Natural Homemade Household Products – Part 1

This is a post from Jennifer Leibert of The Adventures with the Leiberts

I am sure most large families, or any size family for that mater, want to save money while helping keep our homes and families clean, healthy and safe.

When you go to the supermarket and look down the cleaning aisle, you become overwhelmed by all the scents, colors and ingredients lists – not knowing what to choose. Then you think you found the perfect one and you look down and see the price and think, ‘WHAT!?!’

We all want to keep our homes clean. Well, as clean as possible., while making sure it is safe for our littles to be crawling on the floor after we mopped or shampooed the carpet as suggested by the experts from carpet cleaning myrtle beach. What about when you put your 3 year old into the bath tub and then realize that you didn’t rinse the tub cleaner off very well. Or opening up the dishwasher, get an overwhelming smell of perfume and picking out a plastic cup and fill with water and you can still smell that perfume.

These things I used to worry about.

Then I thought to myself ‘I can make my own!’

First I started out with white vinegar mixed with water in a spray bottle.

You will need:

• spray bottle
• white vinegar
• water

Pour a 50/50 ratio into the bottle. This can be used on most any surface. The smell goes away after a few minutes and just smells clean. I also fill up my mop bucket with water, pour in vinegar and mop my floors. No need to worry about my 1 year old walking on the floor while it is wet and then putting his feet in his mouth because he will not be harmed.

Next I had a dear friend bring  me a big jar with orange peeling and some other spices soaking in vinegar. I used it the same way in a spray bottle and I loved it!

To make, you will need:

• a glass jar with a lid
• 2-3 orange or lemon peelings
• spices if you like. I have used cinnamon and a mulling spice
• White Vinegar

Fill jar with the peelings and spices, then fill up with white vinegar. Then place it in the cupboard for about a 4+ days. The longer it sits the more infused the vinegar will become. The citrus oils are great degreaser. I use this in a 50/50 ratio in a spray bottle.  You can use this on most surfaces also.

I love the fact that with both of these you can go from your counters, to windows, to the glass coffee table and spritzing a little on a dusting towel and whipping down your book shelf, all while using the same product.

This next recipe I will give you is a great choice for when you need a little more scrubbing power. I use it in place of Comet for my tubs and sinks in my bathrooms and also my kitchen sink and counters. It smells so yummy with the citrus essential oils in it. Which essential oils have another great power besides making this smell good. They also have the power of a disinfectant without the harmful effects of bleach and it’s not going to kill the good bacteria.

For this scrub you will need a few more items. The initial expense of these essential oils my be harder on the budget but they last so long. You only use a few drops. But if you don’t have the budget from the citrus ones please do go and get T-Tree oil. It can be bought at a pharmacy like this pembroke pharmacy for very cheap. There are so many uses for this oil. As a side note I use it when my shingles flares up, and when my kiddos get a small cut.

Scrub powder

You will need:

• Washing soda
• Baking soda
• liquid castile soap
• t-tree essential oil
• lemon essential oil
• sweet orange essential oil
• a little water
• food processor
• and a container to put it in

When I make this I use a hand crank food processor to blend it well. It makes the mixing process a lot easier. First you will add 1 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/3 cup of washing soda and mix well. Then add about a tablespoon of castile liquid soap and 20-30 drops of the essential oils total. I would recommend to at least use T-tree oil if you don’t have any others. You do not need to only use citrus essential oils. I have used lavender also in this recipe but my favorite is the lemon and sweet orange oil mixture. Don’t fuss if you don’t have any oils, just make it without.  You will still have the awesome extra scrubbing powder.  Then mix well.  I then add a little bit of water to make it kind of stick together a little more. Don’t add too much, just a of couple tablespoons. Mix well again. If you add too much water it does funny things like stick together too much; then it is to hard to use. If you want to skip the water go ahead. It doesn’t make it better. It just depends how you like it. Make sure this is blended well. If you don’t get it blended you will end up with hard rocks in your mix. Now just put it in the container. I use a plastic tub like container that has a screw lid. You can use whatever you would like.

Now this scrub powder is so awesome because you can add about 2-3 tablespoons to a spray bottle and add water and it becomes an awesome all purpose spray. This is what I use daily. This bottle is on my kitchen counter at all times. I spray and wipe. The scrub powder I use daily also in the evening when I finish the last set of dishes for the day and clean out the sink with it. It has that great scent and gets all that gunk off your sink without being harmful to you or your sink. I just love using it in my bathroom as my everything cleaner. I add some to the toilet, my tub and sink. Then scrub away. It is awesome on soap scum and hard water stains.

How about a fabric spray?

This is great for spraying the carpets after you vacuum, as you are making the beds just spray on your sheets and pillows, couches, curtains and clothes.

I am one of those people that love my home to smell nice but I don’t burn candles for one the safety reason of having littles and having mostly boys which means balls are thrown in the house, and they also make me have headaches because most of the waxes are filled with yucky perfumes that just don’t like me. Having 5 kids I really don’t need to be laid out on the couch with a headache.

Here is what you will need:

• Spray bottle ( I use a smaller one now then the one in the picture)
• water
• essential oils of your choice ( right now mine has lavender in it)

Are you ready for this one? It is super hard to make. Alright here we go. Fill spray bottle with water, then add 20-40 drops of essential oil of your choice. Next you shake. OH MY, that was difficult! Okay maybe it wasn’t. Shake before each use. In this picture is a larger bottle then I use now. I found this cute little small travel sized spray bottle I use now because I like to switch up my scents often. I felt like I was wasting it if I wanted to change up the essential oils.  Now spray away!

As I said before I am all about the health and safety of my family. Not only them but me also. When we mothers clean with all of those chemical based cleaners it can be dangerous. Not only can it make us cough while spraying something to clean the tub but the long term use of them seeping into our skin can be so harmful on our bodies. It can increase the risks for cancer or damage our nervous systems. Being a mom of many and hoping for more I want to be around a long time, God willing.