Homemade Drain Cleaner without Baking Soda

I recently attended a “Garden Faire” and received some very helpful information from an organization called CleanWaterways.org.

They were handing out a brochure full of homemade recipes for cleaning products. The reason they provided the free recipes was that many household cleaning products contain hazardous chemicals. When disposed of improperly (storm drain, sink or garbage) the chemicals can end up in local water bodies of ground water.

These free recipes are great for cheapskaters as they all use very inexpensive ingredients and do not hurt our environment.

Homemade Drain Cleaner

- Pour 1/2 cup baking soda into the drain followed by 1/2 cup white vinegar.

- For standing water use plunger or snake

Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner

- Sprinkle 1/2 cup baking soda into bowl, add 1 teaspoon vegetable based soap, and 2 drops hydrogen peroxide, scrub with toilet brush.

An example of vegetable based soap is castille soap. If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 25 oz petroleum based dishwashing liquid with a 25 oz vegetable based product, we could save 81,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 4,600 U.S. homes for a year!

- For tough stains, coat bowl with a paste of lemon juice and borax, let stand for 2 hours, then scrub.

- For moderate stains, sprinkle baking/washing soda, moisten with vinegar and scrub with brush.

Want more cheap earth friendly recipes for cleaning chores around your home? See our post Cheap Natural Weed Control and Homemade Concrete Cleaner

If there is something you are looking to save money on but don’t see any information on our site, please use the contact form to let us know. We love to do research and will be happy to get information for you.

How To Make Your Own Dryer Sheets

If you look at your grocery bill you will find that cleaning products are some of the most expensive things you buy. Some of these products can be made at home for considerably less money and they don’t take much time to make. One of these is fabric softener. You can make your own liquid fabric softener and you can make your own dryer sheets.

The simplest way to make your own liquid fabric softener is to to take 1/4 cup of white vinegar and add it to the last rinse of your wash load in the washing machine. Your clothes will not smell like vinegar, the smell goes away in the wash. I tried this and it works very well and it is so simple and cheap.

If you have a bit more time and want a lasting scent on your clothes, try this next recipe:

Lemony Fabric Softener

* 6 cups of white vinegar
* 1 cup of baking soda
* 1 cup water
* 15 drops of lemongrass essential oil (optional)
* bottle or container with screw top to hold mixture

1. Get a large pot or mixing bowl and pour the vinegar and water in.

6. Add 1/2 cup at the START of the rinse cycle when washing clothes

DO NOT use Apple cider Vinegar in any of the above recipes, it will stain your clothes!

It also pretty simple to make your own dryer sheet All the recipes below are variations on substituting a wash cloth for the dryer sheet. You spray or soak the wash cloth with your homemade fabric softener or commercial fabric softener and periodically wash the wash cloth to remove build-up

Recipes for Homemade Dryer Sheets

#1: Put liquid fabric softener into an old, clean spray bottle. Spray 4 to 6 times on a rag and tumble with clothes in dryer as usual. Wash the rag now and then to remove buildup.

#5: Soak an old washcloth in liquid fabric softener. Ring out excess softener and then lie flat to dry. Toss dried cloth in dryer as needed. You’ll be able to reuse your cloth about 12 times before you’ll need to wash the cloth and re-soak in fabric softener.

Here is a video on making your own fabric softener and using a tennis ball in the dryer as a substitute for dryer sheets.

Weeds are always a problem in the garden. Sometimes they seem to do better than the plants we buy from the nursery. Graham and Rosemary Haley writing in Haley’s Cleaning Hints; have some clever ideas for getting rid of weeds cheaply and naturally. Here are some of their suggestions:

Weeds in spaces in between patio stones – A nice alternative to killing weeds between your patio stones is to replace the weeds with plants. Simply plant some attractive ground cover seeds between the walkway stones. They’ll stunt the growth of any weeds as they proliferate. My mother-in-law who lived in New Jersey said they always used Portulaca or Moss Rose. Purslane is related to the Moss Rose or Portulaca and would also be pretty.

Natural Weed Killer recipe – Heat a gallon of water with a pound of salt. Stir well and pour between stones.

Vinegar Weed Killer – Pour undiluted white vinegar between the stones.

If you have relatively small unwanted tree stumps, I have a method that works quite well but it does take a while to work. I had several Yaupon trees that had sprung up in an area bordering our yard. We cut down the trees but could not afford to have the ten or twenty stumps that were left ground down. So, I gathered several bags full of dead leaves. Then I took the bag that the leaves were in and covered the stump with it. I piled the leaves on the top of the bag to make it secure. Eventually, with no air to feed it the stump died. I was able to simply rock the stump back and forth a few times and it came out easily.

The Haleys also give some hints for cleaning your paving stones and walkways:

De-ice walkways with fertilizer - Your paving stones will last longer and will be easier to clean in the spring if you don’t use salt to keep winter ice off. Use fertilizer instead.

Make walkway slabs look like new – If your walkway slabs and stones are really looking bad, try painting them. Clean them thoroughly first and then give them a few coats of good concrete paint.

Concrete stains - To remove leaf stains from your concrete patio or walkway, mix a solution of 1 quart water and 1 cup bleach. Then thicken the mixture to a paste by adding flour and smear it on the stained area. Let dry and hose off.

Greasy mark removal – For greasy marks, mix a solution of 1 cup water softener (ex. Borax) and 1 gallon hot water and scrub well.

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Natural Household Cleaners

 I was watching a PBS special the other day that all cheapskaters would love. It was called Haley’s hints. Haley is this very nice man with what seemed like a slight British accent or perhaps it was a New England accent. Anyway, Haley appears to be the male version of Heloise. He and his wife Rosemary have authored several books – Haley’s Cleaning Hints, Haley’s Household Hints and Haley’s Green Hints. He demonstrated a bunch of them on the show. Haley says if you have vinegar, ammonia and water softener (ex. Borax) in your home, you should never have to buy commercial cleaning products. Here are some of the recipes for homemade cleaning products he demonstrated:

Copper Cleaner - Take a half a lemon sprinkle with salt and apply to copper surface to polish. To keep copper surface shiny apply lemon oil and buff with cloth.

Grout cleaner emergency – Toothpaste makes a great grout cleaner if you don’t have any homemade grout cleaner mixed up. Haley also recommends using a denture toothbrush to scrub grout. The bristles are strong and wide and you can use the opposite end (rubber tip) to get in tight places.

Grout cleaner regular – Add 1 Tablespoon ammonia to 1 cup of water and mix. Then add 1 teaspoon water softener and 1 Tablespoon white vinegar and mix. Use denture toothbrush to scrub grout.

Tile Cleaner – Take dishwasher powder and sprinkle on tile floor. Let sit overnight and rinse in the morning.

Carpet Cleaner – Mix together 3 Tablespoons dishwashing soap (liquid kind), 1 teaspoon white vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon household ammonia, 3/4 cup water. Beat mixture with a whisk or egg beater to get foamy consistency. Can also use a foaming bottle (you know when you get those bottles that dispense foamy soap – just recycle one of those).  Put foam on carpet stain, let sit for a minute or two and then blot with paper towel.

Silver cleaner – Get an aluminum pie plate, then add 1 teaspoon of regular table salt and 1 teaspoon water softener (ex. Borax). Next pour in hot water and stir to combine ingredients. Soak tarnished silver piece in pan (tarnish disappears immediately) and rinse in cold water. If you have a large object to clean get a large plastic tub and line it with aluminum. Use 1 quart of hot water to 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon water softener (ex. Borax)

Scouring Powder – Combine 1 part baking soda with 2 parts borax (example 1/2 cup baking powder to 1 cup borax) and mix together. Sprinkle on surface and wipe with a damp cloth. Rinse with water and buff with a towel. Haley says you can use this for cleaning walls and any other surface that requires a non abrasive cleanser.

To find other homemade cleaning product recipes and a recipe for homemade lemon oil see our post Homemade Cleaning Products Save You Money

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You would not believe how many uses these towels have. My primary use for my towel is hair drying. The great thing about these types of towels is they cut down on tangles in your hair. Since the towel is so absorbent, I just wrap my hair in towel and squeeze gently. I don’t have to rub my hair with it the way you do a terry cloth towel. I have many fewer tangles in my hair as a result.

I also use my towel as a travel towel. When I am staying at someone’s house I don’t like to take an extra towel to dry my hair so I use my chamois towel to dry my hair. The Shamwow towel dries really quick so it is dry enough to go in my suitcase a few hours later. I also like to bring it on camping trips because it doesn’t take up as much space in your suitcase as a terry cloth towel.

I also like the Shamwow because it isn’t so rough on your skin as a terry cloth towel. If you use fabric softener to get your towels soft ,they are not as absorbent. The chamois type towel solves this problem – it is naturally soft and very absorbent. You can also use it as a swimmer’s towel. Since swimmers have to dry themselves so frequently sometimes between the chorine and the constant rubbing with rough towels their skin gets chapped. With Shamwow your skin doesn’t get irritated. If you pet has sensitive skin or if just want a really soft towel to dry your pet with consider using the Shamwow for his/her dry off towel.

You can also use this towel for polishing your car because it doesn’t scratch. You can also use it for drying items that you handwash. I know cheapskater’s wash their sweaters by hand to avoid the high cost of dry cleaning. We also wash our delicates by hand so they last longer. The Shamwow towel is great for drying these types of items.

The best thing about these towels is they are really our economical. The cost for a set of 4 larges towels and 4 small towels is only $20.00. That comes out to about $2.50 a towel. A roll of paper towels is going to cost you at least $1.25 and you may use a roll or two a week. Depending on your usage the Shamwow will pay for itself in a few months or weeks. Plus it will help you use your bath towels less and you won’t have to buy new ones so soon. You can get these cheaper in the stores. I have priced chamois type towels – those sold for cars and those sold as swimmer’s towels and you just can’t find them any cheaper.

Switching to reusable towels for a least part of your cleaning and drying needs is an easy way to help our enviornment. This really is a terrific product and will save you money. 

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Expensive household cleaning products can add a tidy sum to your grocery bill plus they are not always the greatest for the environment. Well, the book “Saving Money with the Tightwad Twins:  More Than 1000 Practical Tips for Women on a Budget” by Ann Fox and Susan Fox has some great suggestions. The twins have some very good recipes for homemade  cleaning products. The syndicated column Hints From Heloise also contains many recipes for homemade cleaning products.

All purpose household cleaner – Mix ½ cup white vinegar, 1 cup ammonia, ¼ baking soda and 1 gallon water.

Automatic dishwasher detergent – Mix 1 cup borax and ½ cup baking soda with 3 cups cheap automatic dishwasher detergent.

Cleaner for garbage disposals – Mix 1 cup baking soda, 1 and ¼ cups water. Mix ingredients and pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Turn off the disposal (no water running) and dump about 5 to 7 ice cubes down the drain, allowing the machine to grind them up.

Powdered carpet cleaner – Mix 2 cups baking soda, ½ cup cornstarch, 1 tablespoon ground cloves. Sprinkle over carpet leave overnight and vacuum as usual. You could also mix in a few drops of lemon or lavender essential oil for a different scent.

Laundy pre-stain – You can use a spray bottle for this one. Mix ½ cup white vinegar, ½ cup ammonia, ½ cup of a store bought liquid laundry soap and ½ cup water. Spray stain, rub in mixture, let garment sit for a bit, then wash.

Stain remover for fabric –  Mix ½ cup dishwashing liquid, ½ cup baking soda, to 1 gallon boiling water. Let your clothes soak in this overnight then wash as you usually would.

Basic cleaner - Mix 1 gallon of hot water with 2 tablespoons baking soda and ½ cup of detergent.

Furnisher polish - 1 part lemon juice and 2 parts vegetable oil. Polish as usual.

Toilet cleaner – Use a 1 to 3 ratio of vinegar to water. Vinegar will remove many rust stains because it is a natural acid .

Glass cleaner – Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch to a ½ cup white vinegar  and mix with 1 gallon of warm water. I sometimes use just vinegar and water to clean glass.

Car wash mixture –  Mix ½ cup liquid detergent, 1/3 cup baking soda, 1 gallon of water. It only takes a cup of this solution in a bucket of warm water to wash a car.

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