Homemade Cleaner Spray & Furniture Polish Spray Recipes

I have made my own cleaners, apart from a couple bleach-based ones I use in the bathroom, for a long while now. It started out of penny-pinching necessity but health was an added bonus, because these cleaners are so safe to use that even children can use them. And in my house, they do!

The midget is in charge of cleaning doors and handles and tables and polishing. So long as it involves a spray gun he's a happy bunny. In return for giving him permission to 'shoot' my doors I get a grub-free environment. Win-win.

And it never fails to amaze me how cheap and healthy and moreover so fantastically quick to make homemade cleaners are, that I wonder why people buy ready-made at all!

Take, for example, these two sprays - both were made in under five minutes, they last weeks, smell good and cost pennies. When you see the ingredients you'll be doubting that they work at all, and saying "well, if it were that easy then why do big companies charge big money and add a whole lot more nasties in their stuff" ... a very good question to ask, by the way. But I promise you, they REALLY do work.

So here are the recipes for our current all-purpose surface cleaner, and furniture polish:

Cleaner Spray::

1 teaspoon ecover washing up liquid
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons vinegar (I use white, but any will do)
2 cup boiled water

To avoid a volcanic reaction put the bicarb. of soda in the water before you add the vinegar!

Furniture Polish::

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon essential oil (we use Ylang Ylang)
1/4 cup vinegar
1 3/4 cup boiled water

Place in an old spray bottle and off you go.

I know. Seriously.

Cleaned out Corners of Our Home

Last week I waged a war; a war on my house; a war on my cupboards; a war on hoarding. I bought myself some serious heavy duty binliners, flipped down my visor, said, 'cover me I'm going in' and the war on space had begun. Boundaries had been crossed, lines had to be redrawn. It was me or them.

Living in such a small house (yes I know I moan about my house a lot, forgive me) you are constantly juggling the need for space - making decisions about things you want, things you need and things that have probably stayed too long. As such, not many weeks go by without me giving something away to charity.

But last week? Oy vey... last week I got where dirt couldn't and routed out every last bit of hoarded crap and filled TEN binliners for the charity shop, and TWO binliners for landfill. And to be honest, I have no idea where it all came from, and I can't really see a dent in the house at all. But a dent I did make. There is twelve binliner full empty spaces somewhere abouts.... I'm just hoping I can keep it that way...



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Make Your Place

I have had this book Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills by Raleigh Briggsfor a few months now, maybe even a year, and it's possibly one of the best books I have ever purchased.

It's a small compendium of recipes for home-made household items from health, body care, cleaning and first aid to gardening things. It's full of tinctures, salves, cleaning basics and sprays, and all of it from the point of view of stepping outside consumerism and into the realm of healthy alternatives - which are also cheaper!

I know I'm not the only one who worries about what kinds of nasties are in our cleaning products, and for a while I have wanted to make my own, not only to save money (which it does) but to also make sure my home environment isn't full of parabens.

This book, which is written like a zine - hand written and easy on the eye - is a cheap book which really does deliver. My first attempt at washing powder was a success and I can't believe I've spent so many years buying inferior, nasty consumer products when home made is so easy.



Such a small, cheap book that has made such a big difference.