Homemade cleaners

We have found a few ways to save money on homemade cleaners. My boyfriend owns a small janitorial company and has to buy his own cleaning supplies. We have found, through trial and error, many different inexpensive ways to make homemade cleaners and they work wonderfully and smell great!

I highly recommend going to the dollar store and purchasing the gallon jugs of ammonia, window cleaner, Fabuloso and bleach. I only buy these items there because of the money we save when everything there is, you guessed it, $1.00!

We also do this because we can control what products are used and the chemicals or lack of chemicals are used. Some places choose a more green approach to cleaning while others still choose the old fashion “if it smells and looks good” approach. We have put a system in place for even our home cleaners. We purchased a couple of 5 gallon containers and mixed up our cleaning products on a shelf in our garage-the containers look exactly like these:

Then we purchased a few squirt bottles from the dollar store too. We can write on them the names of each of the cleaners and put them aside for use either on our business or at our home. This method has saved a ton of money on cleaners and the products work so much better than the store-bought expensive cleaners!

I wanted to share some recipes for cleaners with you:

Cutting Board Cleaner:

1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. baking soda
1 cup water

All Purpose House Cleaner:

1 gallon water
1 cup ammonia
1 cup window cleaner

All Purpose “Green” Cleaner:

9 parts water

1 part white vinegar

 

Oven Cleaner:

1 tablespoon borax

1 tablespoon dawn dish soap

2 cups hot water

 

Homemade Laundry Soap:

Now, this is a new one for me that I am going to try probably in the next few weeks is to make homemade laundry detergent. This is an inexpensive way to make laundry soap.

I got this great recipe passed on to me and I will have to try it (I DO try everything I post on my blog!)

3 Tablespoons Borax
3 Tablespoons Washing soda 
2 Tablespoons Dawn dish soap 

Put these ingredients in a one gallon jug. Pour 4 cups boiling water into the jug. Swirl until ingredients are dissolved in the liquid. Let liquid cool. Then fill almost to the top with cold water. The bubbles will overflow out of the bottle.  Use: 1/2 cup to 1 cup per load.

Note: I will definitely post again after I make this soap and let you know what I think of it.