A Guide to Homemade Cleaners

 

by Kim Tilley

 "NEW! IMPROVED! WITH THE CLEANING ACTION OF BLEACH AND THE FRESH SCENT OF BAKED APPLES, IT'S....." Ah, the miracle cleaners! If you look at the coupon sections of your Sunday paper, cleaners are big business. There are always plenty of coupons for cleaners, all claiming to miraculously clean everything. We often see products advertised now that brag about how they have the scent of a rose and the "added power of baking soda" (or other basic cleaners, like bleach). Why not just use the baking soda? Why buy something expensive, over hyped and prepackaged when the baking soda is sitting in your kitchen cabinet?

Take a look at your favorite cleaners-what's in them that makes them really work well? I had to hit myself over the head for this one! My favorite cleaner is Clorox Cleanup with Bleach. Why am I not just trying the bleach by itself? Why do I still feel like I need the miracle cleaner? Sometimes it is hard to change when we are conditioned by commercials. They tell us we need these miracle cleaners that are strong enough to kill microbes on Mars but still have a "lemony fresh scent." I think the key to any change is to make the transition gradually. In this case, you do that by replacing your store bought cleaners as they run out and ignoring those commercials!

The whole topic of natural cleaners, homemade cleaners and natural homemaking has been the topic of many books. I cannot claim to be an expert, as I too am slowly replacing my commercial cleaners (bought with double coupons and free after rebate!) with homemade cleaners. What I found while researching this article is that there is a ton of information out there! I have listed the websites and books that I know of, I am sure there are tons more!

Here are some homemade solutions and uses for things you may already have in your home. I have tried some of them. Not all of them will work "miraculously", but they will probably get the job done. Please let me know how the homemade cleaners you try work out for you! And be sure to send in your favorite homemade formulas that I may have left out.



Some safety tips:

1. NEVER MIX BLEACH AND AMMONIA TOGETHER!! This combination is deadly! Also, never mix products together that contain bleach with products that contain ammonia! This includes dishwasher detergent (contains bleach). I would even go as far as storing them in different places just as a precaution.
2. ALWAYS check labels on products before combining ANYTHING! It's not worth making these cleaners if you wind up in the hospital or the morgue, so PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!!!
3. KEEP ALL CLEANERS AWAY FROM KIDS- even though these are environmentally friendly, they are still not safe for children , so please keep these away from your kids!