Spring Cleaning Its almost time !!!

I don't know about you but I have already started my Spring cleaning.  This is one of my all time favorite home made cleaners.   Its easy to make and very low in cost.  It not only cleans it kills Germs too.  I love it because you don't have to switch cleaners.  It doesn't streak so you can use it on windows and mirrors.  I even mop with it.  I buy those white shop rags in the auto dept at Walmart and use them on my swiffer they are great and you can just throw them in the wash and bleach them white again.  Check out our other home made cleaners they are under the Frugal Home Care Tips.  ~ Ethel

All Purpose Cleaner

I have this cleaner that I have been making for years...and I love love love it!!! I use it to clean my bathrooms every single day, mirror, shower, tub, sink, toilet.  It cleans it all.  I use it to clean my windows, counters, floors, sink, stove, ect.  It truly is all purpose, and it costs pennies to make.
Here is what you need:

1 - 32 oz. spray bottle

1 tsp. dish soap

1 TBSP. ammonia (I'm using lemon.)

1 TBSP. lemon juice

2 TBSP. vinegar (I'm using orange.)

1/3 cup rubbing alcohol

Using a funnel, begin by adding the dish soap into the empty spray bottle.  Follow that with the lemon juice, vinegar and ammonia.  These are your cleaning agents.

Next, pour in your rubbing alcohol. This helps the cleaner to be streak free. It also gives it some extra germ killing power.

Fill your bottle the rest of the way with cold tap water, slap on the spray top and give your bottle a little shake.  Then grab a towel and go to town cleaning.  Just beware, the first time you make this, you should give yourself plenty of extra time to clean.  You are going to go from room to room spraying and wiping everything in sight, just to see how awesome it cleans ;)

I always mix mine in batches of 3. One to keep in each bathroom and one for the kitchen

Tip of the Day ~ Clean Your Garbage Disposal

Don't throw away those orange peels after you strain them out of your orange vinegar!

Run them, a few at a time through your garbage disposal.  Be sure to run cold water the whole time, just as you would normally.  The rinds will scrub your blades, and the citrus and vinegar still left in them will help to cut any grease or dirt away.

Tip of the Day - Lard Soap

A bar of lard soap is great for rubbing into stains before laundering clothing.  It is an all natural and very potent cleanser that is easy on delicate skin.

Line Drying Your Laundry

Hanging your laundry out on a clothes line as one obvious benefit of saving you money on your gas/electric bill, but let me tell you, it has many other benefits as well.  Line drying doesn't wear out your clothes as quickly as the dryer does.  The sunshine helps to kill any germs that may have gotten left behind after the washing machine has done it's job.  Sunshine also helps to lighten or even remove some of those stubborn leftover stains as well.  Line drying also makes your clothes smelly truly fresh.  This is freshness that you don't get out of a bottle, it's the real stuff!  Here are a few tips for line drying your laundry.

1. On your washing machine, set your spin cycle on low.  Leaving a little more moisture in the clothes helps with the wrinkles.
2. Use 1/4 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle and don't over do it on the detergent, more is not better.
3. To whiten whites, add 1/4 cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle of whites.
4. Hang your shirts and pants upside down.
5. Take your laundry off the line when it is mostly dry, but not entirely dry.
6. Fluff the laundry in the dryer using the low or no heat option, for about 5 minutes.  Of course this is totally optional.  If you have hung your clothes out on a particularly breezy day, the wind may have fluffed your clothes for you.

If you don't have a clothes line set up in your back yard, don't worry, there are other options for you.  While I wait for the hubby to put my clothes line up, I am using some ropes attached to the awning on my back deck.  It is working well for now.  I have also used camping clothes lines.  These are very inexpensive and have the added bonus of being easily moved.  You can simply wrap them around a pair of trees, fence posts or deck posts, clip the line to the clasp to tighten and you have an instant clothes line.  You could also use a folding drying rack.
 My absolute favorite thing about line drying is how my laundry smells afterward.  Right now, my laundry is being scented by the roses and honeysuckle that are growing nearby.

Before the roses and honeysuckle, it was honey locust blossoms and lilac before that.

Tip of the Day - Stain Lifters

I have 4 favorite stain lifters for my dirty laundry.

They are cheap, easy to use and always in my pantry or laundry room.

1. Vinegar- I pour this straight onto grass stains.  I also use it in place of fabric softener. I pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vinegar into my fabric softener dispenser.  It leaves my clothes soft and fresh. Plus, it kills any germs that the laundry soap may have left behind, and rinses away any left behind soap.

2. Rubbing Alcohol - Squirt this onto ink stains and it then toss it into the wash.  

3. Hydrogen Peroxide - I most commonly use this on urine or sweat stains, as well as berry or sauce stains.  I spray the stain, let it sit a few minutes before tossing it into the wash.

4. Fels Naptha or Homemade Lard Soap- This is best for oily or grungy dirt stains.  Just moisten the stain and rub the bar of soap into the stain, then launder as usual.

Tip of the Day ~ Turn up your cuffs!

When wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands, turn the cuffs up to protect your forearms and elbows.  Should you raise your hand, the liquid you are working with will pool in the cuff instead of running down your arm.

Carpet Freshener

This recipe is just another money saving cleaner, with the added bonus of being 100% All Natural.

It does an awesome job of deodorizing your carpets and rugs, plus if you use insect killing essential oils, such as tea tree, you can kill any of those little buggers that the dog drug in.

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of cornstarch

1 cup of baking soda

Essential oils- use to desired strength, I use 1 mL

Whisk together cornstarch, baking soda and essential oil.

With your hand or a sifter, smooth out any lumps.

Pour you concoction into a jar.

Screw on a recycled parmesan cheese lid and shake it out all over your carpet.  You don't have to apply it with a heavy hand, just a fair amount of dusting does the job well.  Allow the freshener to set on the carpet for 15-30 minutes and then vacuum as normal.
Keep in mind that you will have to vacuum up the amount you shake out, so be sure you have plenty of space in your vacuum bag or collection canister.  Also, be sure to check with your vacuum cleaner's manual to see if carpet freshener is safe to use for your vacuum.

All Natural Sanitizing Spray

This is a wonderful alternative to Lysol and Clorox sanitizing sprays.  It is all natural and very effective.  I also love the way it smells.

Ingredients:

2 oz. rubbing alcohol

8 drops of lavender oil

6 drops of tea tree oil

20 oz. water

Shake together in a clean spray bottle.  Mist over surfaces and allow to air dry.

Disinfecting Wipes

Wiping up messes around here is a never ending job.  At any given moment, there are at least 32 messes that need wiped up.  A Mama needs a serious weapon in her arsenal to win such a battle.  These wipes are my serious weapon.  I like to keep a canister of them in the bathroom and the kitchen at all times.  They really do a great job, and the homemade version is much less expensive than the popular store bought kind.
My recipe is very very similar to my all-purpose cleaner recipe.

Here is what you need:

1/3 cup rubbing alcohol

1 tsp clear ammonia

1 tsp mild dish soap

1/2 tsp lemon juice

a little less than 1 2/3 cups of cold water

Measure the alcohol, ammonia, dish soap and lemon juice into a 2 cup measuring cup.  Then fill it the rest of the way with water.  Stir just until it looks combined.

You are also going to need an entire roll of a nice and sturdy paper towels.  Viva works great.  I am using the Aldi's brand here and they work very well, too.

Pour a little of the solution into the bottom of a nice large canister.  You could be creative, as far as the type of container you use is concerned.  You could get a nice glass canister with a clasp on the lid, or you could use an old wet wipes container and recycle that.  The only requirements are that it has a lid that seals tight and it is large enough to hold an entire roll of paper towels.

Next, you start stuffing the paper towels in, trying not to tear them apart as you go.  Not that it would be the end of the world if they tore, I just find it more convenient if they stay stuck together until I am ready to use them.  

After you stuff about 1/3 of the towels in, pour some solution on them, and then stuff more and pour more  and repeat, until you have all of the towels stuffed in.  Pour the last little bit of solution on top of the towels and let them rest a bit.  The solution needs some time to soak into each and every towel. 

I use these on almost everything.  They are great for wiping down the bathroom at the end of the day.  I even use them on the mirror.  I also always have something handy to wipe up the kitchen counter or a mess on the floor. 

~Rebecca

Tip of the Day - homemade cleaners

Instead of spending tons of money on cleaning products, and possibly exposing your family to dangerous chemicals, try making some homemade.  You can find some of our recipes under our Frugal Home Care Tips label, and we will always be adding more to that list.  I have found though, the all-purpose cleaner replaces most cleaners in the home.
Don't have many ingredients on hand, but want to try something homemade now?  Mix up a solution of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water and use it to disinfect your kitchen surfaces.  I have read that vinegar kills germs as effectively as bleach.  It removes odors and after it dries, it doesn't leave a harsh chemical smell.  In fact, it leaves no smell at all.
You can also use vinegar and water solutions for cleaning sinks and toilets, spraying down a shower after use and even cleaning windows.  Play around with the water to vinegar ratio for each use until you find the strength that works best for each job you are doing.

~Rebecca

All Purpose Cleaner

I have this cleaner that I have been making for years...and I love love love it!!! I use it to clean my bathrooms every single day, mirror, shower, tub, sink, toilet.  It cleans it all.  I use it to clean my windows, counters, floors, sink, stove, ect.  It truly is all purpose, and it costs pennies to make.
Here is what you need:

1 - 32 oz. spray bottle

1 tsp. dish soap

1 TBSP. ammonia (I'm using lemon.)

1 TBSP. lemon juice

2 TBSP. vinegar (I'm using orange.)

1/3 cup rubbing alcohol

Using a funnel, begin by adding the dish soap into the empty spray bottle.  Follow that with the lemon juice, vinegar and ammonia.  These are your cleaning agents.

Next, pour in your rubbing alcohol. This helps the cleaner to be streak free. It also gives it some extra germ killing power.

Fill your bottle the rest of the way with cold tap water, slap on the spray top and give your bottle a little shake.  Then grab a towel and go to town cleaning.  Just beware, the first time you make this, you should give yourself plenty of extra time to clean.  You are going to go from room to room spraying and wiping everything in sight, just to see how awesome it cleans ;)

I always mix mine in batches of 3. One to keep in each bathroom and one for the kitchen.

~Rebecca

Orange Vinegar

One of my favorite home cleaners is vinegar...add some orange oil to that and it improves the cleaning quality of the vinegar immensely!  So, how do you add the orange oil?  Where do you get orange oil?  From oranges of course!
To make orange oil, drop the peels of oranges into a jar.  Here I have 2 orange peels in 1 old pasta sauce jar.  Pour plain white vinegar over the peels, seal the jar and let it set for at least 2 weeks.  When you are ready to use your vinegar, simply strain out the orange peels and toss them into your compost.  I often pour my orange vinegar into a clean, recycled squirt bottle so that it is easy to squirt into a bucket, sink or measuring spoon.

I love using orange vinegar in my mop water, in my homemade all-purpose cleaner and in my rinse-aid compartment of my dishwasher.

~Rebecca

Homemade Laundry Soap

I have been making my own laundry soap for 3 or 4 years now.  I have tried many recipes.  I have made liquid, gel and powdered.  This is my absolute favorite recipe.

Ingredients:
2 Bars of Fels-Naptha
1/2 cup Oxy-clean (I often just use the cheaper brand.)
1 cup of powdered Tide or any powdered detergent that is on sale (HM detergent can cause whites to turn gray if you have hard water, which I have, a little bit of Tide solves that problem.)
2 cups of Washing Soda (Not Baking Soda)
2 cups of Borax
Optional:  1 Tbsp of Dawn dish soap
                1 bottle of Downy or Purex Scent Booster
                 A few drops of essential oil

Grate up your two bars of Fels-Naptha with a beat-up old box grater.

Toss your soap slivers into your food processor and add the Tide and Oxy-clean.  Then pulse until...

the little slivers are broken up and mixed with the powders, making it a sand-like texture. If you want to add a grease busting boost, add a tablespoon of your favorite dish soap and pulse more.  If you want more scent, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil and pulse again.

Dump the mixture into a big bowl and add the borax and washing soda.  Sometimes the borax can be clumpy, sifting it helps, but if you don't want to mess with that, just give it a good stir.  Stir it until it is completely mixed in. At this point, you could also stir in the Downy or Purex Scent Booster. It really is fine without it, but if you like your laundry to have a stronger scent, this will do it.

Transfer it into your handy dandy container and toss in a measuring scoop.  For a regular washing machine, you will add 2 Tablespoons into the running water.  For an He machine, you will use 1 Tablespoon.

This is what it looks like with the Downy Scent Boosters mixed in.

 Making homemade laundry soap saves me quite a bit of money.  One recipe lasts about 2 months.  When I can find the ingredients on sale and purchase it with coupons, it is even less expensive!  I like that I am aware of the product and can control the ingredients.  I hope that by making up my own, I am exposing my family to fewer harmful chemicals.  I do know that this recipe has given our sensitive skin no complaints.

Spending less on home care products allows you to have a little more grocery money, which is always a good thing!

~Rebecca

Homemade Air Freshener

A great way to save money is to make your own cleaners and home care products. I am excited to share this one with you, as is has improved our lives GREATLY today!

See this beautiful guy, his name is Abe.  We adopted him a week ago.  He is the sweetest.  He is the stinkiest.  He has spent the last, who knows how long, scavenging for food.  I buy the best extra powerful kitty litter, and I keep his box clean, but he has to power to overpower my home with his stink.

 Well, this morning I broke out my super deodorizers.  I added a little extra essential oil. Placed one air freshener next to each litter box and so far so good!  Here is the recipe:
1 mason jar
1 lid with holes punched into the top
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup baking soda
30 drops or a little squirt of lavender oil
You can use as much or little of the oil as you like.  You can also use any scent you prefer.

Stir the mixture up together.  Tighten down the lid and place the jar in your stinky spot. 

~Rebecca