It's Quite Easy Being Green

When my hubby and I first sat down and created a budget, our allotted amount of money dedicated to groceries also included anything I’d buy at the grocery store, including cleaning supplies. I enjoy food too much to be content with the fact that the expense of cleaning products diminished the money left for actual food. So, I started looking at cheaper alternatives for cleaning supplies.

I grew up in a house with Pledge, Windex, Scrubbing Bubbles, and other name brand products and it was hard for me to believe that handmade or natural cleaning products would work just as well. I weighed the potential benefits:

• Natural products mean less chemicals in our home
• Less chemicals mean less toxicity to us and our pets
• Natural cleaning products seem to be multi-functional so I wouldn’t need as many products, therefore, I wouldn’t need as much room to store them
• Natural products are cheaper than purchasing the chemical-induced ones

These benefits were great enough for me to run the risk that they wouldn’t work. So I bought a few of the staples and whipped up the following three products.

Carpet Cleaner

I discovered a carpet cleaning formula here. With a cat and a very active puppy, plus five nieces and nephews, and our own tendencies to be klutzy, carpet cleaner is a product we use a lot. Regretfully, I confess that we do let our pets on the couch, so I’m constantly cleaning dog hair and drool off the cushions and pillows. We also take our puppy on many car trips so we often need to clean the seats in our cars as well. I must say this carpet cleaning concoction has not let me down! 

Here is the recipe:

• 2 tsp dishwashing liquid
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tsp baking soda

This has taken dog blood out of our carpet, various stains out of our cloth auto seats, and stains and drool off of our microfiber couch without ruining any fabrics. Thumbs up to product numero uno.

Furniture Polish

My second product was furniture polish. I found a formula here. I needed a formula that would work for various types of surfaces including real wood, veneer, and metal. Again, the pets create a lot of dust/dander/pet hair on our surfaces so having a cheap and easy furniture polish that smells good and keeps the surfaces dust free for at least a few days was essential. 

This formula has done just that. I’ve been able to use it on any surface needing dusting without damage. It does smell good and I don’t notice a need to dust any more often than I did when using a name brand furniture polish. The key tip with this product is that it needs to be shaken before use and occasionally while you’re using it because the oil and water do separate easily. 

Here is the recipe:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 - 4 drops of an essential oil for scent

Two thumbs up for product two.

Window Cleaner

Lastly, our windows are constantly a mess. The puppy smears his nose along the front windows while watching a squirrel cross the yard and finds it necessary to lick the sliding glass window and rub his nose all over that as well. When our nieces and nephews visit, their hands always seem to find their way to the windows too. And, when we take the puppy for car trips, his nose and drool destroys our car windows. This recipe has worked great for all of the above as well as regular cleaning of mirrors and other glass surfaces:

• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp dish detergent

You guessed it, I'm all thumbs up for number three.

The significant savings these three products provide result in a nice increase of our food budget. Here is a simple cost comparison:

	Store Bought	Homemade
Window Cleaner	$2.99 for 26 oz.	$0.26 for 32 oz.
Carpet Cleaner	$4.44 for 22 oz.	$0.13 for 17.4 oz.
Furniture Polish	$4.19 for 9.7 oz	$0.15 for 18.2 oz.

Once I tried out these three formulas and realized that my doubts were clearly proven wrong, I decided to make labels for the blank spray bottles (each $1 at our local dollar store) that included the name of the product and the recipe for each one. This would make it easier to refill the bottle when it was empty. To make my labels “water-proof”, or protected from minor spill-overs when creating the formulas, I covered each label with packaging tape on the front and back and then attached them to the bottle with more tape. 

Now that I have grown to love these three products so much, I’m looking to expand my natural cleaning products. I will share those formulas with you as I find and test them out!

Do you have any natural cleaning solutions that work wonders for you?