You’ll need:
Spray bottles for your homemade cleaning solutions
Jars for your homemade cleaning powders
A permanent marker with which to mark the containers
Index
Windows
Vinegar Cleaning Solutions
Baking Soda Cleaning Solutions
Other Cleaning Solutions
Cleaning Cloth Diapers/ Cloth Nappies
Homemade Oxiclean Recipe
How to make your own Laundry detergent (external website – note: you can use essential oils to fragrance your laundry detergent)
Windows should be washed once every month or two, depending on the surroundings. If you’re in a forest, or in a city, consider washing your windows at least once a month. If your house is in a place where dirt and pollen don’t always stick, consider cleaning windows every two months or so.
Clean your windows with a homemade solutions of 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of white vinegar and 1/2 a teaspoon of dish washing liquid.
I can personally attest to the powers of this window-cleaning solution!
It took two times with some of our really grimey windows, but the washing liquid really cut through the grease.
I didn’t even use newspaper to wipe the windows clean – just a super-absorbant terry cloth.
This method left no streaks nor did it leave any water spots.
See below for more vinegar cleaning recipes.
Read more: http://www.servicemagic.com/article.show.I-Dont-Do-Windows.13681.html#ixzz0wb7lKUne
Vinegar is a very useful ingredient to have on hand for its many practical uses.
• Furniture polish – Use equal parts of vinegar, linseed oil, turpentine and methylated spirits and shake well.
• Another polish – Salad oil and vinegar in equal parts makes another good polish.
• Cleaning windows – In a container put 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of white vinegar and 1/2 a teaspoon of dish washing liquid. Mix well and use to clean windows. For a streak free finish use scrunched up newspaper instead of a cloth and replace paper when it gets wet. The dish washing liquid can be omitted if wished.
• Weed spray – Not exactly a cleaner but it does clean up the garden. Mix together 3 cups of white vinegar and 1/4 cup of dish washing liquid. Pour into a spray container and spray weeds on a clear, fine day. The weeds will start to wilt very soon and will die within a week or so. The dish washing liquid can be omitted but is better to use as it helps the vinegar to stick to the leaves.
• Cleaning burnt pans – To remove the blackened food on the bottom of pans sprinkle baking soda to cover the base of the pan. Add about 1cm of water and put pan on stove element to boil. When the soda mix becomes brown and dry, remove from heat and cool. Wash pan in usual way. If heavily burnt this process may need to be repeated.
• Cleaning silver – Line a pan with aluminum foil and put in 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 2 tablespoons of salt. Half fill pan with water and bring to boil. Take off the boil and dip silver into the mixture. Silver can be left in the mixture for a short time if needing more cleaning.
• All purpose natural cleaner – Mix together 300ml (1/2 pint) of water, 2 tablespoons of baking soda and juice of half a lemon. Use to clean surfaces around the home. Will keep well in the fridge. Herbs can also be added to this cleaner to give a nice smell and to act as antibacterials. Boil sage, thyme or rosemary in the water and simmer for 20 minutes. When cool strain through a fine mesh and add the other ingredients. Use a handful of sage and rosemary and 2 hands full of thyme.
• To remove odors from the fridge – In a small bowl mix together 2 tablespoons of baking soda with half a cup of boiling water and place inside the fridge.
• Beeswax furniture polish – 100g (1/4 lb) beeswax shredded or finely chopped, 25g (1oz) finely grated soap or soap flakes. Pour 500ml (1pint) of turpentine over this and leave for 12 hours or until soft and dissolved. Boil 500ml (1pint) of water and leave to cool. When cool add water to the dissolved mix and bottle. Shake well until it becomes white and creamy. To use, apply with a soft cloth and rub in well. Buff with a soft dry cloth.
• Removing rust and dirt from copper, brass or stainless steel – Dip half a lemon in salt and rub onto the rust or dirt until removed. Rinse and dry.
Read more at Suite101: Old Fashioned Cleaning Tips Using Everyday Ingredients http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/old-fashioned-cleaning-tips-using-everyday-ingredients#ixzz0wfWE4a1m
The easy way to clean Cloth Diapers / Cloth Nappies
I wasn’t the least bit impressed by the job that our washing machine did, and I didn’t like the fact that my 15 of my homemade nappies weren’t any where near filling up the ‘small’ load (wasting water) so I did some reading online.
I read some about these manual ‘desktop’ washing machines, where you’d fill them up with hot water from the tap … the steam from the hot water pressurises the container, and then you manually agitate it.
They cost around $60.
Then I came across a solution that was much more up my alley.
One drywall bucket +
One toilet plunger (new and unused!!) +
Oxi-clean (or other oxygenated cleaner – see here for alternatives to commercial oxi-clean)
Fill the bucket halfway with cold water.
Add 1-2 Tbsp oxy-clean
Use the plunger to mix everything up.
Dump the dirty nappies in as they get soiled, and each time you add a nappy, use the plunger to mix everything up.
At the end of the day / start of the morning, empty everything out into the sink.
Put more water into the drywall bucket, add a TEENY bit of laundry detergent, add the nappies, mix it up with the plunger.
You might need to do a little bit of hand-scrubbing (but if you’ve used a flushable nappy liner, most of the gunk should be miles away!) … but rinse … and hang to dry!
The oxy-clean helps to break down the poop, and the SUN will bleach any poop stains right out of the nappy AND the liner.
Using this combo, my nappies are SPOTLESS.
Homemade oxy-clean spray solution
1/2 bottle hydrogen peroxide
1 tbsp. baking soda
1/2 tbsp. laundry soap
2 tbsp. of white vinegar
Buy Sodium Percarbonate (mixture of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide, and the active ingredient in OxiClean)
This is PURE – so use with caution – start with less