Most of the following recipes come from Mother Earth News website. You can see the original listings at here and here.
You can make cleaning solutions for most household applications with water and a few ingredients: castile soap, distilled white vinegar, baking soda, washing soda and borax. You also can use lemon juice, salt, tea tree oil, club soda and rubbing alcohol, depending on the stain or item you want to clean.
Dish Soap
What You Need:
- 1 ounce liquid castile soap
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
- 5 to 10 drops lavender essential oil (optional, but lavender is antibacterial)
Directions:
- Combine the soap and water in a jar
- Add the glycerin and lavender (if using).
- Stir to blend.
- Use as you would any other cleaner
Soap Scum-fighting Spray
What You Need:
- 1 teaspoon borax
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent
- 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
- 2 cups hot water
- Makes 2 1/4 cups
Directions:
- Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle
- Shake to blend
- Spray
- Follow with a sponge
- Rinse
- Repeat
Magic Window Wash
What You Need:
- 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap or detergent
- 2 cups water
- A few drops of essential oils, for scent (optional)
- Makes 2 1/4 cups
Directions:
- Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle
- Shake to blend.
- Spray on surface
- Remove with a squeegee, paper towel or newspaper
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
What You Need:
- 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
- 2 cups water
- Makes 2 1/4 cups.
Directions:
- Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle
- Shake
- Spray along the inside rim of the toilet
- Leave on for 15 minutes
- Scrub with a toilet brush.
Baking Soda Oven Cleaner
What You Need:
- Small- to medium-sized box of baking soda
- Water
Directions:
- Sprinkle the bottom of the oven with baking soda to cover
- Spray with water until very damp
- Keep moist by spraying every few hours
- Let set overnight
- In the morning, simply scoop out the baking soda — all the grime will be loosened — and rinse the oven well
Shira K. says:
Borax kills bugs too, as every good New Yorker knows!
Judy R. says:
With drains you need to do preventative maintenance. Use the vinegar and baking soda at least one a month or use a dehydrated bacteria product such as Drainbo. You re-hydrate the bacteria and then pour the solution down the drain. Leave overnight and flush with hot water in the morning. The bacteria eat the organic matter in your drain but the bacteria do not do well with human hair. So in your shower or tub you should use a screen to catch the hair. But preventative maintenance is the key with these natural solutions. If you let your drain go too long and a clog develops the only natural way to clear it is with a drain snake or plunger rather than a caustic, toxic product like Liquid Plumber or Draino.
Jordana G. says:
Thanks for the info Judy. Do you think Drainbo will NEVER eat through human hair? I've got a clogged shower drain and was planning to give Drainbo a try, using the instructions left here by Daphne D.
http://www.sustainlane.com/reviews/drainbo-natural-drain-cleaner/R1KVXT7KWF4SP8R1AVYSKY2F4SP8
Think this will do the trick for hair?
Judy R. says:
The good thing about environmentally friendly products is the it can't hurt to try them on things. So I say give it a try then let us all know if it works.
Jordana G. says:
It totally worked! I followed Daphne D's advice: I used double the amount of Drainbo and in the morning I poured a big pot and kettle of boiling water down the drain before flushing it with hot water for a couple minutes. My previously hair-clogged drain is now clear. I'm going to keep following Daphne's advice and do one more application tonight, just to be sure.
Diane W. says:
For windows...club soda on a paper towel. Thats it. For tough stuff use the vinegar method, then the club soda.
After washing dishes, with a little dish soap left on the sponge (or what you use), dust the sink with baking soda and scrub away. Follow with club soda...I've also heard using a bit of vegetable oil can be used to shine it up.
Bio-Kleen has a GREAT all-purpose spray cleaner. It can be used nearly everywhere. I've even used it to remove blood and grass stains from cloths. It takes a little elbow grease with a simple scrub brush, but it comes right out. I don't think you'll find it in Wal-Mart... :)
April R. says:
When was young my grandmother (who would have been 106 in 2009) had she lived- gave me a recipe for cleaning upholstery and her valuable Oriental rugs, that she guaranteed would clean gently and very throughly, I used it many times and it worked like a charm, then every store in my little town quit carrying washing soda and I forgot not only the recipe, but where I wrote down the recipe. It ws only 2 ingrediants and one was washing soda. The other ingrediant was either borax or epson salts. It was like a cup of (either borax or epson salts) and a cup of washing soda in a bucket of hot water; After mixing it up you dipped a rag into it got it soaked, and then you wrung it out nearly dry and you went over your rugs and or upholstery with it. I have been trying to get washing soda for years and no luck. But now I think I can find at least the pool Ph stuff or Soda Ash but does anyone know whether it would be Borax or Epson Salts. I don't want to blow up anything by mixing combinations that might not work together. Advice from any chemists would be helpful. Thanks.
Jordana G. says:
Hi April -- I don't know the answer re: borax or epsom salt, but I can tell you that I did see washing soda sold in bulk at the large natural/organic foods grocery store here in San Francisco. So I'm sure you can find it if you have a store like this near you, or at the very least you can buy it online. :)
April R. says:
Thanks, Jordana,
I bought it in the pool supply at Walmart.Our health food store did not have it, nor did the laundry dept in any of the 3 grocery stores we have here including Walmart. Now I just need to figure out borax or empson salts.
Greg J. says:
April,
It is almost certainly borax that you want.
See the following for more info. The carpet cleaner instructions seem to give something close to what you are describing.
http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/LUESA/Solid+Waste/Household+Hazardous+Waste/Non+Toxic+Cleaning+Solutions+Recipes.htm
Jude D. says:
You can also get both Borax and washing soda at the website soapsgonebuy.com - their prices seem pretty reasonable, too. I