DIY – Homemade House Cleaners

photo by Jill Clardy

My exploration in DIY is pretty recent, and I am no DIY expert. But I thought I would use this site to document my efforts, to show you that I am your ordinary girl attempting to transform her own life.

My latest experiment is homemade cleaning agents. Everyone’s heard about good old vinegar, baking soda, and a bit of lemon juice. I was pretty skeptical and not motivated enough to really go try it myself. However, after reading a few success stories, I decided to give it another go (plus, you could save a lot of your precious cash). Also, there are tons of resources on the web and tons of variations of recipes for homemade cleaning products. I list a few of these at the end of this entry. Why go homemade? BlissTree says it well:

Benefits of homemade cleaners:

• Less packaging waste. You’re not buying new bottles over and over.
• Less expensive. I actually started making homemade products before I was really all the waygreen – why? To save money.
• Less harmful (often not harmful at all) to humans, animals, and the earth.
• Less noxious home smell. Homemade natural cleaners always smell better than store bought.Well, except vinegar – but I have major vinegar issues. There are ways to mask the smell of vinegar though – not completely, but somewhat. Lavender essential oil and lemon juice both work some to hide the icky vinegar smell.

So far I’ve tried a homemade drain cleaner, dishwashing liquid for both handwashing and machine washing, and laundry with soapnuts. Soapnuts are fantastic! I’ll explain more about them later in this post.

Recipes

Drain cleaner:
1 cup baking soda
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups hot water

Pour baking soda into clogged drain. Follow with vinegar. Let sit for 30 minutes, then flush with 2 cups boiling hot water. Another flush can be done after 10 minutes.

Dishwashing Liquid:
Vinegar in the rinse box

1 part soapnuts liquid (or water)
1 part baking soda
1 part borax (I used salt)
1 part lemon juice

Mix all ingredients and pour into detergent cup. That’s it! Don’t forget vinegar in the rinse.

Laundry: I toss 5 soapnuts in a muslin bag and throw it in the drum of my washer with my clothes. They come out looking quite fine.

Soapnuts

I have definitely fallen in love with soapnuts. By using soapnuts for laundry, I’m not purchasing any new plastic bottles or detergents with harsh chemicals that persist in our waterways. My order did, however unfortunately, come packaged in a plastic bag. I got them from here. So, what are they? Soapnuts are the fruit of a tree that is native to India, Nepal, and certain regions of South Asia. They are round fruits shaped like walnuts (before shelling), soft and filled with a soapy substance called saponins. They are not extremely sudsy, but work very well. I watched my metal pot transform into smooth shiny newness. You should see it too! You can also make a concentrated liquid by boiling 12-15 soapnuts in 6 cups of water for about 30 minutes. Then strain the liquid from the soapnuts and you have soapnut liquid! This can be used as is for dishwashing and it works just fine alone. For tougher stains, you’d probably need the baking soda and other goodies. And you could explore with how concentrated you want the soapnut liquid. More water, less soapnuts = less concentrated. Less water, more soapnuts = more concentrated. And once the soapnuts are done, you can compost them! There are plenty of other uses for soapnuts, documented nicely on the BuySoapnuts website.  I’ve been using my homemade soapnuts dishwashing liquid for my dishwasher, and it has worked just fine. I use it for handwashing dishes as well.

I’ve been unsuccessful with the drain cleaner the two times I tried it before yesterday. The latest clogged drain happened last Friday, where I tried a treatment of baking soda and vinegar. My mistake was that I had a brain glitch and added the hot water right afterwards {what can I say, my heart is golden}. I assumed it didn’t work. This probably diluted the vinegar, resulting in a less strong reaction with the baking soda. Yesterday, I decided to give it another go before turning to a store-bought drainer. Fyi, the drain has been clogged this whole week [I wanted to give the homemade stuff another chance before resorting to ugly ugly Draino]. The drain was still full of wet baking soda from a week ago, so I stopped myself from pouring in anymore and went straight to the vinegar. It bubbled up and the vinegar drained right away. I put the stopper in and went to write about it! =P After letting it sit for half an hour, I flushed it with some hot water, and it went down nicely. There, clean drain! And no need for purchasing a plastic bottle filled with nastiness.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with homemade cleaning agents for regular use, and would encourage everyone to try it themselves. Some good resources for homemade cleaner recipes:

• AltUse – Discover Alternative Uses for Everyday Products
• BlissTree – 25 Safe, Non-toxic Homemade Cleaning Supplies
• EarthEasy – Non-toxic home care
• BuySoapnuts – Soapnuts and How to Use Them