Planning to welcome in Spring with some Spring Cleaning?
Check out these DIY cleaning recipes that have been getting rave reviews on Facebook and in the comments of their posts! If you want to clean stubborn messes, spend less on cleaning products, and/or go “green” and simplify the chemicals that enter your household, we have several cleaning product recipes that you’ll find useful!
We were excited about these recipes when we first shared them with you, and we’re pleased to report that they’re still working well! Here are several of our best recipes, along with a note to let you know how they’re working on the gunk and grime my crew brings into the house 🙂
Still getting the job done! A batch lasts my messy family of six about 6 months. Most of the time I use just the detergent, occasionally adding color-safe liquid bleach to my lights. No complaints about the quality of cleaning…in fact, I think in many cases it does a better job than some of the “cheapie” detergents I’ve used in the past. I like the addition of Oxi-Clean to this recipe just as insurance against hidden stains…I do way too much laundry to catch everything, and it usually takes care of any stains I might miss!
Vinegar & Dawn: Soap Scum cleaner, Carpet spot treater, and much more!
It was love at first squirt for me with this power combo, and the love affair continues. When the tubs and showers get scuzzy, it does a crazy good job (it can be a little stinky if you don’t like the smell of vinegar, but it goes away once it’s rinsed!). I also love using this mixture to do my kitchen floor–I mix it up (with a little more vinegar than Dawn), spray the floors, then go over the floors with a wet mop. A great pair for tons of cleaning applications around the house!
Homemade Wrinkle Release Spray
This one has gone viral on Pinterest, which makes me feel so much better that I’m not the only one who hates ironing! 🙂 Seriously, this one can be a life saver for wrinkled dress-casual clothes. If you like that starched/ironed look, keep ironing, but if you just want things un-wrinkly this will be your new best friend!
Another great stain treater–I’ve used this one to get out some armpit and grease stains from clothes, but my favorite use has been when I’ve dealt with messes from sick kids and pets. It not only deals with the stain, but it does a great job of deodorizing on carpet, mattresses, and more. It’s helped me through two rounds of stomach flu (3 kids each time–yuck!), and a cat with worms. Sorry if that’s too much info, but seriously–this one has been tested a ton and passed with flying colors! This has also done wonders as a pre-treater for carpet stains–I used it before using the steam vac, and it did a fantastic job. If it can get spilled grape juice out of my light tan carpet, it can probably handle most stains you throw at it!
After over a year of using this recipe, it’s still working great for me. Using vinegar as a rinse aid is a big help in deterring spots. Others who had some spots or cloudiness reported that using a drop or two (seriously just a drop or two–otherwise you’ll have suds all over your kitchen!) of Dawn in with the detergent in each load of dishes helped clear things up–just depends on the hardness of your water.
I’ve tried a bunch of these vinegar uses, and I need to remember to keep checking out some of the rest. The Orange-Infused vinegar is a nice change of pace from regular vinegar, and is a real plus for the sensitive noses in my home who aren’t always too keen on the vinegar smell.
Make your own Washing Soda from Baking Soda!
I always have baking soda around, but sometimes washing soda is hard to find. I’ve made my own washing soda several times so I could make more dishwasher detergent, and it’s worked like a charm. I also like that I can make a smaller amount and not have an open box of washing soda sitting around.
Natural Weed Killer: No Harsh Chemicals!
I was thrilled with how well this took care of the nasty thistle weeds in my garden last spring, summer, and fall. Works best on a sunny day.
Living out in the country, it’s nice to have a trick to show unwanted visitors the door. When some ants found their way in, this really did the trick, and we didn’t have any problems after!
With all these Homemade Cleaning Products in one place, this is a great post to Pin or share–we’d love it if you did! Let us know how things are working for you!
