Comments on: Recipes for homemade cleaners: What’s your favorite?

By: Faiza Smith

Faiza Smith — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:45:59 +0000

My great recipe is 1/4 of the bottle rubbing alcohol, add 1 tsp. of dishwashing detergent, then add water all the way up the bottle. I use either wintergreen scent or orange for the rubbing alcohol. I too like Hydrogen Peroxide, but the alcohol comes cheaper as I can add water to it.

By: Deana Y

Deana Y — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:13:17 +0000

I have only recently made a couple of these homemade cleaners so I don't really have a "great" recipe put together yet. I will eventually, but I have to know how my ingredients work together I think.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:32:41 +0000

I use The Vinegar to replace bleach in almost everything, it does not burn your lungs as bleach does, pour 2 Tablespoons of baking soda in the drain, and add 1 cup of vinegar, it is a good way to unstop drains too.
I use Dawn Dish Washing detergent as a spot remover, it works great on grease spots especially, or grass stains, lipstick marks, it amazes me how many natural things we have to work with, you do not need to spend a fortune to keep a clean and refreshed home. Hope this helps someone.

By: cindy

cindy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:10:50 +0000

Has anyone tried washing soda (sodium carbonate)in their dishwashers with vinegar in the rinse? We have a new dishwasher but it’s not hooked up yet and I have been wanting to try it.

By: Dayna

Dayna — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:48:20 +0000

i have tried the borax,baking soda and i add a little white vinegar in a cup in the bottom rack.i also put a small drop of castille soap.i love that stuff.i have been buying br.bronners but i have recently mad my own and saving more.the castille soap is worth it though if you have to buy i buy the big one because you can use it for everything

By: KP

KP — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:06:12 +0000

looked into the 20 mule team site… in their FAQs section, they describe their product as 99.5% pure borax and then go on to define it as sodium tetraborate decahydrate… looked up boron on a chemistry site… hate ot admit it, because I use borax a lot, but Scott is right about the defintion of borax… not sure if he didn’t exagerate the effects to the environment a bit though. Look up boron and decide for yourself

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:58:39 +0000

I just wanted to respond to the comments about Borax.
There are two different types of Borax Scott, and 20 Mule Team Borax is altogether a different product than the one you are referring too.

Here is a link explaining what it is & what it’s made up of:
http://www.20muleteamlaundry.com/index.cfm?page_id=56

Maybe this will help to clear a few things up.

By: caryn verell

caryn verell — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:43:30 +0000

i make and use the liquid laundry detergent recipe (and store in in those old detergent bottles that have the pump dispenser so that every dose of detergent is an exact 1 oz. the recipe makes 2gal. and it lasts for a long time. i usually make up one batch per 5-6mos. don’t care for the homemade stuff in the dishwasher although it does work in a pinch…do use the vinegar in the rinse cycle. vinegar and baking soda for the pipes, and any other cleaning that needs to be done. these are big time money savers and work just as well..maybe better than the store bought fancy good smelling stuff.

By: Condo Blues

Condo Blues — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:09:13 +0000

I use vinegar instead of Jet Dry in my dishwasher. I pour in enough vinegar to fill up the Jet Dry container in my dishwasher and let it go. I think vinegar works as a much better and cheaper sheeting agent. Who knew?

By: Milehimama

Milehimama — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:32:14 +0000

I found that baking soda and borax sometimes doesn’t get my glass plates clean/leaves a film. We use glass salad plates for kid sized plates.

I make my own DW detergent this way:
1 c borax
1 c baking soda
1/2 c. salt

Use 2 Tablespoons.