Homemade Kitchen Cleaner

I am never buying kitchen cleaner again. I had recently converted to Caldrea cleaners, because (a) I'd found a ton of them at a local TJ Maxx for el cheapo, and (b) they were the yummiest smelling, eco-friendly-ish cleaners I had found for less than $9.99/bottle at William-Sonoma, oh, and (c) the bottles/lables were pretty cute, and I'm a packaging whore, and that matters to me.

But - I had also recently stocked up on all the necessary ingredients for making pretty much any home cleaner that I would want to make - I have all the requisite essential oils, glycerine, vinegar, baking soda, washing soda, borax, etc. So, when I started to run out of my last bottle of Caldrea Plum Nutmeg (which was the least yummy smelling of the bunch) I made some of my own.

First, I started with this book The Naturally Clean Home: 150 Super-Easy Herbal Formulas for Green Cleaning by Karyn Siegel-Maier.

In it is an ultra easy recipe for an all-purpose kitchen cleaner/degreaser she call's Lemon Blast Cleaner, which calls for:

• white vinegar


• borax


• lemon juice


• eucalyptus, lemon, lime or orange (I used eucalyptus) oil


• liquid Castile soap

Cirrus seed extract (I use grapefruit seed)

Now, I'm not going to give you the exact recipe - becuase it's not mine. It's from the book - but if you buy the book, or get it from your local library, you'll need the above items on hand. I found that this receipe worked fine, but smelled nasty. I thought it would smelly like lemon and eucalypus - but it was like sour vinegar.

So, I added two full droppers of Lavender essential oil, at approximately 10 drops per dropper, and another full dropper of eucalyptus oil. And, the result of THAT is the best smelling cleaner I have ever had the pleasure to clean with. AND, it SERIOUSLY cleans the counters. It cuts grease and food and everything else from the stove to the counters. I use it on our granite countertops and they absolutely don't have a streak on them.

Love. It. LOVE. IT.

Yup, this working mom makes her own laundry detergent. Woot!

I started this posted back in May, when I first made my own laundry detergent. Why did I decide to do this? Well, it's crafty and seemed fun. It's like cooking without the heat. I get to make something, and the result is (a) cheaper and (b) greener than buying laundry detergent off the shelf at Kroger.

I researched laundry detergent recipes online for a few weeks. I was intrigued. There are lots of recipes out there for both powdered laundry detergent as well as liquid laundry detergents.

Upon review of the liquid recipes, all of seemed putsy and involve boiling the detergent - I decided making powdered laundry detergent was the way to go for me. My desire to be green and crafty is easily quashed if it's just too much effort.

Throughout my research - the recipe for laundry detergent seems pretty consistent - however you'll find that some of the sites below do reference different recipes you may wish to try.

The ingredients I ultimately chose for my homemade laundry detergent are as follows:

Large Batch Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe:

• 1 bar (~6 cups) Fels Naptha Soap (grated finely)


• 3 cups washing soda (Arm and Hammer)


• 3 cups Borax (20 Mule Team)


• (optional) 3 cups Oxyclean

Small Batch Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe:

• 1/3 bar (~2 cups) Fels Naptha Soap (grated finely)


• 1 cup washing soda


• 1 cup Borax


• (optional) 1 cup Oxyclean

Put all the ingredients into your chosen container and mix them up. Shaking works best, but stirring is fine. Make sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Once mixed, store in an airtight container.

Suggested Amounts to Use:

• (1) Small/Light load - 1 TB


• (2) "Normal" loads - 2 TB


• (3) Heavy loads - 3 TB

Ratio Recipe - This allows you to chose how much you want to make.

• 2 parts Fels Naptha Soap (grated finely) - NOTE: 1 bar = ~6c grated Fels Naptha Soap


• 1 part Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer)


• 1 part Borax (20 Mule Team)


• (optional) 1 part Oxyclean

I used the Microplane 39005 Rotary Grater with Coarse and Fine Blades with the "fine" blade. I purchased off Amazon.com, which you can do as well via that link. I LOVE this grater. I wash well after using to grate the Fels Naptha, and it does a wonderful job on cheese as well.

More to come on this topic: other laundy soap making sites, where you can buy the ingredients, and the price comparison.

Other places to read about homemade laundry detergent:

http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/

POST AMENDMENT: I think it's important to note that I can't recommend this as a "kid craft" or even "kid recipe". While better for the environment than phosphates or petroleum derivatives - Borax and Washing Soda are not "kid friendly". They are chemicals and should be handled cautiously, by a responsible adult.  You can find the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) for all listed ingredients here at www.msds.com. As with anything, use your good judgment and take all safety precautions before making your own laundry detergent.

Did you use this recipe? Or, do you have one of your own? Let me know!