaner Recipe | Recipezaar

Cleaning Your Dishwasher Recipe (Also has a recipe for a Dish Spot Stopper in steps 13 & 14)
Cleaning Your Dishwasher Recipe | Recipezaar

Dishwasher Soap (You can also use this as a prewash and then use half your normal dishwashing soap.)
Dishwasher Soap Recipe | Recipezaar

Easy Microwave Cleaner (I did this one on my horrible mess of a mic and it worked amazingly! Note: Don't forget, the water has to be boiling before you count the 20 seconds.)
Easy Homemade Microwave Cleaner Recipe | Recipezaar

Soft Soap Substitute
Everlasting Soft Soap Recipe | Recipezaar

Faux Febreeze
Faux Febreeze Recipe | Recipezaar

Furniture Polish
Cheap Homemade Furniture Polish Recipe | Recipezaar

Window Cleaner
Cheap and Easy Homemade Window Cleaner Recipe | Recipezaar

Laundry Detergent- Liquid
Home Made Laundry Detergent Recipe | Recipezaar

Laundry Detergent- Powder (I wasn't sure what washing powder is so I use 1/2 c of baking soda and 1/2 c of some powdered detergent I have. You'll likely need more than the amount listed per wash. Adjust as you see fit.)
Laundry Detergent Powder Recipe | Recipezaar

Thanks for posting all those links. I've never heard of Recipezaar, I'm going to have to check it out!

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www.myspace.com/vioburn

Frugal is being wise with your money and resources and cheap is forcing everyone else to.

Check out my blog, I'm starting to add more to it, as I can...vioburn.blogspot.com

Hi I'm new here and wow what a great site!! I started making my own all-purpose cleaner, detergent, you name it. The only cleaner I really buy is Borax (which is non-toxic and natural) but I combine it with other things to make my cleaners, etc. I tried several dishwashing detergents (for dishwashers). The first one was terrible, but I came across another recipe for it and I love it. It works as well as the eco-friendly, but very expensive ones. Here it is:
1 cup Borax
1 cup baking soda
1/4 cup salt
2 packages lemon kool-aid (must be lemon). This is for the citric acid in it. You can use real citric acid (1/4 cup). However, when I used the real citric acid instead of the lemon kool-aid, I found that it clumped.
30 drops of citrus essential oil (I use lemon). I bought about 10 essential oils when I started making my own cleaners to give them some nice aromatherapy. Usually these are as high as a cat's back! However, I found them very cheap (most of them under $4 at vitacost.com). They last forever. I've used only about 1/3 of my little bottle of lemon essential oil and I've made at least 4 batches of this dishwashing detergent and used it to scent several cleaners.

Take all of these ingredients and shake, shake, shake. You only need to put one tablespoon in each compartment (less for light loads). I really love it and it's just pennies per load.

I also use vinegar for cleaning floors, counters, you name it. I put about 1/4 cup in the liquid fabric softener compartment in my washer and it does a great job softening. I also use vinegar instead of the expensive jet dry.

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God bless you and your day!
Just clay,
Rosemary
ray:

I recently found that Baby Oil works well for removing adhesive.

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Christine's Corner



Mom to Matt, 3 years and Catie, 7 months!

I use vinegar and water ( equal parts) for this - it makes the floors so shiny! Just mop them lightly - don't soak the floors, use a damp mop.

I make all of my own cleaners
Laundry Soap
2 cup borax
2 cup washing soda
2/3 bar FelsNaptha grated
mix in container use 1-2 tbs per load

Soft Scub
1cup baking soda
1/4 cup borax
1tbsp castile soap
5-10 drops of favorite essential oil (can omit)
1/4 cup water
combine in jar and shake well (i saved old soft scrub bottle and put in there)

Antibacterial Cleaner
4 cup water
1 tbsp castile soap
1/4-1/2 cup vinegar
20 drops tee tree oil
20 drops lavender
put in spray bottle

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My goal-to live a peaceful and serene life