It’s one of my favorite times of year again, drum roll, please. Spring cleaning!
I love to clean, and everything about the spring refreshes my soul and brings me joy. From the flowers blooming to feeling the sun’s rays warm my skin, the songs the birds sing, and the calming breeze. It is the best and puts me in the mood to clean my window tracks. There is only one problem.
Clean ingredient household products are hard to come by, and the good ones can be expensive. When this occurs, I think about what my great-grandmothers might have used, most likely what they had in their kitchen and pantry.
Our skin, aka the integumentary system, is our largest organ. It can absorb any products we use on the skin or touch. That includes what we wash our body, hair, and teeth with, as well as our clothes, dishes, and countertops.
The products we expose ourselves and our family to matter. I’ve decided I want better for my home. The best way is to make homemade products. I listed some of my go-to homemade, all-natural cleaning products.
My homemade laundry detergent
Honestly, the amount people will pay for laundry detergent surprises me. Store-bought laundry detergent is almost 90% water with 10% synthetic fragrance and chemicals. These chemicals include formaldehyde, ethanol, bleach, ammonia, and artificial dyes like blue 1. A well-known laundry detergent (not to name any names) has over 83 ingredients in its liquid and powder detergents. I find this absurd. Many of these chemicals have adverse effects on humans, from hormonal disruptors and allergies to possibly cancer and neurological diseases.
My homemade laundry detergent is super simple and cheap! I found the recipe from AzureFarms. She blogs about simple country living on her homestead and more. I will link her blog below. I reuse my white vinegar jugs as the container to keep it in. Although a cute glass drink dispenser is more aesthetic, I can shake the jug to mix it before pouring it for each wash. At some point, I might transition to some big amber glass jugs to look more pleasing to the eye, but for now, my recycled jugs get the job done nicely.
Here is how to make it
First, I start by heating water on the stovetop. Once it comes to a soft roll, I add salt and baking soda. It may not completely dissolve, and that is okay! While that is dissolving, add thirty drops of essential oil to your bottle. Here is the fun part: you can try different combinations or change the scent with the season. I recently did ten drops of lavender, ten drops of bergamot, and ten drops of lemon. I loved how it came out; I kept smelling my fresh linens repeatedly.
Next, I place my jug in the sink so if I spill anything; I can utilize it to scrub the sink or wash the dishes afterward- if you know me, you know I am a little clumsy. I also enjoy getting the most out of my belongings, so I use every drop. Add a funnel to the mouth of the bottle you chose to use. Add some castile soap. I use Dr. Bronner’s All Purpose Castile soap because I also like to use it around the house. There are a couple of different scents you can purchase, including a non-scented. So far, I have used the lavender, peppermint, and tea tree. All three smell good!
Making your products last
Finally, After you add your choice of essential oils and castile soap, add your mixture of salt, baking soda, and water. Then, I fill the rest of my jug with water. I know, “Fill it up with water.” How is this different from store-bought laundry detergent? The difference is I am not paying for water, and it has cleaner ingredients for a fraction of the price. I have even found that you can split this recipe between two jugs if you want your cash to stretch the extra mile. The detergent will be less concentrated but will still get the job done. To measure for each load, I use an old laundry detergent lid/cap. I do one cap per load (this equals exactly 1/2 measuring cup). If it is a very soiled load, I will do two of my lids (1 measuring cup).
The ingredients include:
- 1/2 Cup Salt (I use my Himalayan salt)
- 1 Cup Baking Soda
- 30 drops essential oils (desired scent)
- 1 Cup Castile soap (desired scent)
- Fill the rest with water (Azurefarm recommends 14 cups)
For my fabric softener, I use distilled white vinegar. And no, it does not make my clothes smell like vinegar. Baking soda and white vinegar work together to disinfect, deodorize, lift stains, cleanse, and soften clothes. I have been using this for over two years and have no complaints.
Another thing I love is my wool dryer balls. I put a few drops of bergamot and lavender essential oil on them, then toss them in the dryer with the load. They replace dryer sheets. Wool dryer balls are a great, cost-effective way to decrease waste and not pay for dryer sheets every few weeks. It also doesn’t have unnecessary chemicals in it as dryer sheets do.
Mop the floors
Here comes the Dr. Bronner Castile soap again. I have an O-cedar mop bucket, so I take a separate bucket for my solution and place it in the O-cedar so the dirty water will stay separate from the clean water. Do a good squeeze of the castile soap (maybe a tablespoon) and sprinkle in some baking soda (also about a tablespoon). I then pour some distilled white vinegar into the bucket and fill it with hot water. Mix it up well and mop your floors.
If you run out of castile soap or prefer, you can also use your dish soap in its place for your mop solution. Depending on the size of your bucket or the water ratio you use, you might have to adjust the amount of soap you use to prevent it from being too sudsy.
All-Purpose Cleaner
This one is new to me, and I have enjoyed using it so far. My husband and I have recently loved eating oranges. I have felt so wasteful throwing away all the peels and was trying to think of how to utilize them. After looking through Pinterest and YouTube, I found the solution.
First, you take the leftover peel and place it in a jar. Fill the jar with vinegar and place it in a cool, dark area for two weeks. After two weeks, strain the vinegar from the jar and discard your orange peels. Then, pour the concentrated vinegar into a spray bottle. Fill it halfway, then fill the rest with water. If you desire, you can add some essential oils like lemon. Put the lid on top, and now you have a homemade, all-purpose cleaner. Perfect for countertops, windows, sinks, mirrors, you name it.
If you want to make your cleaner before two weeks, you can omit the orange peels and add 50% vinegar, 50% water, and 25 drops of essential oil to an empty spray bottle. I got this inspiration from Laura, creator of Our Oily House. Her link is listed below as well. Her content includes but is not limited to essential oils, homemade bath and beauty products, and homemade natural cleaners. I mentioned in one of my more recent posts ways to recycle banana peels; if you want to check that out I will link it here: https://wonderfullymade-kmk.com/how-to-start-being-a-homesteader/
Mattress and carpet odor
I remember my anatomy and physiology professor in college said our mattress collects about 1 pound of dead skin cells each year. If you think that is bad, the average human sweats around 200 ml each night while they sleep. That is about 19 gallons over a year. Is everyone officially grossed out?
For that very reason, we should be washing linens at least weekly. Cleaning or deodorizing our mattresses every two weeks is doable and makes a huge difference. I deodorize our mattress by taking a mason jar, pouring some baking soda into it, and then adding a few drops of my favorite essential oil(s). Of course, you guessed mine; I do bergamot and lavender. Shake it up, then sprinkle it on your carpets, mattress, or couch.
The other night, I did this to our mattress; I stripped the bed to the bare mattress, sprinkled it all over it, and let it sit all day. I vacuumed it and made the bed with our washed mattress topper and linens. That night, I could not get over how amazing our bed smelled. There is nothing better than clean, lovely-smelling linens.
What homemade products do you make?
These are just a few of my homemade cleaning product switches that I enjoy using in my home. If you have any clean items that you enjoy, I would love to hear about them! You can comment on this blog below or email me.
Lord, thank you for my home. I love taking care of it and the people in it. I love working with my hands and creating items to benefit my family. Thank you for this gift. Lord, please give us wisdom on how to better care for those that we love. I thank you for the reader today. To you all glory, God. Amen.
SOURCES
Two beautifully done blogs that I find very inspiring.
https://www.ouroilyhouse.com/diy-all-purpose-house-cleaner/.
Kati , I really enjoyed reading this post about natural cleaners.
Thank you, Pat! I hope you found a new recipe to try 🙂