October 3, 2008 | Floors, Dusting, Bathroom, Kitchen, Vinegar, Cleaning tips
In today’s economy everyone’s looking for ways to save a buck (or two, or two hundred or more…) So we’re starting a 3 part series here at Broom Huggers to help you save on your house keeping budget. Today’s edition will talk about using things around your home to clean with. Part 2 will cover saving money with commercially-available cleaning products, and part 3 will help those of you who hire a maid or a cleaning service to know how to lower your bill.
So, for today let’s talk about what you already have at home that you can use to clean with. A bottle of Windex will cost you $3.99 or so, and if you want to go with the greener option of Seventh Generation or Ecover, that’ll run you about $4.99 a bottle. And then you’d need some all-purpose cleaner, degreaser for tough grease, toilet bowl cleaner, oven cleaner, carpet cleaner, tub & tile spray, hard surface cleaner and something special for your granite or marble, not to mention hardwood floor cleaner, tile floor cleaner… Or that’s what the efforts of the marketing gurus want you to believe.
In fact you can clean most surfaces in your home without any of those. Here’s a rundown of how to clean your home for cheap with what you’ve already got - and what doesn’t have harsh chemicals.
Dusting wood furniture: Mix together 1/2 c. lemon juice, 1 tsp olive oil (you don’t need the high quality EVOO for this). Dampen a cloth with it and refrigerate what’s leftover since lemon juice will go rancid at room temp.
Window, glass, & light duty cleaner: 1/4 cup vinegar with 2 cups water will do the trick. If you’ve been using commercial window cleaner for some time you’ll want to add 2-3 drops of detergent to the mix. Commercial window cleaners leave a fine, waxy residue and the vinegar alone won’t fully hack it.
Scouring cleanser: Make a paste with baking soda and water, add a couple drops of lemon juice. Scrub away!
Whitening agent: Hydrogen peroxide. You can use it on your white laminate countertops, tile grout, laundry.
Disinfectant: Arm yourself with 2 spray bottles. One with undiluted vinegar and the other with hydrogen peroxide. Spray one and then the other on any surface you consider contaminated, and that will take care of most germs and microbes.
Toilet bowl cleaner: You need something acidic, so vinegar, lemon juice or lime juice will do the trick. You do not need one of those funky-shaped bottles to get under the rim. A spray bottle and your toilet brush will work fine.
Fabric softener: Add some vinegar to your rinse and you don’t need fabric softener. And replace dryer sheets with a reusable cloth. Dab some fabric softener or vinegar on it and throw it in the dryer.
That’ll take care of most of your product needs around the house. Our next installment will tell you how to navigate the world of consumer cleaners.
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Kristi says:
Or you could just do like I do and only clean once a month (or less!)
Maybe not….
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:31 pmBroomhuggers » Save money on housecleaning! (Part 2) says:
[…] « Save money on housecleaning! (Part 1) […]
October 4th, 2008 at 7:37 pmBroomhuggers » Save money on housecleaning! (Part 3) says:
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October 5th, 2008 at 12:11 pmSites to See for October 12 — Laurel Plum Online says:
[…] Save Money on Housecleaning Part 1 - from broomhuggers. Part one of this series includes lots of cleaning recipes you can make in your kitchen. […]
October 11th, 2008 at 4:20 amHydrogen, Vodka and the Bus « Adventures in Green Living says:
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October 29th, 2008 at 5:13 pm