3 Great Natural Cleaning Products

Warning this post contains grot and grim that will turn your stomach, the gross yukness of this post has been allowed to build up for the purposes of this post and not because i have been drinking to many gin cocktails and haven't been bothered to clean.

I really am loving NOT buying those expensive cleaning products and mixing up batches of my home made cheaper and frankly far better than the overpriced and branded products in the shops, i know whats in mine which are more natural, non toxic and what they can do and having 3 THINGS that can pretty much clean my house is GREAT!!  I have been cleaning with these now for almost a year and really haven't looked back.

my 3 favorite cleaning products are

Citric Acid great at limescale removal with out scrubbing, softens water, removes rust ( they use this on old ships and planes they life from the sea they want to preserve for history) even removes wax and grease without scrubbing.  Safe product used in cosmetic and food.

White Vinegar Anti bacterial, kills mould, removes odors, stains, removes soap scum, removes grease, shines floors, cleans windows great all round cleaner non toxin

Barcarbonate of soda Freshens and removes odors,  Cleans silver, removes scuff marks, de greases, great in laundry, softens burnt on food, removes mould, drain cleaner, carpet cleaner,  non toxic 

Let me show you how quick and easy these are to use all of which can be bought off the internet easily, the below i used my spray gun with 100% vinegar and 2-3 spoons of citric acid as they were hard core jobs, i have a second bottle which is a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar and this is great as an all purpose cleaner.

I have left my kitchen tap for two weeks for limescale and grot to build up, i mixed up in a spray bottle white vinegar and a couple of spoons of citric acid gave it a shake before spraying.  Sprayed over my tap and left it for 30 seconds ( slurp of tea) and wiped it over with a cloth no scrubbing and WOW shiny Tap.

I didn't notice this until i posted the pictures but where the spray went on the wood by accident it killed off the black mould !!!  i think i will go back and get the rest.

Dishwasher grim down the side of the doors and hinges are a bugger to clean, sorry the first grot picture might be hard to see due to my flash going off but trust me grim is lurking there.  In a cup i mixed up white vinegar, a spoon of citric acid and enough Bic soda to make a fizzing paste.  The reason for making a paste is the dishwasher needed a deeper clean and just spraying vinegar and citric would run off using the bic soda makes the product stick to the upright parts and also add OXYGEN power cleaning which seems to be the latest craze that companies want to charge you extra for, those little bubble really do get under and lift of the dirt.

Ok the dreaded LOO we have a second loo and i have deliberately left this for 2 months before cleaning HOW GROSS but i really want to show you how amazing this is, there is a reason people throw cheap cola down there loos, citric acid power!!!

i mixed 1 liter of white vinegar with 4-5 tbsps of citric acid, i also added lemon verbena fragrance oil to make a lovely fresh smell around the loo, i keep this in a spray gun and go round once a down and put a few squirts around the loo to get rid of limescale, stains and germs.  For a dirty loo like below i  threw a mixture some of mixture down and left  for 6 hours and Bling Bling, and this is before i have even scrubbed it, not that i will need to scrubbed my loo now.

3 Homemade Laundry products you will love

So i have seen over the net how to make your own laundry powder and seeing as my machine seems to be constantly running, making laundry detergent rather expensive. So i wanted to test out first if the laundry detergent worked and how much it cost to make.  Also there are laundry detergents can contain some pretty tough chemicals that may irritate your skin and ruin your clothes or machine so it was even interesting to see how the clothes felt especially with a baby in the house.

Save Money, Environmentally friendly, Kind to your skin, long live your machine

So what is in home made laundry powder

Borax is naturally occurring deposit and is used as a laundry booster to remove stains and is also an anti fungal remover so again great for machines and people with athletes foot Cost £3.09 for 1kg

Baking soda or Sodium bicarbonate This is a water softener so if you live in a hard water area you will notice if you use this that the lime scale and hard water that builds up in your machine will not build up as much protecting your machine, also the hard scales from hard water wont attach to your clothes making your clothes feel scratchy.  Sodium bicarbonate also deodorises all those smelly pongs from your clothes. Cost £1.99 per 500g

Soda crystals These are great at removing dirt and grease from the fibers of your clothes. They do not damage the environment unlike some chemicals in laundry detergent. Cost £1 per 1 kg

Soap flakes  ok so i am a bit of a smart arse and can make my own soap that the family use to wash with so for me this is a great way to hoover up odds and ends that i make and recycle them into laundry powder.  But you can easily buy soap flakes on line you need these as they are the detergent to wash the clothes with. Cost £3.79 per 1 kg

How to make laundry powder

Well that could not be easier i use i use a bucket as i make in bulk and tip in following and mix up gently so not to make lots of the product fly about, but below is a more manageable smaller recipe

How much does it cost 
2/3 cup or 151g  soap flakes = 57p
1/3 cup or 75g    soda crystals = 8p
1 cup or 225g     baking soda = 90p
1 cup or 225g     borax = 69p

676g of washing powder = £2.24 = 24 washes

as you only need 2 tbsp of powder per wash which is equal to 28g this means you get 24 washes for £2.24

Comparing to the supermarkets 
looking for a closest equivalent on a popular supermarkets own brand powder  800g is £2.30 but only gives 10 washes

So if your looking for something a bit more environmentally friendly caring for your skin, clothes and machine you may want to stir up a batch


What about fabric softener 

Actually i have said goodbye to fabric softener and exchanged this for White vinegar £3.20 for 5 liters, compared to £8.50 for fabric conditioner from the supermarket which can actually clog up and cause all that black build up in your machine.

                          Fresh and Cheap 

Why use white vinegar ? it kills all the bad bacteria on clothes and in your machine and also softens clothes too.  No it does not make your clothes smell of vinegar in fact the opposite my clothes smell fresher than if i have used fabric conditioner




My Favourite Ironing spray
Starch may remind you of days gone by and stiff collars on shirts but i have developed my own ironing spray to help get those creases out, keep a decent shape in clothes and give 48 hour long scented clothes when worn.

Starch is actually not only for making things stay firm in shape but is great to use especailly on husbands sweaty shirts to hold sweat and dirt on the starch rather than in the fibers of clothes, protecting clothes and giving them a longer life.

I made my ironing spray to break down the starch so it was not so firming on the clothes but still gave great collars and cuffs.  I also found that the starch was not only good at holding the sweat off the clothes but held fragrance oils for a really long time on clothes so you could walk around for 2 days if you wanted, which was handy for camping, festivals generally being a knackered mum and picking up yesterdays clothes and rushing off to do the school run in.

Long lasting scented clothes

Fragrance oils can be bought really easily off the internet, my favourite fragrances so far were lavender which held really nicely for days in the bedding i also used the lavender on babies clothes to keep her calm and sleepy, as well in my hubbys shirts when he was on a stressful project at work and i noticed a difference in his coping with the stress compared to not having it.  My other favourite scent is a nautical one there is something about the fresh saltness of the sea which is rather nice.

here is my recipe 
1/3 cup of starch
2 cups of water
1 to 2 table spoons of fragrance oil depending on your preference and strength of the scent

Did i mention that when ironing with the spray most of your house will smell divine too.