Erin Benhke shared some great ideas, tips and recipes with us.
Homemade and Natural Cleaning Products
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I wanted to share with you some
of my personal experience with homemade an natural products. I have 17+ years of using these types of
products, and have made plenty of mistakes a long the way. Please learn from my trial and error to have
your clothes and home as clean as you want it.
First, scents really do play a
huge role in what we purchase. They make
cleaning much more pleasant or unpleasant for us. I cannot handle strong fragrance
oils/scents. They give me
headaches. I have learned that I really
do need to stick with natural for this.
Essential Oils do not seem to bother me.
Sometimes I find it difficult to find pleasing smells in homemade EO
blends, so I will purchased products that are already scented. Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soaps come in many
different pleasing scents. If you don’t
want to purchase a large amount of Eos to play around with, this is a good
option.
Second, soaps and detergents work
differently. Detergents work better for
getting clothes clean than soaps do. In
fact soaps will end up leaving your clothes with lots of mineral build up and
will end up making them dingy and stinky over time. I have found that short cuts or money saving
homemade products do not work effectively in my laundry. My favorite laundry products come from Bio
Kleen (Bac Out is the BEST). Although
after learning more about detergents this past month, I will be trying
something new from Costco soon. I also
have to mention that I love Shaklee’s Basic H.
A little goes a long way, it can be used for countless applications, and
I can scent it any way I want to.
Third, here are things that are a
waste of money:
·
Ceramic Washing Machine Balls- these are a scam,
one I fell for for way too long, and my laundry suffered greatly.
·
Wool Dryer balls- people swear by these, but I
have NOT seen any benefit other than fluffing capabilities, and tennis balls
would work as well.
Lastly, here is my basic list of
things you need to make just about anything:
·
Vinegar
·
Dish Soap or Castile Soap
·
Baking Soda
·
Essential Oils
·
Hydrogen Peroxide
·
White Toothpaste
·
Lemons
·
Borax
·
Citric Acid (if you want to make fancy 1 time
use pods)
Recipes
Foaming Hand Soap (For 1 16-oz or 2 8-oz dispensers):
2 cups of water, boiled an cooled (or distilled)
1-2 TBSP of castile soap
10-20 drops lemon or orange essential oil
Put ingredients into pump dispenser. Start with 10 drops of EO, and add more to
your preference.
Time Saving Tip: Use a scented castile soap that you like
and fill the dispensers with 2 TBSP and 2 cups of water.
Variations:
Unscented- don’t use EO
Other scents- put 10-20 drops of your favorite EO (mine is
Four Thieves by Eden’s Garden because it keeps sickness away)
Extra Moisturizing- add 1 tsp. of vitamin E oil
Lemon Microwave Cleaner:
4 Cups water
1 Lemon
Put 4 cups
of water into a microwave save bowl.
Juice the lemon into the water,
and put both halves of
the juiced lemon into the bowl.
Microwave for 3-5 minutes, then let sit and steam for 10 minutes. Wipe clean with damp cloth.
Lemon and Clove Nightly Sink Scrub:
2 cups baking soda
10 drops Lemon EO
10 drops Clove EO
1 squirt of dish soap
Add baking soda to jar and scent with EO. Stir to combine. Wet kitchen sink a bit and sprinkle up to ¼
cup of baking soda in sink. Add a squirt
of dish soap and scrub with a brush.
Rinse and dry with a cloth. Store
leftovers in a cool, dark place indefinitely.
Granite Cleaner:
3 TBSP Rubbing Alcohol
2 Cups of water
¼ tsp. castile soap or dish soap
Add ingredients in a spray bottle and shake to combine.
Spray on granite and wipe clean with a microfiber cloth.
Store in spray bottle for up to 1 month.
Kitchen Disinfecting Spray:
16-ounce container of hydrogen peroxide- use 3% solution
that you find in the drugstore
Spray top
Find a spray top that will fit your bottle. Rinse any food particles away, and spray
surface with hydrogen peroxide. Let
stand for 10 minutes and wipe or rinse clean (you can use castile soap for
this). Make sure to keep in original
container.
This is great for cutting boards.
Resources:
Great cleaning
resource:
Best enzyme cleaner
for laundry and best carpet cleaner:
I just like this
stuff (Shaklee):
A great book, and
its free on amazon wireless:
Soap Nuts:
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