Tips and Tricks: Homemade Cleaners
Homemade cleaners are the new fad. From people who want a healthier home to those with small kids, everyone wants an all-around safer home. Complete Care Systems took the initiative to test the best of the best web cleaners and compare them for you!
Our son is always in the bathroom taking care of the way he look for his girlfriend. This means that his mirror always has to be clean. We wanted to find something that was good for us since we use window cleaner almost as much as our all purpose cleaners. We found that you can use vinegar and dawn OR rubbing alcohol. Neither one sounded appealing to us. The smells were absolutely horrible, but on the plus side they did go away quickly. We decided that the vinegar and dawn mixture worked better. The mixture did soap up a little bit on the glass. A quick fix is to wipe it down twice. For the soap reason I give this one an A-
2 cups water
¼ cup white vinegar
½ teaspoon Dawn
-Mix in a bottle, spray on glass, and wipe away.
Toilets are always the grossest part of our house. My kids seem to have a hard time keeping theirs clean, especially the inside. Through our research we found most people recommended either using vinegar and baking soda OR baking soda and soap. So which one worked the best? With a little bit of elbow grease we found that vinegar and baking soda worked the best. It fizzed up a little and took off all of the stuff that was growing in my kids toilet. I give this one an A-
-Spritz inside of toilet thoroughly with vinegar.
-Let stand for a few minutes before sprinkling baking soda on top.
-Brush with toilet brush and flush.
Our tubs come in a close second when it comes to dirty. The soap scum is always the hardest to get rid of and we all hate the smell of the CLR that we have to use to get it off. We were excited when we found two cleaners that people on pinterest and various google sites swear by: vinegar and dawn VS baking soda and lemon juice. To our surprise the cleaner that worked the best was the baking soda and lemon juice. Although it didn’t clean our tiles like it said it would, it took all of the soap scum off of our fixtures in the tub and left them shiny. I give this one a B+
¾ cup baking soda
¼ cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons salt
½ cup vinegar
10 drops of essential oil (optional)
-Mix all ingredients in a bottle. When ready to use, shake well and pour onto a rag. Scrub then mix with water.
Finally we had all purpose cleaners. This is the cleaner that is used in every house so why not have it be healthy for your family? With homemade cleaners there is no need to rinse after you do your cleaning. There are two cleaners that are highly recommended by various all natural bloggers: apple cider vinegar AND borax. Both cleaned fairly well, but the apple cider vinegar solution smelled so horrible we could only clean half of the counter. So with that being said the borax solution wins with a grade of a solid A.
1 teaspoon borax
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon liquid soap
18 drops essential oil (optional)
2 cups warm water
-Mix in a squirt bottle and use.
With all of these cleaners you will want to use a little bit of elbow grease. Because there are no harsh chemicals the crust on some of our countertop may need an extra push. Tune in next week for more tips and tricks on how to keep your home healthy.
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