Inexpensive Household Cleaning Product Altenatives
I’ve been looking through my many recipes so to speak and found a few that are easy for practically anyone to put to use. My house is in constant need of cleaning with rambunctious children and our adopted chihuahua Chuba. We have lots of accidents from doggie-doo to everyday spills that make me wanna scream boo-hoo!
One of the most inexpensive solutions to buying cleaning products is salt. Salt can be used for practically anything from lifting a stain around the bath tub to killing slimy slugs outdoors. I can remember my mother cleaning out the bathroom sink with salt. It’s a safe alternative to using abrasive, chemical cleaners and who can resist salty foods. Everyone keeps salt in the cupboard and best of it’s cost effective at less than one dollar! Just sprinkle some salt on the kitchen counter top, bathroom sink, bathtub or floors to aid in taking up stains. If you want to kill a slug, it’s a nasty job, I sprinkle and run.
Did you know that simple household vinegar kills 99.9% of germs. I take a spray bottle, using the clear distilled vinegar, mix up 3 parts water and 1 part vinegar. I clean everything with my mix from my windows, my mirrors, my shower, my toilets and any kind of surface including wood. The vinegar does have a strange smell, but it’s a really clean aroma and it’s not chemically like other products on the market that are used for the same purposes. Besides why buy toxic household chemicals?
Baking soda will eliminate virtually any odor too. Everyone has heard of sitting a box in the refrigerator to get rid of unwanted smells but it has so many uses. Just like salt, baking soda can be used to clean in the very same manner to remove stains from surfaces. Does your kitchen drain smell, how about your trash can? Just wash them out with baking soda and water, smell the air because the odor is eliminated. What about your gym shorts and socks…….wash them with baking soda. Baking soda can be used on anything. Once a friend of mine bought a chair that reeked of cat odor, we scrubbed it with baking soda and viola, baking soda eliminates odor.
Instead of buying household sprays, smelly candles or potpourri, make your own. It’s really easy and once again cost effective compared to store bought solutions. All you do is take any fruit, oranges, lemons, apples, peaches…..well I would try bananas but boil them on the stove, after you have reached a good boil just let it simmer, it smells better than potpourri. At Christmas time we boil cinnamon to give our home a smell that matches the season. Rinds, chunked up wedges or the whole fruit split in half will work, best of all you can mix up your very own fragrances or potpourri.
Have you ever had the task of removing a decorative border from walls? I have and I can tell you, it’s bad. If you have some Downy, it’s not so bad. In a spray bottle mix, one part Downy and spary it on e your walls. It was like the wall paper just peeled awa.
Pet odors, wooowhee, I’ve had my share! I’ve went to doggie retail stores and spent good money buying bad products that don’t work. Best way to get rid of the pet odors is to clean the area with first, a mixture of about a tablespoon of mild dishwashing liquid and a cup of lukewarm water. Clean pet odor area from the outside in because you don’t want to spread it and make it bigger. Dab at the stain at best, do not soak it or get it thoroughly wet. Next, take clean water on a clean towel and blot over the entire stain. Mix up household vinegar about a third mixed with a third of water, again blotting, Sprinkle the area with baking soda and cover it up with a towel for about 30 minutes and go over it with the vacuum cleaner. You shouldn’t have anymore pet odors, well until next time.
These are just some of the simplest tips, most of us have these things in our homes and don’t use them to clean with. Hair spray is in nearly every woman’s bathroom, is can be used to remove ink stains on fabrics unless they aren’t marked dry clean only. My grandmother always used ice to remove bubble gum. Sunken stains on bed mattresses, car interior, sofas or where ever they may be can be lifted simply by pouring on a couple of capfuls of hydrogen peroxide, who needs to waste money on “Oxy” cleaners? Blood stains in past years were taken out by cold water and/ice, hydrogine peroxide will even take out blood stains on any fabric. My dry cleaner will never give a reduce no!!
Some household products are so polluted with chemicals and even though most of us feel a need to use, isn’t it nicer to use safer alternatives when we can? Most people don’t know the Formula 409 can be used an insect repellent or that Clorox, leaves a messy, toxic film behind. Some products from the store I really couldn’t live without though, you may not believe this but if you will be working outdoors anytime soon, put a Bounce dryer sheet in your pocket. Flying insects will leave you alone! The next time you clea n the television, wipe it off with , you got it a Bounce dryer sheet. It will reduce static electricity and reduce dust. You can aslo use Bounce dryer sheets like mothballs, to keep the mice away, just wrap a few rocks with the sheet and throw them under hour house.
My neighbor purchased a used car and when she tried to peel the for sale sign off the rear windows, sun shining on the car cause the excess tape to stick brutally. When we went to look at the car she had a razor blade scraping the residue, she’d been working on it for about an hour and it just wouldn’t come off. Just so happens, myself being a chick I had some fingernail polish remover in my purse. I dabbed it on, waited 5 minutes, dabbed again and wiped off the tape residue. My friend was astonished at the power of acetone! A good alternative, instead of using fingernail polish remover try WD-40. It works like magic, tape doesn’t stand a chance against gool ole fashioined WD-40.
There are a zillion and one ways to use common everyday products in our homes and the easiest way to find them it to talk to a bunch of women. Many of these practices are safer than store bought household products because they lack harsh chemicals found in so many products today. If you have pets or children in the home, start collecting cleaning recipes to protect your loved ones in a cost friendly way.
