Homemade Cleaning Supplies

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It happens all the time in many homes, all over the world. You decide that this would be the perfect time to tackle the job that’s been waiting for you and taunting you for weeks. The fingerprints, baby kisses, dog snarf and endless smudges have been building up for a while now, and it is time to take them out. The end is nigh. Yes, the windows in the house will be clean! Oh, and while you are getting ready for battle, you might as well add all the mirrors, car windows, and chrome fixtures to the mission plan.

This is going to be great!

Armed with determination and confidence, you reach for the paper towels and window cleaner only to discover a nearly empty bottle and 2 small sheets left on your once jumbo sized paper towel roll! Yikes!! What will you do? Sure, you can run to the store, but you are ready now and you don’t want to lose your momentum!

Do not fear, human cleaning machine. The mission is not lost and does not need to be aborted. The window cleaning project will go on because you are frugal and you are smart.

You can make your own cleaners!

For great window cleaner, get a pint size squirt bottle and add 4 tablespoons rubbing alcohol, 4 tablespoons plain, household ammonia and fill up rest of the bottle with tap water. You can use the empty window cleaner spray bottle that you already have. If it holds more than a pint, you can just add more ingredients, being sure to keep the same ratio. If you like the look of the blue window cleaning mixture, put a few squirts of food coloring into your chemical mixture and you are good to go. As far as being short on the paper towels, newspapers work great for cleaning windows.

I have a friend that always uses just vinegar and newspapers to clean windows. It works great!

You can also use vinegar to make a dusting cloth that just acts as a dust magnet. Wring out a soft cloth (an old t-shirt works well) in vinegar and let it dry. That’s it! You can also just mix equal parts of vinegar and water in a spray bottle and spray it lightly on your hardwood floors as you dust-mop. Your floors will be clean and shiny, and the vinegar neutralizes bad odors, too. You can’t beat that!

Another household cleaner you can mix yourself is laundry stain remover. My mom used to use this all the time and I realized how good the stuff was when, as a teenager, I spilled grape juice on my mom’s brand new carpeting! I thought I was dead, but the homemade cleaner did the trick and saved my life. It was a real miracle, and I was so grateful, believe me!

Mix equal parts of water, ammonia and a good dishwashing liquid like Dawn. Put it in a squirt bottle and use it on laundry (or carpet) stains. It might not save your life, but it will save your clothes!

Another idea for a homemade cleaner uses baking soda. I think you can clean just about anything with baking soda. It really is an amazing thing. For carpet freshener mix ¾ cup baking soda, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch and ¼ cup perfumed talcum powder. Baking soda is also a great remover of stains from tile, grout and china. Just mix a little water with it and scrub, scrub scrub!

So go ahead. Tackle those cleaning jobs. You are armed and ready and saving a ton of money on cleaning supplies! The dirt, grime and dust won’t know what hit them! Cleaning mission frugally accomplished!