More Homemade Cleaning Recipes.

OK I have done some research and I've found some great cheap and environmentally friendly cleaning recipes. So here they are.

First Some Tips:

• For the bar soaps required in the recipes, you could try Fels-Naptha, Ivory soap, Sunlight bar soap, Kirk’s Hard water Castile, and Zote. Don’t use heavily perfumed soaps.
• Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found in the laundry and cleaning aisles.
• Some people with really hard water or well water may have to adjust the recipes if the clothes look dingy.
• You can make huge pails of this at once, or smaller quantities. Also if you can get your hands on a few empty liquid laundry detergent bottles they work great for storing the detergent. Just make a big batch and pour in bottles, cap them and use as needed–shake before use.
•  Check with a local restaurant to see if they have any empty large pails from deep fryer oil–that’s how many restaurants buy the oil. See if you can have one or two of the pails after they’ve emptied it–just wash them out really well before using. They’re big, heavy plastic and very sturdy when stirring the soap and hot water.

Liquid Laundry Detergent
1 quart Water (boiling)
2 cups Bar soap (grated)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda

• Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted.
• Pour the soap water into a large, clean pail and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved.
• Add 2 gallons of water, stir until well mixed.
• Cover pail and use 1/4 cup for each load of laundry. Stir the soap each time you use it (will gel). Or it can be poured into old laundry soap containers. Shake before you use it

If you want to try some other recipes. Try this link http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/

I also found a pretreater recipe from the same site if you want to try it.

This is a great pretreater for stained laundry and it makes up nicely…keep a jar handy in the laundry room and you’ll never need to buy harsh chemical stain removers.

Grate A Bar Of Soap To Make A Useful Soap Jelly

Soap Jelly Recipe


Glass Jar (like a canning jar)
Laundry soap bar (or non-perfume bar like Ivory soap)
Hot water

• Shave the bar of soap until the shavings fill half of the jar.
• Fill the rest of the jar with hot water (boiling if the jar can handle that hot without shattering). Cover with lid.
• Allow the water to soak into the soap a bit to soften it up then shake hard until soap is dissolved (or stir well).
• Once the soap is dissolved, allow to cool completely. The soap & water mixture will form a soap jelly that is ideal for using on laundry stains.

Troubleshooting Tip: If soap and water mixture doesn’t gel nicely, it’s still useable…but you can reheat mixture and add more soap shavings. If it’s too thick, add a bit more hot water.
Directions for use:

• Soften stubborn soil with soap jelly on a soft brush. Scrub gently to avoid damaging cloth.

Dishwasher detergent recipe:
It's really easy. It's 1 part borax to 1 part baking soda. Store it in a plastic container. Use about 3 TBL per load. And you can put white vinegar in your rinse compartment to give your dishes some shine.

Last but not least I wanted to share a comment left by Amanda yesterday:

I love white vinegar for the bathroom. For really tough soap scum, just warm it up a little and it eats right through it! I also use a mixture of equal parts vinegar and water for glass cleaner. I used to use a recipe that had rubbing alcohol, but I'd read that wasn't as good for you. Vinegar and water also work great for hardwood and vinyl type flooring. 1 c. vinegar to 1 gallon of warm water for vinyl flooring and only 1/2 c. vinegar with the water for hard wood. Baking soda works as a great abrasive if you need something like that. I had to start using the homemade version of cleaners when my asthma got really bad.

*Disclaimer- I haven't tried any of these recipes myself yet. So they are to be used at your own risk.