Getting a bit obsessed!

I nearly fainted from joy this afternoon. I have never been able to find castile soap. I went to a vitamin store today and found Dr. Bronner's

Then, when I went to the supermarket, I noticed they had the eucalyptus oil I use for half price, so I stocked up

I think dh thought I was going through a phase when I started making my own cleaning products. But, I love it. And honestly, the house has never looked or smelt nicer. It is great.

Isn't it awesome?! I haven't been able to give up ALL my cleaners yet, but am doing it slowly. One thing I absolutely love is I got rid of all floor cleaners and only use a steam mop. I am AMAZED at how nicer/cleaner my floors look. It's unreal how using cleaners on your floor can really build up and actually make your floor dirtier over time.

Good for you.

I have seen Dr Bronners at Target of all places.

Would you mind sharing your recipes? I have one for an all purpose cleaner I can dig out too. I'll post it in a bit.

I've heard that about steam mops, Karen. My sister swears by hers as well. I am seriously thinking of going that route. Which one do you have?

Well there was one in particular Ryan and I researched that we REALLY wanted but you could only order it online so we didn't get it. I think it was a Haan. I can't remember now, lol. We ended up going with the Shark. It's not supposedly as great as the other we wanted, but I wanted to be able to return the item if I didn't like it and buying the Shark locally allowed that. The Shark does take a lot of arm strength, lol. Especially if you have a LOT of floor like I do. You also definitely have to sweep the floors and then I also take a vacuum over the floors before I even use the Shark because if you don't get up all the dog/cat hair, etc it will clump up some when using the Shark - hard to explain. I also learned not to let the water get low in the Shark, it works better when not. I find I get my floors better cleaned when I use a lot of steam, therefore you go through more distilled water using it. I've had my gallon of distilled water since January, though, and I mop almost every week. I also use one pad per room so I know I get the floors cleaned - both sides of the pad. After a couple of months of use my pads are starting to look a little ragged, but I haven't tried bleaching them yet, so I'm going to do that when I get a chance.

I don't know how to explain it, but my floors FEEL like they don't have a film on them anymore. There is something about cleaners that leave a film on the floors and IMO my floors have stayed cleaner longer now that that film is gone. It takes a month or so of using a steam mop to really see a difference in your floors as far as the look of no film on it. Ryan just doesn't see it, but he never goes barefoot in the house - I do, so I DEFINITELY notice a difference. ETA: My floors also LOOK like they are cleaner.

And so far in the past two plus months I haven't bought any cleaners! Just one gallon of distilled water. Before I used the Swiffer wetjet, which I thought did a terrible job, really. And I was going through cleaner and pads like you wouldn't believe as much as I have to mop.

So the Shark definitely does the trick for now. I may someday, maybe in a year get that other one I wanted.

This post has been edited by coasterqueen on Mar 26 2010, 08:02 AM

I got some spray bottles, the first ones I got were not very good. I ended up getting the spray bottles from the gardening section of my supermarket.

Anyway, on one of those I put:

1/4th a cup of vinegar
Eucalyptus oil
About a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide
Water

And now I put some of the castile soap.

I use that for cleaning the benches and table, etc. Things generally stay pretty clean but every few days after I do the dishes at night, I fill the sink with some boiling water. Then I put in about 1/4th a cup of washing soda, a tablespoon of borax,some eucalyptus oil and some vinegar. Then I put rubber gloves on and I wipe down the benches, stove, table, etc.

For the toilet, I use bi-carb and vinegar with some eucalyptus oil. And for the floors, just vinegar and hot water. But, I really want to try out a steam mop. Oh and for an air freshner, I put lavendar oil, water and a bit of vinegar in a spray bottle.

I still use store bought detergent but I bought the green one, and I add washing soda to it. So, I use less than what you're supposed to of the detergent because the washing soda boosts it. I have been really happy with it, it works better than the other detergent I used to use. But, I am looking at getting soap nuts. I also add pure eucalyptus oil to the wash, but for the cleaning I use water soluable. I absolutely love the smell of eucalyptus, lol.

About the floors, too. I noticed that when I stopped using my old floor cleaner and started using vinegar and hot water, the floors feel so much cleaner. It took a few times, but the waxy residue from the old cleaner is gone.

I really love the way the house smells, lol. I think it is because of my addiction to eucalyptus, but I notice how much I dislike the smell of other cleaners now. Some of them smell nice, but nowadays if I am at someone else's house and they've just cleaned the benches, it is really over powering.

Nina, your recipes sound almost exactly like mine

All purpose spray

32 oz spray bottle
2 Cup water
1/2 C white vinegar
1 tsp Dr. Bronners
3/4 C peroxide
20 drops tea tree oil
20 drops other essential oil to make it smell pretty.

Toilets

3 Cups vinegar
3 tsp dr bronners
20 drops tea tree oil
20 drops essential oil.

I dump some in, let it soak, add baking soda and scrub


floors

vinegar
10 drops tea tree oil
10 drops essential oil
HOT water


I have used soap nuts for FOREVER. Like mabe 2 years now. i love them. when I am done using them in the wash, I boil them down and make soap nut liquid that I use for spot cleaning my carpets.

I've seen so many different websites with recipes for home made cleaners. I kind of just go with what I know works in my house.

But, I did get this really great book last year. They had a discount book store that was open for a coupe of weeks. I got '1001 Easy Ways For Earth-Wise Living' for $13, instead of $60. It is by reader's digest. I don't know if they have a US version of it? Mine is the Australian version. But, it's really good. I got a lot of my recipes from there.

http://barinya.com/reviews/books/1001_Easy...Book_Review.php

Karen~ our house is all tile and wood except for one room of carpet (which I hate and plan to replace as soon as funding allows). My sister has a Bissel, I think, and likes it but she has far less wood than us. Thanks for all the info. My swiffer has worked great but about a year ago they changed the wood floor formula and now it's almost impossible to find in our area. The multi purpose cleaner leaves a film on the wood that I don't get with the tile. It's positively gross to walk on barefoot and has no shine to it. I'm definitely looking into steam mops!!

I have been interested in getting a steam mop, too, but wasn't sure if they'd really work. The floor in my kitchen is g-r-o-s-s!! You can actually see the build-up on it! I've been using the swiffer for a few years now, just because I like that you can see the dirt on the pad, so at least that's not on the floor. But the floor is SO dull now, and you can tell it's darker than it used to be, too.
The wood floors in my house are basically raw, as they've needed refinishing since before we ever moved in 12 years ago. So, I pretty much just use a damp sponge mop on them... doesn't do much good, though, as our white socks become dingy pretty quick.

I love the idea of using cleaners for counters and toys that you don't have to wash off for fear of making someone sick, and the fumes cleaners give off -- wow! Choke choke choke!

I think I'll check into the homemade recipes.

I LOVE my steam mop its SOOOO much better than a mop!! Hmmm I think I would like to go all natural for other cleaners too...

They have it on vitacost.com too.

I tried soapnuts and my entire family, not just me , decided we didn't feel like our clothes were getting cleaned. I mainly use vinegar to wash clothes. I do use a green detergent too, once in awihle, but LOVE LOVE vinegar for washing clothes. Course I just use it for cleaning about anything.