WFMW – Natural cleaning made easy

 

Its all very well to buy your cleaning products from places like BEE and Ecostore, but its even better to make your own. Now, I’m not hardcore on this by anymeans, but there are some situations where DIY is so easy and effective, you’d be daft not to.

 I know there are lots of flash recipes out there involving exotic ingredients like liquid soap, borax and essential oils, but quite frankly if the recipe has more than 2 ingredients I turn off pretty fast. People like the Worsted Witch make pretty labels for their natural home made cleaners which look pretty darn funky (see above)- but in my house its a bit more basic than that.

In my ‘natural cleaning’ cupboard there is just baking soda, white vinegar and washing soda crystals – which can all be bought easily at the supermarket. But you can do a lot with these 3!

Window cleaner and Stainless steel shiner

Very approximately 1 part white vinegar to 3 parts water. Pop it in an old window cleaner container. Sadly, you can’t use newsprint these days because of the new inks, they don’t polish windows like they used to. But I find a teatowel works fine. 

Oven Cleaner

I don’t need to tell you how revolting commercial oven cleaner is. Even the ‘low odour’ ones seem to make the oven stink for a good week afterwards. But this method, with a good measure of elbow grease, works a treat. Dissolve about ¼ cup of washing soda in 1 litre of hot water, in an old spray bottle. Spray on to the oven walls, wait 20 minutes and clean with a dishcloth or a scourer for stubborn stains. 

Drain cleaner

Drain-O and other commercial drain cleaners are seriously hazardous to the planet. The first thing to do is always using a plunger first – its not entirely pleasant but better than getting a whiff of Drain-O. Then, and this is actually fun – pop approx ½ cup of baking soda and ½ cup of ordinary salt down the drain. Then pour into approximately ½ cup of white vinegar. It will make a big fizzy explosion, and the acid it creates will clear the drain. Maybe you should wear a face mask!  

Deoderiser

We all know this but its worth repeating – baking soda is the best deoderiser. In smelly shoes, in the fridge, in drains, in the nappy bucket … anywhere that is smelling, try some baking soda. Apparently some people even rub it into their underarms instead of deodorant.  

 If anyone has any other great ideas I’d love to hear them. And to find out what is working for other blog-ladies head over to rocksinmydryer.com