Tag Archives: cleaning products

Bathroom Cleaner

Homemade Bathrom Cleaner | AmandaNaturally.comOne of my overarching goals in life is to reduce my exposure to toxins as much as possible. I try not to be overly obsessive about it, because you can definitely drive yourself crazy if you let yourself! It’s easy to get into an “everything’s going to kill me, so I don’t care at all” mentality, but that’s certainly not doing you any good! I think one of the most important things I learned from the book Slow Death By Rubber Duck (read it, it’s awesome, and a little frightening) was that every little change you make, can have a huge impact on your health. With this in mind, here’s how I took baby steps to end up where I am today (or as my mom likes to say “off the deep end”!):

Every time you finish a product, whether cleaning, personal care or food, when you go to replace it, try and find a less toxic, healthier option.

It was simple. When I ran out of Clinique moisturizer, I hopped on over to the health food store and tried a more natural version (that was before oil cleansing, more on that another time). Done with hand soap? On to Dr. Bronner’s! Out of kitchen cleaner? Got a green version of that too…it was great! But I found I had all sorts of different cleaners in my arsenal, that were simply variations on a theme. I think the turning point for me was when I accidentally purchased carpet cleaner, instead of laundry detergent (same brand, almost identical labels), and USED IT (again, accidentally), and my clothes turned out beautifully! Ha! Not to mention cleaning products, both chemical based and less toxic versions, are expensive. So, I started making my own.

Homemade Bathrom Cleaner | AmandaNaturally.com

Honestly, cleaning products have gotten WAY out of control. There are so many out there, all claiming to kill more bacteria than the rest. Wanna know what else kills 99% of bacteria and germs? Vinegar! The most powerful cleaning product out there! You can pretty much clean anything if you have the following ingredients:

  1. White vinegar – $1.97 for 4LHomemade Bathrom Cleaner | AmandaNaturally.com
  2. Baking Soda – $1.99 for 1kg
  3. Washing Soda – $7.29 for 3kg at Home Hardware
  4. Borax – $4.99 for 2kg
  5. Castille Soap – $7-$10 depending on health food store

Other than the castille soap (which we use for our general soap dispensers too) I literally buy these products once every 2-3 years or so – that’s HUGE savings!

You can also make your products smell a little nicer (less vinegary) by adding an essential oil. My favourite is citrus or eucalyptus – they give the products a similar scent to what I have been programmed to think cleaning products should smell like. Worried that vinegar won’t cut it? Add tea tree oil, which is known for its antibacterial power. 

I just ran out of my basic baking soda, vinegar and water bathroom cleaner a few days ago, so I decided to hit up an expert and take my cleaner to the next level. I followed these simple instructions from Amy Bayliss and am thrilled with how it turned out! It works incredibly well – which is good because with a home office, I have to clean the bathroom every single day!

 

Homemade Bathroom Cleaner

Combine castille soap, washing soda and borax with boiling water. Mix to combine. Slowly stir in vinegar.

Homemade Bathrom Cleaner | AmandaNaturally.com   Homemade Bathrom Cleaner | AmandaNaturally.com

Let cool. Add 30 drops of desired essential oil, if using. (I used eucalyptus and tea tree oil for extra fighting power)

Homemade Bathrom Cleaner | AmandaNaturally.com 

Funnel into a spray bottle and store in bathroom.

Homemade Bathrom Cleaner | AmandaNaturally.com

There you have it! No more toxic fumes, no more worrying about kids and pets, and no more costly cleaning products!

Homemade Bathrom Cleaner | AmandaNaturally.com

Homemade Dusting Spray

Homemade Dusting Spray - Amanda NaturallyOne of the first cleaning tasks I was trusted with as a kid was dusting the dining room. The chairs were a bit of a nuisance with all the spokes I had to get around, but I absolutely loved dusting the piano. I know it sounds crazy, but there I was, rag and Endust in hand, taking care of that beautiful instrument. I think it was probably the immediate gratification of how shiny the wood got as soon as I ran the rag over it…

Annnnywayys, enough reminiscing. After I started getting into nutrition, and really being concerned with the quality of food I was putting in my body, not to mention avoiding putting toxins in my body, it was a natural progression to start critically looking at the products I used to clean my house. One quick search on Google directed me to what is now one of my favourite websites: Environmental Working Group. One of the many things they do is use peer-reviewed, scientific studies to assess products and tell you exactly what they think – and boy are they harsh!

I immediately threw out everything I had. I usually recommend slowly transitioning products over, but when it comes to cleaning products, just get rid of ’em. They’re not that expensive and holy bejeezus they’re full of toxins. I started buying “environmentally-friendly” products – you know, the ones labelled “green”, “natural” or “chemical-free” (none of these labels have any legislated protection by the way). The only problem was they still had a bazillion ingredients (some of which looked a bit sketchy to me) and they were expensive. I started to look for other solutions…little did I know, everything I needed was already in my house!

I began making my own cleaning products to decrease my toxin exposure about 3 years ago, and haven’t looked back. Why? Well not only are they incredibly effective, but they’re so inexpensive!! I try to buy my individual ingredients in bulk, but even in small sizes you absolutely beat the price any commercial product, green-washed or not! My top 2 ingredients for homemade cleaning products are:

1. Vinegar
2. Baking Soda

Followed very closely by:

3. Borax
4. Castille or Glycerin Soap
5. Essential Oils (top 2: Tea Tree and anything Citrus)

You can pretty much clean any room in the house with these ingredients, but it was a replacement for dusting that got me a-googling again. I know I can use a special cloth, but I honestly like to use plain old rags, and my kitchen/bathroom cleaner wasn’t cutting it, so a dusting spray was key. It stumbled across the idea of using olive oil in your dusting spray, over at One Good Thing By Jillee. Well that was just genius! I pretty much added a few tsp of olive oil to my standard cleaner and voila, a perfect dusting spray.

Homemade Dusting Spray (Natural & Toxin-Free)

1 part vinegar
4 parts water (purified or filtered to prevent build up of minerals)
citrus essential oil (optional, but makes everything smell nice. If including, use enough to mostly cover the scent of the vinegar)
a few tsp of of olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle, shake well and dust away!

My spray bottle is about 1L in size, and I usually eye-ball the measurements. It typically goes something like this:

1/5 vinegar
30 drops of sweet orange essential oil
2 dollops olive oil (approx. 2 tbsp)
fill the rest with filtered water

Special Considerations:

1. Since no emulsifiers are used, the oil will sit on the top of the water, simply shake it every time you use it.

2. Essential oils are absolutely not necessary, but they are totally worth the investment! A small bottle of Sweet Orange essential oil is less than $10.00 and will last you a long time. 

Homemade Dusting Spray - Amanda Naturally

Have you started to make any of your own cleaning products? If yes, what was your incentive – health, environment or financial?

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