We found this great post on making your own laundry detergent over at Cozgroovy – they’re a green maid service just like we are, but they’re  up in snow country (cheese country?) Wisconsin.

Has anyone ever tried this? It looks like it might be fun!

Whether it’s your upholstered chairs or your favorite shirt, grease and oil stains can be a pain to remove. But we’ve got some solutions for you, and they’re simple!

First (and our favorite), spoon some cornmeal onto the stain and let it sit for a couple hours. Launder in the hottest water acceptable for your garment or fabric. If it’s something you can’t throw in the wash (like an upholstered dining room chair cushion), let the cornmeal sit on it for a day or so. You’ll be surprised how much the cornmeal lifts off.

The second alternative is to rub white chalk on it, let it sit for the same amount of time, and launder the same way. This usually isn’t as effective on things that can’t be laundered. And working with chalk inevitably involves chalk dust – which I hate.

There’s a third tip too, but I haven’t personally tried it. I’ve been told that for a load of greasy clothes (like maybe if someone’s been working a lot in the garage or you accidentally exploded a jar of olive oil (?), you can empty a can of Coca-Cola into the wash cycle and it’ll take it out. I think that one’s kind of weird, but I’d love to hear from anyone who’s tried it.

Well, let’s not be drastic. For 6 weeks I won’t sweep anything off my own floor. But there’s nothing stopping my husband or live-in in-laws from doing it. Still though, I find myself looking for creative ways to contribute to the overall well-being of my household. So here are a few scrub-free cleaning tips that even I can do after my c-section.

• Drop a vitamin C tablet in the toilet at bedtime. In the morning give the toilet a meager swish-swish and flush. You’d be amazed how well it works.
• This is another bedtime one. Plug your shower drain and fill to about 1/2 inch deep with hot water. Sprinkle a few teaspoons of Shaklee’s Nature Bright into the standing water and leave overnight. Rinse well in the morning, and see your shower floor sparkle. This works wonders on sinks too – fill with hot water, add a few teaspoons of the Nature Bright, let it sit, then rinse!
• Put your fine silver in a pot or pan and cover with water. Add a tablespoon each of salt and baking soda. Submerse a couple sheets of aluminum foil and wait an hour. Rinse your silver and voila! It’s polished!
• No iron handy? Toss dryer-safe wrinkled clothes into the dryer for 5 minutes and remove promptly. Wrinkles be gone!
• Dishes a problem? Fill your sink with warm dish-soapy water and sprinkle in some Bon Ami. Soak your dishes until the water becomes tepid, and the grease and petrified food should slide right off. (Of course, if you’ve had a c-section you’ll need to let someone else take over the dishwashing at this point…)
• Grab a pretty spray bottle and fill it nearly to the top with water. Add 4-5 drops tea tree oil, oregano oil, lavender oil, and a cinnamon stick. Spray it anywhere that needs disinfecting (door handles, light switches, refrigerator handle, bathroom surfaces, etc.).
• Have a new baby? Then you have tons of laundry! And new baby stains can be tough, especially considering that you want to stay away from harsh detergents and chemicals. Keep a bucket in your laundry room filled with water and a few teaspoons of Shaklee’s Nature Bright. Throw any soiled clothes, burp cloths, cloth diapers, etc. in there and let them soak a bit before going into the wash. No need to scrub, blot, or dab those stains – just let the soak take care of it for you. And that will take care of other stains too – not just the baby-oriented ones.
• Change your door mats. The welcome mats outside can be a haven for dirt to be tracked into the house. If you haven’t changed them in the last year (unless you use the iron ones), it’s time for a new mat. The cleaner your outdoor mat, the less dirt to be tracked in!
• Fill a ziplock bag with vinegar, and rubber band it around shower heads and faucets. Let it sit for an hour or so, then discard. While you do that, you can plug the bathroom sink drain and put an inch of vinegar in the bottom. It’ll disinfect an often-forgotten harbinger of germs. Did you know that bathroom sink drains tend to harbor more bacteria than your toilet? Not pleasant.
• Cut a lemon in half, submerse half of it in a microwave-safe bowl of water. Put it in the microwave for 3 minutes on high. Remove the bowl, and wipe down the inside of the microwave.

Thanks to Shannon for hosting Works for Me Wednesday. This week I’m going to share the most important tips I have on frugal green cleaning. Let’s face it – stocking up the cabinets with Seventh Generation, Method, and other ‘green’ cleaners can be expensive. But there are ways to do it without breaking the bank. Here goes.

First, raid your pantry. Here are some great cleaners you can make straight out of your pantry:

• Window / glass cleaner – 1/4 cup vinegar with 14 oz water
• All-purpose cleaner – 50/50 dilution of vinegar and water
• Floor cleaner – 1/2 cup of lemon juice in a bucket 1/2 full of water
• Furniture polish – 1/2 cup lemon juice with 1 TBSP olive oil (refrigerate what you don’t use, as lemon juice will become rancid if left out)
• Bathroom cleaner – 3 parts vinegar, 1 part water as main solution. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice and 2-3 drops of tea tree oil (from your local natural food store) to kill mildew and mold.
• Kitchen abrasive to cut grease – make a paste out of salt and lemon juice, use that around the base of your faucet, the drain in your sink, even on your glass shower door. It’ll cut grease and mineral deposits.

Second, don’t fall for marketing ploys. Cleaning companies would love for you to believe that if the bottle doesn’t have a crooked neck you can’t use it to clean your toilet. They’d also love for you buy into their 1-product-1-purpose idea. But that’s a lie. Use products that accomplish multiple purposes. The things listed above will do that just fine.

Third, if you’re not into making your own cleaners, do yourself a favor and purchase something that you can dilute for different purposes. We recommend Shaklee H2 as our top choice, but Clorox GreenWorks dilutable is another good option. Both of those will greatly reduce your cleaning product budget – all you need is your own bottles and tap water.

Lastly, there are 2 powdered products you’ll find on most grocer’s shelves that are both inexpensive and highly useful. Get yourself a can of Bon Ami – it’s about $0.89 in the cleaning aisle, and it’ll take care of most any difficult task, from Calphalon pans to laminate counter tops to the gunk in your shower. My second favorite is Borax, found with the detergents – it’s a ‘laundry booster,’ which means you can use less laundry and dishwasher detergent by adding a bit of Borax, thereby stretching your buck a bit further. You can also use it in your toilet, on your showers, sinks – anywhere your cleaning needs an extra boost.

So there it is. Let Kermit know that it really is easy being green. And check out Shannon’s place for more great tips from the blogosphere.

Of course, Nellie’s (the manufacturer) claims that the dryer balls are non-toxic. And sure, they’re not going to leave the chemical residue on your clothes that regular dryer sheets or fabric softeners might, but natural fabric softeners (like Shaklee, Seventh Generation, Method, etc.) won’t leave cancer-causing dioxins or hydrochloric acid, like PVC will.

Pros of dryer balls? There are plenty:

• Shorter drying time (leading to less energy consumption, lower energy bills)
• Saved money on dryer sheets
• Fewer dryer sheets in the landfills
• No need for liquid fabric softener (saved money there, too, as well as harsh chemicals)
• Less need for ironing

Cons of dryer balls?

• PVC leaches dioxins, phthaltes, cadmium, and lead throughout its life
• Eventually they do end up in landfills where they have a much longer decomposition rate than most dryer sheets

We wanted to set the record straight, but it’s your choice. PVC, but less energy consumption, or dryer sheets forever?

There are arguments out there that the right balance of white vinegar added to the rinse cycle, combined with the right drying time (not overly dried, not overly heated) will yield clothes and towels that are both soft and static free. I’ve tried it and failed. If you’ve discovered the secret, please share.

There are also those who bemoan those of us who use dryers at all, noting correctly that the very use of a dryer is bad for the planet. Kudos to those of you who can launder your clothes and linens without the use of a dryer. I, unfortunately, have no plans of joining your ranks. I’m just not that good. I think for now I’ll keep using my dryer balls, erring on the side of PVC-laden less energy consumption.

Are you sick of those darn dryer sheets? The chemicals, the unnecessary scents (aren’t even the unscented ones slightly scented? Or maybe I’m buying the wrong brand…), the continuous expense of replacing box after box… And they all end up in the landfill anyway.

Well, dryer sheets begone! I got some of these for Christmas, and I love them! Goodbye dryer sheets! Forever!

They’re reusable. They soften my clothes. They get rid of static cling. They reduce drying time, making your dryer more efficient. The reduce wrinkles so your clothes are easier to iron. They’re chemical free! They’re hypoallergenic! What could be better?

You can get a pair here for $19.99 (plus S&H) – think, no more dryer sheets to buy – ever! Better yet, search for “dryer balls” at Amazon. You’ll get several varieties, all with reviews, and priced considerably lower than Nellie’s. I’m all for frugal, but even more for Christmas gifting!

I don’t know why anyone would want to stick with dryer sheets when these are out there! I’ll never go back to dryer sheets. That’s what works for me. Head over to Shannon’s place for more helpful tips.

• To whiten stained spots on clothing: put some lemon juice on the spot, rub in a bit of salt, and leave it in the sun for an hour or two. It lifts the stain.
• To clean spills from health contaminants (raw meat or eggs in the kitchen, urine in the bathroom): Straight vinegar is a great disinfectant. I advise keeping a sponge with vinegar near your cutting boards for frequent use.
• To whiten laminate counter tops: Bon Ami – it’s a powder found at the grocery store in a canister – usually right next to Bar Keeper’s friend (which also works relatively well. But we prefer Bon Ami – it uses less elbow grease, and less elbow grease means more cleaning stamina!). We’ve removed coffee stains, raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry stains, and marks from the bottom of pots and pans.
• To disinfect:
  • Borax: buy it in the supermarket where they sell detergents – in my grocery store it’s next to the powdered dishwasher detergents. Borax is a powder and is safe to mix with virtually anything. Combine it with some vinegar, lemon juice, or just plain water to clean virtually anything. It’s completely harmless and safe to use. Gloves and ventilation not required (as opposed to bleach).
  • Vinegar: it disinfects, kills mold, bacteria, and germs. (As an aside: bleach does not kill mold – it just whitens it so you don’t see it. But bleach will leave living mold spores that will continue to grow.) Vinegar’s potency is released when combined with salt, so for a nice strong disinfectant add some salt to your vinegar, dilute with water if you’d like, and spray away. I just used it to clean the toilet seat in the bathroom where my little girl is potty-training. It works remarkably well.

Any more alternative uses you need for bleach? Let me know and I’ll fill you in!

1. Clean the mess right away, while the Jell-o is still solid. At that point, you can use a dry paper towel – it acts like duct tape for Jell-O, whereas a wet paper towel just spreads the mess around.
2. If it gets into your carpet, remove as much as possible with a dry paper towel. Spray any remainder with water and blot up. You may have to do this in several stages.
3. In clothes, soak any Jell-O affected clothes in cold water. Hot water may set the color in, depending on your type of fabric and type of Jell-O. Soak in cold water, and check after 30 minutes to an hour. If there’s still some color left from the Jell-O, add some detergent to the water and swish it all around a bit. Give it another 30 minutes, and at that point you can use stain remover if necessary. Then wash as usual.

Don’t underestimate the dry paper towel though – it works wonders. And again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Don’t even blink when toddlers have finger Jell-O!