Natural Cleaning: Getting Started

I feel like I have been on a journey lately. My views on certain things have changed so drastically in the last few months. Since deciding to move to Houston to help plant a multicultural church, I have been searching all over the internet for new ways to start saving money for my family. What started as just a way to save money has slowly evolved into seeking a healthier lifestyle for my family. It all started with trying coupons. I did okay with it initially.  I would grab two copies of the Sunday paper, match up coupons to the sales, and get to cutting. I would go to the store and come back home feeling really good about how much money I had saved. I would get laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, and even some food. Our stock pile was slowly beginning to grow. However,  I quickly started to realize that I was spending an extra $20-$30 a week buying these coupon items to build our stock pile. We simply didn't have the extra money in our budget to do that. I tried to reason that in the long run we would save a lot of money by not having to buy these products at full price. Maybe I wasn't doing it right, or spending enough time working at it, but it just was not working for us. I finally gave up.

I went back to researching other ways to save the money we needed to be saving. I finally stumbled upon a blog one day that opened my eyes to a whole new way of doing things. I saw a post on Like a Mustard Seed blog about making your own laundry soap. Now I had heard before about some one doing this and never had thought very seriously about it. However, after seeing how cheap and easy it would be to make, I started getting excited. While talking with one of my best friends in Ohio, I shared with her my laundry soap find. She told me that her Uncle actually made his own cleaning products. He used one gallon of water and adds in 1/3 cup of white vinegar to clean the floors and surfaces in the day care he cleaned.

Could it be that simple!?!?!

I decided to give this a try first. Here is the final recipe I ended up using:

1 Gallon Water

1/3 Cup Distilled White Vinegar

1 Lemon Rind

 

Obviously the only thing I changed from my friend's Uncle's recipe was to add lemon peels.  I saved a gallon jug from our milk, used a funnel to add the water and vinegar, and added one whole lemon rind. I poured some of the mixture into a spray bottle and added a few more lemon rinds. The lemon rinds added a fresh lemon smell to mask the vinegar smell.  I sprayed the floor with the mixture and used my mop like normal. So easy and works great! Even after using the more expensive floor cleaners, my floor would still feel slightly sticky. It drove me nuts! Now my floor feels clean, looks clean, and smells clean! 

I have began to use this cleaner on my kitchen counters, kitchen table, the bathroom, and even to wipe down appliances! My favorite thing about this cleaner is that not only is it cheap cheap cheap, but it is also much safer for my family, and so much better for the environment. I am hooked! I will never go back to buying expensive cleaning products again! 

I am continually looking for and finding new recipes for cleaning products.  You can check out my pinterest board Make it Yourself! for a lot of the recipes I am using. I will also share some of my favorites with you in later posts.

I currently am making...

tub and shower cleaner

dishwasher detergent

dryer sheets

Color Safe Bleach Alternative

Citrus Enzyme Cleaner

On my list to make is...

Laundry Detergent (I am waiting to run out of my stockpile first)

"Clorox" Wipes

Hand and Dish Soap

"Windex"

Seeing how much better these cleaning products are for my family has me researching other ways, not only to save my family money, but more importantly, to be healthier. As I mentioned in this post, I am slowly starting to rework my family's diet. We are eating more real food as opposed to processed, boxed food. I am also very interested in making our own body wash, shampoo, lotion, deodorant, and toothpaste. I plan on trying each of these out when we run out of them in our stock pile.

I have even began to think about switching out the medicines in our cabinet with more natural/herbal remedies, as well as growing our own vegetable garden. These two ideas however, are going to take much more research before diving in. 

I am so excited about it all! I will be sharing with you as I try new ideas...whether they are successes or failures!

Have you tried making your own cleaning supplies? Any tried and true recipes that you love?
Please share below, I am always looking for new ideas!


Linking to Raising Homemakers, Make Your Move Monday, Homestead Barn Hop, Raising Arrows