Category Archives: Go Natural

3 tried-and-true homemade cleaners

31 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by in Go Natural

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With the chemicals in our environment, rates of a bunch of diseases are skyrocketing, from cancer to MS to pretty much every autoimmune disease. After my fibromyalgia diagnosis, I did research, which should surprise no one who knows me and my penchant for looking at every angle before making a decision.

I went through scores of recipes for everything under the sun, and thought I’d start with washing machine detergent, dishwasher detergent, and a general de-greasing citrus cleaner. You can go down a rabbit hole looking for a recipe that works on a consistent basis, though. Sometimes trial and error is the only way to find a combination you like, but here are the three I like, with attribution to the original posting sites.

Washing Machine Detergent: http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/10/homemade-laundry-powder-3-ingredients-10-minutes.html

If you want to make a bigger batch, simply double or triple the ingredients.

Step 1: Grate the entire bar of soap as finely as possible. Basically, you just want to blend it until the pieces are cut more finely.

Step 2: Add the grated soap to your blender, with 1 cup of either the washing soda or the Borax (it really doesn’t matter which one). If you don’t have a great blender, you might want to process this in smaller batches. In my NutriBullet, I did it in two batches, which was perfect. Be careful if you use a glass blender because they’re much harder to clean, and though these ingredients are much healthier than the processed brands, they’re still derivatives of a washing machine detergent.

Step 3: Add the blended mixture to a bowl, and mix in the remaining 1 cup of either washing soda or Borax. Use a spoon to mix it thoroughly and break up any large chunks.

Step 4: I stored mine in a glass mason jar. One recipe made almost 1 quart of laundry powder.
Dishwasher Detergent: http://wellnessmama.com/12217/homemade-dishwasher-detergent/
  • 2 parts Borax
  • 2 parts washing soda
  • 1 part citric acid
  • 1 part salt
  • essential oils for scent (completely optional)

Step 1: Combine all ingredients and store in an air tight container.

Step 2: Use 1 tablespoon per load as needed.

Step 3: For an extra boost, add a few drops of dishwashing liquid (only a few!!!) to the powder before closing the soap container in the dishwasher.

Step 4: You can also add white vinegar as the rinse agent, though honestly, I forget this most of the time and it still works.

Notes:

1 Part= any measure you want
In other words, if 1 part=1 cup, you would use 2 cups each of borax and washing soda and 1 cup each of citric acid and salt. If 1 part was 1/4 cup, you’d use 1/2 cup of borax/washing soda and 1/4 cup of citric acid/salt.
You can store this in a glass mason jar too.

 

Citrus De-greasing Cleaner: http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog/wordpress/homemade-citrus-vinegar-cleaner/

Step 1: Place any leftover citrus rinds you have around into a glass jar.

Step 2: Pour white vinegar over top of the rinds until vinegar covers them.

Step 3: Put a lid on it and let it sit for 2 weeks.

Step 4: Remove rinds, strain liquid through a sieve, and store in a glass jar.

Step 5: To use, dilute 1:1 water to citrus vinegar and store in a spray bottle.

 

Got any recipes you love? Tell me about them in the comments section!