Thinking Clean

I ran out of all purpose cleaner today, in the middle of cleaning the kitchen.

There was a time in my life when this occurrence would have been extremely annoying and more of a hassle than anything else.

But no more.

When I threw out my store bought laundry products, I began to make my own cleaners as well. I've been doing this for several months now and am in love (if you can feel that way about a cleaner) with my All Purpose Cleaner.

Here's the recipe for those who may want to try it:

What You'll Need:
A spray bottle
1 tsp. Borax powder
1/2 tsp. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)
2TBS white vinegar
1/2 tsp vegetable-based soap: I use Dr. Bonner's Castile Soap. Lavender, yum.
2 cups hot water.

What You'll Do:
Add everything to the spray bottle and shake. Now when you're talking about adding powders, this can be more of a challenge than it seems, depending on the opening to your spray bottle. I usually put the powders on a small piece of paper, roll it into a cone shape and then funnel it into the bottle. Then I add the rest of it. I tried mixing everything together in a bowl and pouring it the bottle once. Once. Did you ever make a volcano in science class? Yeah, it felt a lot like that.
Anyway, once you've got it all in the bottle, give it a happy shake and you're off.

This stuff works great on all hard surfaces. And the best part is that after cleaning a room with it, you won't feel like you've just sniffed glue for an hour. (That may not be a selling point for those who like sniffing glue, though).

And the even better part of the whole thing is that when you run out of it, like I did today? You just mix up another batch. Hooray! No fuss, no muss.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!