Home made cleaning products

[Smilesbetter]

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone here makes their own cleaning products, and of so - how?

I tried making washing up liquid following a recipie recently (it was just baking soda, hot water, water and curd soap) and it was a complete disaster! Firstly it seemed to leave a residue, and then after a few days it went partially solid in the bottle. Plus it turned out that the soap I'd chosen was scented (I have an allergy to limonene & limalool when they have been oxidised or something) and my hands still haven't recovered, they are all dry and horrible. That was my own fault though, and I have discovered that my local Bio Supermarket sells un scented, 100% plant based olive oil soap should anyone here have a better recipe than the one I used :P

This would have been okay if I hadn't made quite a large batch, so instead of saving the environment with my eco friendly alternative, I ended up with 6 or 7 bottles of solidified washing up liquid having to get thrown out.

I also clean the one rug in the flat, and any other soft furnishings, firstly by spraying a mixture of lemon juice, vinegar and water on it and scrubbing, and then when it has dried I apply baking soda which I then vacuum off. It actually works better than any cleaning product I've ever used, although I'm not so keen on the strong vinegar smell. I am looking into infusing the vinegar with things to see if that will affect the smell... It might just leave me with very tasty sofas, but we'll see.

I also, shamefully, used to use make-up wipes to clean surfaces, but now use a microfibre cloth dipped in the water/vinegar/lemon juice mixture although as I say, the smell is not my favourite...

[Green Aura]

I use vinegar instead of hair conditioner - 1 tsp in 1l water. The vinegar smell disappears quickly - I'm using homemade lavender vinegar at the moment

I gave up shampoo for a while but found that using bicarb made my hair brittle and my scalp felt greasy and sort of coated , so now I use liquid castile soap (the liquid equivalent of your olive oil soap) with a little coconut oil, aloe vera gel, honey and essential oils. Seems to do the trick quite nicely.

I used to make my own washing powder but T*sc* seem to have stopped selling soap flakes and grating bars of soap isn't much fun, so that's on hold for a while. Having said that I don't think it'll be long before the grater comes out - I can't find a washing powder with a smell that like.

On rugs I use bicarb, infused with rosemary and lavender. Sprinkle it on and hoover it off. I did try making some combo I found online to remove stains. It contained ammonia - if you think vinegar's bad.............

[ojay54]

Considering this kind of stuff isn't our forte,I'm really quite chuffed that we 've,for the last few months,made all our washing powder.It's really dead easy(or I wouldn't bother.)I get the kids to do the grating,it's very effective,pretty cheap,and you know what's in it.

[Green Aura]

Send 'em up here for a few bars will you, OJ?

[ojay54]

Hmm..just about far enough away...

[Smilesbetter]

Green Aura - I actually recently stopped using any form of shampoo haha. For a few months I used a mixture of honey and water which held my hair better than any hair oil/shampoo/conditioner/mousse combo I've ever used, but I decided to give just washing it with water and dry brushing a go. Just started recently so can't really comment much, it looked amazing after washing with water the other day, still gets a bit frizzy at the moment but you're meant to give these things a month anyway so shall see! I had looked into the "no poo" thing where you use vinegar then baking soda but heard that both have quite different PH's to human scalps and so can cause damage to it, hence why i used honey instead as its meant to be the same (Plus if a little dribbled into my mouth while showering - yum!!)

Oooh the rug cleaner sounds lovely! I might have to give that a go, how do you infuse it, or is it just a case of mixing it all together? Would recommend just vinegar/water/lemon juice for stain removal then using the bicarb when its dry (Which takes away the vinegar smell too anyway).

Haha I already have two cats, I have enough ammonia in this household already! :P

Green Aura & ojay54 - what did you make your washing powders from? Have you got a recipe? I am eager to make my own.

[Green Aura]

1 part soap
1/2 part washing soda
1/2 part borax (which you can't buy easily here)
Essential oils of choice - although I usually don't use any)

Then I use citrus infused vinegar instead of fabric conditioner - just save orange peel, or lemon etc, in a jar. Cover with vinegar. Steep for a couple of weeks then strain.

[Smilesbetter]

Thanks! I can't use essential oils as allergic (They are almost always either Limonene or Limalool) so good to see its not necessary. I'll see if I can find the ingredients this week and give it a go! Will have to look up the German for Borax haha, I've never seen it here but then I'm sure there will be somewhere that sells it!

[ojay54]

Here in UK,you CAN get Borax in old fashioned ironmongers,but it's easily available on line.There's a lot of borax substitute about, but (as with the veal) I would avoid that.

[Uller]

I make washing liquid with grated soap, washing soda & water - I can't buy borax here and I believe it isn't good for septic systems, so I just leave it out. The first time I tried it, the mix separated too much in the bottle to be useful, but I've found that if you add the water gradually and stir well, it forms a decent thick liquid/almost gel. It isn't brilliant for whites, but I have pretty much given up on light coloured clothing anyway as I don't like doing a separate wash for them and they eventually go grey even with commercial stuff.

I clean pretty much everything with bicarb & vinegar spray and make gumption for anything that needs a scrub. I buy eco washing up liquid but make anything else I need. I haven't bought any commercial cleaners for a couple of years now.

[frozenthunderbolt]

I used to make my own washing powder but T*sc* seem to have stopped selling soap flakes and grating bars of soap isn't much fun, so that's on hold for a while. Having said that I don't think it'll be long before the grater comes out - I can't find a washing powder with a smell that like.

Food processor with a grater attachment. Try chilling/freezing the bars first if they are at all soft

[Smilesbetter]

Ahh never thought of that. Spent about half an hour trying to grate the soap haha!

[ina]

I've taken to just smashing my old olive oil soap with a hammer, and then leaving the splinters in water until it's developed into something gooey... Works ok in the washing machine.

[Green Aura]

Yes, I think olive oil soap is brittle enough to do that with, Ina.

I've actually burnt out a food processor motor from soap clogging it up instead of grating. I hadn't thought of freezing it, but still can't see me using that method again.

[Flo]

Is there a reason for making your own when there are green and ethical products that don't use chemicals?