Sustainable Saturday – Make Your Own Cleaning Products
This week’s Sustainable Saturday challenge is to make (and use!) your own cleaning products. Not only does this help the environment because you’re not using toxic chemicals, but you can save SO.MUCH.MONEY too!
You can clean practically anything with vinegar, water, and baking soda. (Baking soda acts as that ‘scouring’ agent.) If you don’t like the smell of vinegar, you can add your discarded citrus peels to a jar, fill with vinegar and store under the sink for a couple of weeks. The peels will infuse the vinegar with a lovely citrusy smell that’s pleasant on the nose.
I use vinegar in a myriad of ways:
- As a daily shower spray and to do a deep clean of the shower/tub
- To wash windows
- As a fruit/veggie spray
- To mop floors
- To clean toilets
- As a fabric softener in the washing machine
- And as a kid, it was even one way we treated sunburns!
Another natural and safe ingredient that can be used to make many cleaning products is pure Castile soap. Castile soap is plant based and biodegradable too!
Ways to use Castile soap:
- As a natural dishsoap
- Laundry detergent
- Dishwasher detergent
- All-purpose household cleaner
- Window & glass cleaner
- Tub scrub
- You can even make your own face wash & shampoo with Castile soap!
RECIPES!!
Fruit & Veggie Spray:
- 3/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup vinegar
- 12 drops of lemon essential oil (optional)
- Combine ingredients in a dark colored glass spray bottle, shake it up and spray your produce! Leave on for at least 30 seconds before rinsing the produce.
- If you don’t have glass, reuse one of your plastic spray bottles but make sure it is CLEAN.
- Note: essential oils are sensitive to light, so omit if you don’t have a dark bottle to use.
Window/Glass Cleaner:
- 1 part water
- 1 part vinegar
- Combine ingredients in a spray bottle, or just dip a cloth or newspaper into a bowl with the mixture. Wipe down windows & glass.
- 1 cup of liquid Castile soap
- 3/4 cup of baking soda
- 2 1/4 cups of warm water
- 1/4 cup of finely grated sea salt
- Dissolve the baking soda and salt into 2 cups of warm water. Pour into a gallon container and add the liquid Castile soap. Fill to the top with water.
- You can use about 1/4 of a cup per load making this recipe worth about 64 loads! Can’t beat that.
If you want more inspiration and recipes, I encourage you to search for “DIY natural cleaners” (or something similar) on Pinterest. There are thousands of recipes that are safe, non-toxic and natural!
I hope you join in on this week’s challenge. Share your natural cleaning tips with me on social media and leave a peace sign emoji too! Until next week I’m sending you all the love!
~Stephani