Making all-purpose cleaner

01/28/2009 14:17 Filed in: reduce | Lucy
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Why homemade you might ask? It is true that you can get every cleaner in existence at a local grocery store. Why should I take the time to make my own cleaner when it is already done for me? Well here are the answers I thought of off the top of my head: Many manufactured household cleaners iritate the earth and even you. In the long run making your own cleaners will save you cash. And what might surprise you, is making your own cleaners is very easy and doesn’t take much time at all.

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Alishia Alther and I made a whole bottle of all-purpose cleaner in ten minutes before we went out one night last week. We only had to heat water and combine the ingredients in a certain order. It was simple and didn’t take long at all. There are a few ingredients that you might not have heard of, such as borax and castile soap. I found all of my stuff at the Brattleboro Coop. We bought big jugs that cost about $80. These ingredients will probably last our family of six more than 2 years, so the cost isn’t that bad. You will probably be able to find borax at the grocery store, but castile soap you might have to search for a bit. The recipe we use states that you could also substitute liquid soap for the castile soap.

You might be thinking ‘How is making cleaners better than buying them at the store?’ Yes, store bought cleaners are easy to get. But are they really the better choice? Homemade cleaners have less impact on the earth. You have to remember that before the cleaners you buy get to your store they have to be made in a factory, put into those nifty spray bottles that usually only get used once, then they have to be shipped to your store. Having all the things you need to make your cleaner already at home would save all that energy that gets used to make package, and ship the cleaners. Cleaners you make at home (like mine) may not be a completely environmental. I’m not sure how you classify things as 100% environmental because usually any cleaning product has to have something in it like phosphate that will clean well (which usually hurt the earth). But homemade cleaners don’t have any chemicals that are made in a lab. You make them yourself. Also there isn’t a need to keep buying new bottles with the new cleaner in it. You can use the same bottle over and over again. Which saves plastic. Homemade cleaners are definitely better for the earth than store bought cleaners.

The recipe I have been using is Alice’s Wonder All-Purpose Cleaner. If you want to check it out here is the link. Homemade cleaners work just as well as manufactured cleaners. You may have your doubts about them, but just because they don’t have that harsh chemical smell doesn’t mean they aren’t working. If you’re interested, but still not convinced, join us at a “cleaner-making party” sometime soon. Stay tuned for dates and times.

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