Household Cleaner Recipes - Nikki!

Hi everyone - last week I collated together some household cleaner recipes.  One or two are from Babe's Tips, some are from Lyn Webster, and some from the Domestic Goddess. 

I've made the laundry powder and laundry detergent and both seem to work well.  I used tea tree oil to scent the detergent.  Have also made the dishwasher powder (the borax one) - works a treat.

Tried the liquid handwash one - think it set too hard so just maybe add less glycerine or more water than the recipe below says.  I didn't use rose water - I just added scented oil instead.

KITCHEN

MAKE Dishwasher Powder
1 Cup Washing Soda (30 cents)
1 Cup Baking Soda (29 cents)
1/4 Cup Salt (42 cents)
1/4 Cup Citric Acid ($1.11) (Total $2.12) (Usually $5.89 / 1 kg)
Mix together (powderise in a food processor). Use 1 tablespoon per load. Way cheaper than the brought stuff, less than 5 cents a load.

HINT - Always use white vinegar in the rinse aid dispenser.

1 Cup Borax ($1.40)
1 Cup Baking Soda (30 cents)
1/4 Cup Salt (42 cents)
1/4 Cup Citric Acid ($1.11) (Total $3.23) (Usually $5.89 / 1 kg)

Use white vinegar instead of bought rinse aid. (7 cents refill instead of 47 cents).

If you have run out of automatic dishwasher powder, try using washing soda instead. Pour into automatic dishwasher dispenser.

Cleaning ovens is potentially one of the most toxic things we do in our homes. Yet a mix of baking soda and washing soda can do the job for you. Mix together one cup each of washing soda and baking soda. Sprinkle the bottom of the oven to cover. Spray with water until very damp, and keep moist by spraying every few hours. Let set overnight. In the morning scoop it all up along with the grime, and rinse.

If your oven is in a really bad way and has a lot of baked-on grime and grease, you may need to pour some vinegar over the washing soda. Let it fizz for 10 minutes then scrub with steel wool. Keep applying both the washing soda and the vinegar and scrubbing until all the grime has gone.

You won't get a headache from the fumes, or be polluting your house, but do wear rubber gloves as the washing soda can be quite tough on the hands.

Mix three cups of baking soda wtih 1/2 tsp of Prussian Blue pigment (available at art stores). Use 1 tsp of this mix in your final rinse, making sure the bowl is full before adding. For best results dry in direct sunlight.

MAKE Laundry Powder
125g bar of Lemon Laundry Soap (80 cents)
1 Kg Washing Soda ($2.99) (Total $3.79)
Powderise soap in food processor (chop up small with knife first). Add washing soda and mix together in food processor. Use only 15g per load (1 tablespoon). HINT - Do not buy expensive fabric softener. Add 1 tablespoon of baking soda to the final rinse to whiten, soften and deodorise.

Laundry Detergent 

1/2 bar Castile or vegetable-based or Sunlight soap, grated (40 cents)
1.5 litres of water 
1/2 cup washing soda (30 cents)
50 g borax (56 cents)
1 litre hot water (Total $1.50)
Place soap in a saucepan with the first quantity of water and heat on low until soap is dissolved. Stir in washing soda and borax. Stir for a few minutes until thickened and remove from heat. (If you're using Castile or vegetable-based soap it won't thicken straight away, but don't worry, it will overnight in the bottles). Add 1 litre of hot water to a bucket. Add soap mixture and mix well. Fill bucket with another 5 litres of hot water and mix well. Pour into old milk bottles or other containers and set aside for 24 hours or until mixture thickens. Use ¨ö cup of mixture per load. It is easy to squeeze from the bottles as it is quite gluggy.

Tip: Add about 20 drops lavender oil at the end before pouring into the bottles for a nice fragrance or try eucalyptus oil, which is great for woollens.

Try adding a handful of washing soda to your normal wash. Washing soda acts as a natural fabric softener by softening hard water and working with laundry detergents to remove heavy soiling and dirt from clothes, while leaving them soft and fresh.

Stain Remover

To help remove blood stains from clothing, dissolve a handful of washing soda in some hot water, then once dissolved add cold water. Once the solution becomes cold, soak clothing. Always wait for the water to be cold or else hot water may set the blood stains.

Spray Cleaner (Total less than 40 cents)

This is easy to mix up and not only cleans well but fills the air with gorgeous smells. It takes a whole minute to make.

Nearly fill a 1 litre spray bottle with water. Add 1 tsp baking soda, a few drops of liquid soap (preferably Dr Bronner's Castile liquid soap, or use Sunlight) and 10 drops of lavender or tea-tree essential oil. Shake together. If you have wooden bench tops, add about 1 tsp of olive oil and shake the bottle every time you use it to disperse the oil.

You can use other essential oils in the spray cleaner. In the winter I like to use warm oils, like cedarwood, rosemary, clove or even some natural vanilla essence, to give the kitchen a cosy smell. In summer, go for citrus smells like orange, lemon or lime. And if flies are a problem use citronella oil which will help deter them.

Glass Cleaner (Total less than 40 cents)

Fill a 1 litre spray bottle with one part white vinegar and two parts water. Add a few drops of liquid detergent. Make sure you use newspaper to clean. Or you can use soda water neat in a spray bottle.

Line a basin with aluminium foil and fill with boiling water. Add 2-3 heaped tablespoons of baking soda to the water and place silverware or brass into the basin. Take out the silverware when clean and rinse with warm water and dry thoroughly.

Washing soda is a good heavy duty cleaner for floors, walls and hard surfaces. Dissolve washing soda in water.

PERSONAL

Hair Washing
Wet hair
Sprinkle with baking soda
Massage in
Rinse out

Conditioner
Try a home made conditioner. Heaps of recipes on Internet.
1 Egg Beaten
1 T Olive Oil

Mix together with warm water

Apply to hair and leave as long as desired

If this leaves a residue, rinse off with white vinegar, then water.

This is one of my favourite and quickest recipes to make and while the mixture is a bit gluggy as it comes out of the dispenser the glycerine in it keeps your hands wonderful moisturised and they smell amazing.

250 ml boiling water

2 Tbsp grated Sunlight soap

2 tsp glycerine or glycerol (from the chemist or supermarket)

2 tsp rosewater (from the chemist of the specialty food stores)

Melt the grated soap in the boiling water and then stir in the glycerine and rosewater. Pour into the soap dispenser while still warm as it sets as a jelly.