I went to a bridal shower a few months ago and we played that game where you have to guess how much the cleaning products cost. I used to fail that game because I used to use coupons to get them all super cheaply. This time I was at a loss because I don’t use any of those products anymore.  I no longer buy laundry detergent, fabric softener, all-purpose spray, glass cleaner, tub and shower cleaner , air fresheners, or stain sticks.  And I save so much money–way more than I ever could have saved even with the best coupons and sales!  Now I share my recipes with you.  This is how you, too can save a ton of money and get rid of all of those chemicals under your sink!

{Except Blue Dawn.  I will always use blue Dawn.  Its grease cutting properties are second to none so you will find that in some of my recipes.  Okay, and I use some bleach sometimes, to kill germs (I’m pretty paranoid about those little guys), but for almost everything else, I’ve found alternatives.}

Glass Cleaner:

My favorite is my glass cleaner. Super easy and so cheap it’s almost free. And it sure makes things sparkle. From my windows and mirrors, to my kitchen sink faucet, to my glass stovetop–I spray, it sparkles.

I fill a spray bottle with water and add 1 T. rubbing alcohol and 1 T. white vinegar. That’s it!  Not too picky on the ingredient amounts.  Estimation works every time so far.

For a very dirty glass stovetop, I spray my glass cleaner to coat the surface and then sprinkle with a good layer of baking soda and let it sit overnight.  In the morning, a warm, damp cloth will do the trick quite nicely.

All Purpose Cleaner: 

Fill a spray bottle with 1 qt. water.  Add 1/4 c. castile soap and 20-30 drops of tea tree oil.  Tea Tree has disinfecting properties so I know I’m killing germs as well as general cleaning.  I also add some other essential oil scents like lemon or orange or peppermint.

This is my go-to cleaner for countertops and my dining room table.  I use it for the fridge, and well, anything that needs a good washing.  Give it a shake each time before you spray.

Tub and Shower Cleaner:

We have hard water.  So we also have should-be-white-but-in-reality-are-orange-ish tubs and showers more than I’d like to admit.  Equal parts blue Dawn to vinegar changes that.  Hot vinegar to blue Dawn spread liberally over a nightmarishly orange shower and left to sit will turn it shiny and white when used with some elbow grease.

I also keep a little scrubber sponge full of blue Dawn and vinegar in each tub in case someone wants a long shower and feels bored.

Laundry Detergent:

For this I use two things.  The most recent are called soap nuts.  Ohmygosh, I love these guys!!  My daughter first got them because she uses cloth diapers and these are the safest for washing them.  I bought some too because, really how neat are they?  They are little, literal nuts from the Himalayas (I’m not kidding, quit laughing) that  have been used for pretty much all of time to clean things.  You get this neat little pouch and you put a few nuts in there and then you run it in the wash with your clothes and they get clean!  No chemicals!  It’s like magic.  After 7-10 washes, replace the nuts.  That’s it!  One box will last almost forever, I think.

This is a good tip for you!  A dry-erase marker message written on my dryer door reminds me not to dry the soap nuts or anything else that shouldn’t be dried.

I also make powdered detergent.  I use this when I want to soak clothes to get stains out or my whites which I soak with 1/4 c. or so of hydrogen peroxide.

For this, I mix a box of Borax with a box of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda.  Per 2 cups of this combination, I add 1 bar of Kirk’s Castile Soap grated up.  I have also used Fels Naptha.  I like both.  Fels Naptha seems better on stains and Kirk’s is all natural.

Fabric Softener:

I use wool dryer balls to prevent static.

Toilet Cleaner:

For my toilets, I buy this.  I have used baking soda and vinegar, but I really like to feel like my toilet got some extra cleaning love–without harsh chemicals if possible.

 Laundry Stains:

Well, honestly, I don’t have too many stains to deal with due to the homemade detergent, but the ones I do I have found a pretty miraculous answer for.  Blue Dawn and hydrogen peroxide.  It changed my laundry life.  Seriously, when I found that I could get OLD grease stains out of already washed and dried shirts, my mind was blown.  Because I often forget an apron.  And many of my shirts have helped me fry bacon.  My daughter has found great success with it as well for those inevitable poop-on-the-onesie stains from her new baby.  That’s a big deal!

To get the stain out, squirt a little detergent on the stain and then squirt a little hydrogen peroxide on as well and let it set in for under an hour.  I found that drugstores sell a little squirt bottle of peroxide.  I love that little guy and I just refill it from the big bottle as needed. Don’t soak this overnight.  You don’t want to bleach the color out.  After about an hour, scrub it with a toothbrush and wash it as hot as the color will allow.  Repeat if necessary.

And a tip I recently learned.  Though most stains come out best with hot water, blood needs cold.  Hot water will set in a blood stain.  So use cold water as soon as possible and the spot is more likely to come out.

Also, Fels Naptha (mentioned above in my powdered detergent) works well as a *stain stick*.  I use an old toothbrush and a bit of the grated soap for lots of stains as well.

Air Fresheners:

Gosh, I used to love me some air fresheners.  Really, who wants a stinky house!  So, now, if I’m not baking something that smells delicious when folks are stopping by or if the not-so-fresh air in the house needs an uplift, I just boil a couple cups of water on my stovetop and add a few drops of essential oils.  Lemon, orange, or spearmint are lovely, but peppermint is my favorite.  They just brighten up the whole area and leave no smell residue to worry about like I sometimes found from candles or the chemical based fresheners.

So, there you have it.  A few tricks I’ve had up my sleeve.  How about you?  What are some of your favorites natural cleaners?