09 August 2012

Homemade Ideas to Clean your Home

Cleaning your home can be hazardous to your health and your bank balance. This is especially so when you are using cleaning products that contain harmful chemicals. Here are a few ideas for homemade ones instead.
Before there were chemicals, people learned to clean their homes quite well. By using certain natural products, they were able to remove stains, fight odours, beat back dirt and bring a radiant shine to windows. Nowadays, most people won’t use a product unless it comes off the shelf in a spray bottle.
If you are interested in creating a safer and more natural home, then consider making your own cleaning products. You probably have the items necessary in your kitchen right now. If you don’t they are easy to get.

There are many advantages to using all natural cleaning solutions:
  • they are inexpensive
  • they do the job just as well if not better than store bought cleaners
  • they won’t be harsh to your surfaces while removing the dirt
  • many have natural antibiotic properties to sanitize as well as clean
  • they can be less dangerous.
With that said, try a few of the following suggestions for cleaning your home.

Lemons  

Lemons serve many purposes. They can be used as astringents for facial cleaning and make blonde hair shimmer when the juice is added to warm water and used as a rinse.

Notice that you see a lot of lemon scented cleaning products on the market. They bring a look and scent of clean to your home. Cut out the middleman and use an actual lemon instead. The acid in the juice can break down and remove stains.

Full strength, lemon can be used to remove soap scum and hard water stains from your bathroom fixtures.

It can also clean copper pots and pans. Add some bicarb soda to half a lemon and you have a handy scouring tool for your bath. Mixing it with olive oil creates a polishing solution for wood furniture.

Sprinkle stubborn rust stains with salt, damp with lemon juice, sit the article outside in the sun and let the lemon work its magic.

Don’t waste the rind, grate it and store it in the freezer to use in cooking and baking, as a garnish and a decoration.

And before you consign the lemon to the compost, sit with your elbows in the “cups”. The lemon will whiten and soften them, an old fashioned beauty trick that works wonders.

Bicarbonate soda 

We know that it can be used to fight back against an upset stomach but it also works as a non-abrasive cleanser. Apply it to a wet sponge and scrub your tub, sink and toilet. Add some vinegar to create a cleansing paste for tougher stains. Think about your refrigerator and how you use baking soda. It can be used as a natural deodorizer in the kitchen and the bath.

White Vinegar 

I hinted about vinegar above. It can help to keep your digestive system running smooth as well as unclog your drains. Pour bicarb soda down a clogged drain followed by vinegar. The bubbling action helps to break down the clog. Follow with hot water to flush it away. Vinegar and water can be used to clean your vinyl flooring and countertops. Don’t worry about the smell, it goes away after it dries. The same mixture can be used in a carpet steamer to get rid of stains on your rugs. Salt, vinegar and water can be combined to clean away mildew from surfaces.
You don’t have to ruin your health or your budget to clean your home. Try these suggestions for homemade cleaning products and see just how well they work, and just how much nicer your home is without the fake perfumes from the commercial cleaners.

As with everything, if you really don’t like the results you can always go back to your original products.

But unless you give them a try, you’ll never know, will you.

6 comments:

  1. cath. my sister-in-law introduced me to cheapskates a few months ago. Many of the tips I have put into practice and love them. If anyone is interested in a cheap weedkiller it goes as follows 1litre vinegar,2tablespoons salt, 1teaspoon liquid soap. Put in spray bottle . Give a good shake and spray away. Use in heat of the day but make sure you only spray weeds

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found the book cheapskates a few years back. I love it. With four growing children life can get expensive. I have recipes that l found recently for homemade dishwasher tablets, flea spray and other things. I told my partner about the dishwashing tablets and was told to just keep buying it.

    How do you convert someone. I had the same predicament when making your washing powder. "We're not that desperate are we"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not about being desperate, it's about choices.

      You choose to spend less of your hard earned money on the things that aren't important to you so you have more of it to enjoy on the things that are.

      Perhaps if he knows that's why you're making washing powder and whatever else you are doing to live the Cheapskates way he'll understand that it's not a life of deprivation but a debt free, cashed up life.

      Delete
    2. hi anonymous if this was me I wouldn,t tell my partner I live a very frugal life style trying to get out of debt cheapskates has even shown me where I can save more money it,s great I wouldn,t live any other way good luck

      Delete
  3. A very useful cleaner. I should make a step to use this at home. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My husband found the cheap laundry liquid at ALDI and confused the MOO powder with it. Commented that that was how it should smell. He thought he was commenting on the ALDI washing liquid, but it was the Cheapskates Laundry powder he was smelling. He loves the smell and so do I. Pat

    ReplyDelete

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