I love to find anyway to make life easier and SAVE money. When I can do that and make wise choices for the environment too, it’s like a match made in heaven. This is certainly the case for household cleaners. They’ll save you money, keep things spotless, and cut down the number of chemicals you expose your family to on a daily basis. These are ALL tips that I’ve used over and over again over the last 5+ years (including while we paid off $127K in debt) in the Royal Abode to keep the castle clean without cleaning out the Royal Coffers.
1) White Vinegar, Baking Soda, and Borax. Your grandma probably ALWAYS kept all three of these items on hand to make her own cleaners. Seriously, if you pick these Big 3 Cleaning items up at the grocery store, you can concoct just about any homemade cleaner known to man. They’re affordable and have multiple uses. And there are often recipes right on the box!
2) Homemade Jewelry Cleaners. I know you think I’m seriously bonkers here but you can use TOOTHPASTE to clean your jewelry – gold, white gold, sterling or tarnished silver. Avoid the whitening, anti-tarter, and gel varieties and opt for plain old cheapy {no added silica} toothpaste. Use an old brush to scrub it, rinse with water, and then dry with a soft cloth. Or you can use a favorite recipe of mine – 1 cup of hot water {microwave or heat on the stove}, 1 T of Salt, 1 T of Baking Soda, and 1 T of Dishwashing Liquid, like Dawn. Line a cereal bowl with a piece aluminum foil. Pour hot water in the bowl. Add the other ingredients (they will bubble up, science is cool!). Then place your jewelry on top of the foil. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. Rinse with cool water, scrub with an old toothbrush if necessary, and dry with a soft cloth. It really works! Your Royal Jewels will be super sparkly. Discard of the solution, which mind you doubles as a great drain cleaner. As a side note, from everything I’ve read, the second recipe is NOT good with silver and soft stones like pearls or opals.
3) Homemade All Purpose Cleaner. I use 2 parts White Vinegar mixed with 1 part Water and a good squeeze of Dawn or other Dish Soap (I’m so bad with measurements!) in a spray bottle to make our own multi-surface cleaner. It does a fabulous job in the shower, on kitchen counters and tables, stovetops, even on glass. I had some nasty goo built up on my stovetop last week from a baked sweet potato that had set in its juices and left a syrupy mess on the countertop. I simply sprayed the area while working and came back 15 minutes later to wipe the surface completely clean, no elbow grease required.
4) Make Your Own Dishwashing Detergent. My favorite recipe (along with some tips and tricks) can be found here. Believe it or not, 2 of the central ingredients are Lemonade mix and Epsom Salts. But this recipe literally lasts me a YEAR.
5) Double Up. Many homemade detergents like the dishwashing detergent one mentioned above can also be used as great scours for tubs, sinks, and toilets. Homemade laundry detergent also doubles as a great spot and stain remover, too. Test a small area before beginning but typically since all of the ingredients are basic, you won’t have any problems with double uses. To maximize your scouring potential, cut a lemon in half, dip it into the dishwashing detergent, and scrub a nasty kitchen sink until it sparkles & smells divine.
6) Clean Your Shower Head with White Vinegar. It’s a science lesson and cleaning job all in one. Fill a plastic baggie with White Vinegar and then rubberband it to your shower head. Watch as years of gunk flies out into the bag and the head is unclogged. Not only will your shower be cleaner, but the water pressure will improve too, maximizing your savings.
7) Skip the Air Fresheners/Odor Neutralizers. Buy a $0.49 box of Baking Soda for all of your odor issues (P-U!). Sprinkle it into stinky wet laundry, vacuum it up from the carpet, store it in the fridge/freezer, keep some in the car in lieu of that hanging fir tree, drop some in your teen’s smelly sneakers, even put some in kitty’s litterbox, Baking Soda does it all! As a side note, we’ve found that it knocks out throw up smell from a bout of car sickness, too (I know, TMI). Sprays typically cover the smell instead of removing it. Baking Soda absorbs the smell instead. And you can easily discard it.
8) Furniture Polish. Scared of all of the propellants that fly out of furniture polish? Use a simple mixture of 1 c of Olive Oil (the cheaper, the better) and 1/2 c of Lemon Juice. Granted this one could get pricey if you’re not careful where you shop. However you can divide it in half to make a smaller batch. Or just not dust at all if you’re like me. I KID I KID. Kind of . . . Use a soft cloth and dip it in the solution to polish it up! Olive oil can turn rancid so store it in a seal tight container and give it a sniff before you use it a 2nd time. Also, be sure to shake well to recombine the elements before using it again.
9) Laundry Detergent. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, we save $100s of dollars on laundry detergent yearly by making our own powdered detergent from a simple three ingredient recipe – 1 cup of Borax, 1 cup of Washing Soda, and 1 bar of Ivory Soap grated.
10) Ditch the Fabric Softeners. Opt for White Vinegar in the fabric softener ball (found near softeners in the laundry aisle). You can also choose to use spiky balls like these (often found where you purchase irons/ironing boards/hangers/etc. And LOOK at these! SO adorable.) in the dryer to reduce static.
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Does the laundry detergent work for HE washers?
It does! It works better if you use it directly in with the clothes as opposed to the detergent dispenser. Read more tips about saving on laundry here: http://www.queenoffree.net/2012/03/four-ways-to-save-money-while-doing/