I have been pretty obsessed with homemade cleaning items lately, thanks to a little pocket-size book I picked up the other day called Make Your Place. I was first introduced to this tiny magical, hand-written book while browsing through the Angry Chicken blog (contrary to its name, this is a friendly, adorable craft blog) and I went immediately to Amazon to order my own copy, and I haven’t been able to put it down since!

The book is jam packed with helpful information and great, all-natural recipes for cleaning, gardening, body care, and everything else you can think of. It even has recipes for PMS remedy, bug-repellent powder, and stain removers! So far, I’ve made Liquid Dish Soap, Fabric Cleaner, and a slightly altered version of all-purpose cleaner from the book. The washing soda that I ordered online is arriving to my house shortly so I’ll be making laundry soap very soon. These homemade products are natural and very friendly – both for our bodies and the environment.

I get lots of recipes and inspiration from other books and blogs (and some passed down by friends and family) too. Some recipes are so easy that it’s actually kind of silly to write it down. For example, I make my window-cleaning spray by mixing vinegar (non-flavored ones, of course) and water together in a spray bottle, and add a few drops of lemon and orange essential oils. That’s it! Try cleaning your window or any glass surface with this and check out how shiny it becomes! I feel crazy to think  that I used to buy the expensive kinds at drug stores with ingredients that I can’t even pronounce. Can you imagine how much you can save with this?

I usually make my cleaning products once a week and store them in an 8 oz. bottle (or any containers sitting around in the kitchen). I don’t even bother creating cute labels for them. Instead, I just put the name of the product and its ingredients directly on the bottle with a waterproof Sharpie!  This way it’s easy for me to make another batch when it runs out, without having to flip through the recipe books.

Here’s a quick recipe for homemade laundry detergent. It’s simple and inexpensive to make and it actually clean better than any store-bough ones. I also found that it makes clothes softer! A couple downsides to this are that you can’t really add nice scent to it, and washing soda could be a little difficult to find … but this recipe is fantastic nonetheless.

Landry Detergent
(A recipe courtesy of Country Soap Shop, a retailer on eBay where I purchased the washing soda. A similar recipe can be found on Food.com)

2 cups grated soap (I use my homemade soap but any store-bought bar will work)
1 cup Borax (you can find this at a supermarket, in the laundry aisle next to bleaches)
1 cup Washing Soda (I purchased it online)

Finely grade the soap using the cheese grater. Add Borax and Washing Soda together. Just to make sure that all ingredients incorporate, I run the whole thing in a blender and ground it a little. Store in an air-tight container. Use about 2 tablespoons per full load.

Happy cleaning! 🙂