Homemade Hardwood Floor Cleaner Recipes

Getting Started: Sweep or vacuum floor to remove as much dirt and dust as possible.
Directions:

• When using one of the recipes below, damp mop only. Saturating the floor with liquid may cause spotting or warping of the surface. You can either lightly spray one section of the floor at a time or lightly spray the mop head.
• Scrub in the direction of the grain of the wood to grab and remove as much of the dirt as possible.
• Wipe dry with a soft cloth after washing.

Mix 1 gallon warm water with your choice of the ingredients below…
Solution #1

• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 TBS castille soap

Solution #2

• 1 cup white household vinegar (*Is it safe to use? See notes below)

Solution #3

• 1/4 cup borax
• 1/2 teaspoon mild dish detergent (liquid)

Solution #4

• 1 cup vinegar
• 10 drops peppermint essential oil

Solution #5

• 1/8 cup mild liquid dish soap
• 1/2 cup vinegar

Solution #6

• 1 TBS Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap
• 1/8 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup brewed black tea

Tea Cleaner:
Steep 1 bag of tea in 2 cups of boiling water and leave until it comes to room temperature. Remove tea bag and soak cloth in liquid, wring out then wipe floor clean. Dry with a soft cloth. The tannic acid in the tea will help bring wood to a shine.
For Oil-Finished Wood: Damp mop with straight water after first cleaning with the recipe below.

• 1 TBS rubbing alcohol
• 2/3 cup hot water

*Is vinegar safe to use on hardwood flooring? Isn’t it too acidic?
If you poured a bottle of vinegar directly on the floor and allowed it to sit, it would most likely damage the surface. However, in the cleaning recipes above it is well diluted and only used as a damp mop (meaning excess liquid is squeezed out). Vinegar is an excellent household cleaner and brings a lot of muscle to the job. If you’re concerned about the effects it may have on the floor’s finish over the long-term, consider doing a clear water rinse after wiping floor with a recipe that has vinegar as an ingredient (then wipe dry as usual).

Removing Scuff Marks

• Keep a spray bottle with a mixture of 50/50 vinegar, water and about 15 drops of essential oil of your choosing.
• Sprinkle scuffs with baking soda then spray with cleaner, let fizz for a few seconds.
• Scrub marks clean then dry with a soft towel.

Wax Testing & Removal

• Wet your fingers with water then flick into a corner of the floor where there’s not much traffic. If there’s wax on the surface, the floor will turn white under the water beads (may take a half hour or so to turn white).

To Remove Wax:

• Scrub the floor with mineral spirits using a household sponge with a nylon scrubby side. Wipe dry with a soft cloth as wax is dissolved. Repeat process a second time if needed.

DIY Polish

Wash floor as usual and dry thoroughly. Using one of the homemade recipes below, apply polish to surface then wipe dry with a soft cotton towel.
Recipe #1

• Mix equal parts olive oil and white household vinegar.

Recipe #2

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or olive oil)
• 2 TBS cider vinegar
• 3 TBS vodka

Recipe #3

• 1 TBS olive oil mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice. Apply to a clean, dry mop and treat floors after cleaning.

Quick Tip: You can also spray commercial furniture polish onto the mop head and then wipe over floor.

Scratch Repair

• Rub a crayon that is the same color as the flooring into the scratch, filling the space as full of the wax as you can.
• To seal in place, heat with a hair dryer to soften the wax, allow to cool for a few seconds then buff with a soft cloth.

Thank to Tipnut.com of these recipes and tips.

Homemade Laundry Detergents

Homemade Laundry Detergent -

This Homemade Laundry Detergent receipe is to make the laundry detergent in bulk. Bookmark this page for your reference and share these recipes to your friends.

-- Water
-- 1 Bar Fels Naptha Soap, Grated
-- 5 Gallon Bucket
-- 1 Cup Washing Soda
-- 4 1/2 Gallons Water

Place grated soap in a small saucepan and cover with water. Heat on low until dissolved. Fill bucket with hot water, and add soap.


Stir to combine. Add 1 cup washing soda and mix well. As it cools it will thicken. May be used immediately. Use 1-2 cups per load.

---

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

If you would like to use Powdered Laundry Detergents, then the recipe is available to use washing soda.


-- 1 Cup Grated Fels Naptha Soap
-- 1/2 Cup Washing Soda
-- 1/2 Cup Borax

For light load, use 1 tablespoon.
For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons.

WHERE TO FIND - LAUNDRY DETERGENT INGREDIENTS

Fels-Naptha® Laundry Soap Bar:

Made by the Dial Soap Company, so any store that carries Dial should be able to get it for you. If they carry it, it will be found in the bar soap or laundry soap aisle at your regular supermarket. It is usually on the bottom shelf. If you can't find it in your area, try Ivory Soap instead.

Super Washing Soda:

Washing Soda can be found on the laundry detergent aisle of your supermarket. It comes in a 55-ounce yellow box. Baking soda SHOULD NOT be used in place of washing soda. They are completely different products, although they are both made by Arm & Hammer.

Borax:

One brand name is 20 Mule Team® Borax. It is also found on the laundry detergent aisle.

Thank you to The Frugal Shopper for these recipes.

STAIN REMOVER

Recipe #1

1/2 Cup Ammonia
1/2 Cup White Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Liquid Laundry Detergent (Use HomeMade)
2 Quarts Water

Mix well, and store in spray bottle.
*Hint - Reuse your "Spray and Wash" bottle.


Recipe #2

1/2 Cup Ammonia
1/2 Cup Liquid Laundry Detergent (Use HomeMade)
1/2 Cup White Vinegar
1/2 Cup Water

Mix well, and store in spray bottle.
*Hint - Reuse your "Spray and Wash" bottle.


Recipe #3

1/4 Cup Borax or Washing Soda
2 Cups Cold Water

Sponge on and let dry, or soak the fabric in Borax mixture before washing in soap and cold water.


Recipe #4

For Heavily Stained Clothing

**NOTE: This is for use with white cotton, nylon and polyester only.

1/2 Cup Liquid Laundry Detergent (Use HomeMade)
1/2 Cup Electric Dishwasher Detergent1/2 Cup Non-Chlorinated Bleach or Ammonia, Not Both

Soak clothes in washing machine overnight or until stains disappear. Launder as usual.



You can also use these products alone to remove stains:
Plain White Vinegar
Hydrogen Peroxide
Fels Naptha
Castile Soap




Thank you goes to The Frugal Shopper

Homemade Fabric Softener

Homemade Fabric Softener

By Heidi (TheFrugalGirls.com) on October 18, 2010

If you’ve been wanting to cut costs on Fabric Softener… try making Homemade Fabric Softener!

What You’ll Need:

• 6 cups HOT water
• 3 cups white vinegar
• 2 cups Suave Refreshing Waterfall Conditioner {or other favorite scent}

What You’ll Do:

• Mix conditioner & hot water well, until conditioner is dissolved completely.
• Add the vinegar, and mix well.
• Store in a large container {empty fabric softener container, empty large vinegar bottle, etc}
• Pour into a downy ball… or use approx. 2 tbsp. in the fabric softener spot in your laundry machine… then wash!

Thanks to frugal friend Holly for sharing this great recipe on The Frugal Girls Facebook page!
I’ve been using it for awhile now, and absolutely love it!!

Reusable Dryer Sheets

Reusable Dryer Sheets

We do lots of laundry. Actually, to say we do lots of laundry is an grand understatement. Because of this never-ending chore, we've noticed how many dryer sheets we use and figured that there had to be a way for us to make them ourselves. Not only were we looking for a homemade option but one that was greener too. After all, all those dryer sheets just end up in our landfills after one use, and we knew there had to be a way to make reusable ones. Turns out we were right! We were first turned on to this idea by "Homemade Nana", and we think she found it here.
What You Need:

• Strips of flannel (ours were scraps we had on hand but you can also use worn-out sheets or cut up that old shirt of your husband's!)
• Scissors
• A medium-sized plastic container with lid (we re-purposed a cleaned-out sour cream container)
• A favorite brand of liquid fabric softener (we had some from when we made our Wrinkle Release Spray!)
• Hot water

Pre-wash your flannel and cut it into strips that are about 3x5" (just eyeball it - no one is going to sneak in your laundry room with ruler). At this point you can hem your edges or you can be lazy like us and just cut them with pinking shears.

Place your strips into your container, making sure they all fit comfortably and the lid can go on.

Mix up a solution of 4 parts liquid fabric softener and 10 parts hot water. Pour the solution over the strips of flannel in the container, secure the lid, and shake it up to make sure the strips soak up the solution. Let it sit for at least two days...although to be honest we couldn't wait and used it the same day we made it!

When you are ready to do some laundry, just pull out one strip, squeeze out the excess solution, and throw it in the dryer with your wet clothes like you normally would with a commercial dryer sheet! Used strips can be put back into the container with the solution and used again!

Source: Homemade Mamas

Homemade Oven Cleaner Recipes

Here is an Oven Cleaner Recipe I found on Tipnut.com. 


With the exception of one of the recipes below, you can make oven cleaners that are much safer for the environment than commercial products containing harsh chemicals. They’re also much more frugal!
#1

Try These Homemade Cleaners To Tackle Grimy Ovens

Baking Soda
Water
Dish Detergent
Directions:

• Fill a spray bottle with water and spray oven generously.
• Generously sprinkle baking soda over the water. Leave overnight.
• The next day wipe out much of the baking soda and grime.
• Soak a sponge in hot water, squeeze out excess water and scrub the inside of the oven with liquid dish detergent first drizzled over the sponge.

#2
Ammonia
Water
Baking soda
Directions:

• Preheat oven to 200° then turn off.
• In an ovenproof dish, fill with ammonia and set on middle rack (about 1 to 2 cups of ammonia).
• In another ovenproof dish, fill with boiling water and set on bottom rack (2 cups).
• Leave overnight.
• The next morning, remove dishes and wipe down the inside with a hot wet sponge first drizzled with baking soda.

#3
3 tsp Borax
1/4 cup vinegar
1/8 cup liquid dish soap
2 cups hot water
Baking soda (do not add to mix)
Directions:

• Combine ingredients in a spray bottle and shake to mix.
• Spray mixture generously to cover surface completely.
• Sprinkle generous amounts of baking soda on top.
• Spray liquid mixture over the baking soda.
• Leave overnight.
• The next morning wipe out the cleaning mixture and wash the surface with hot soapy water.

#4
1 cup baking soda
1/3 cup table salt
Water
Directions:

• Spray oven well with water.
• Mix together the dry ingredients then sprinkle over the water.
• Spray again with water.
• Leave overnight. Wipe out the next morning and scrub with hot soapy water.

You can also use this homemade softscrub cleaner for the next day’s scrubbing after using one of the methods above.

Racks

• Place the racks in an extra large heavy-duty garbage bag, pour in a cup of ammonia and tie the bag closed (tightly).
• Set the garbage bag outside away from children and pets.
• The next day remove the racks and scrub them clean in hot soapy water.

If they aren’t that grimy, you can choose instead to soak them in hot soapy water. Scrub clean with a baking soda and water paste.

Tips

• 20 Ways Vinegar Can Help Your Kitchen Sparkle: Remove Residue–Wipe the inside of your oven with vinegar to remove the residue left behind by cleaner. Also mentioned in Quick Tips For Kitchen Cleaning.
• 10 Easy Household Time Savers: Do a quick wipe inside the oven while doing the dishes, cleaning up any spills and splatters (wait until it’s cool enough to do so). Your appliance won’t need as many deep cleaning jobs and will never be nasty again!
• Line the bottom with a large foil baking sheet or a strip of aluminum foil to catch spills and drips.

It's Not About Having What You Want

I read a quote today that made me think about what I want.  My answer is that I don't think there is anything.  There are things I would like someday, like to travel, to retire comfortably, to spend more time with the grandchildren, but I don't "want" really anything.
I don't have a big home, in fact it is quite small.  I don't have a fancy car or jewelry.  I don't have cable TV or a fancy cell phone.  I own 4 pairs of pants and 3 pairs of shoes....and I'm happy with that.   So why don't I want anything?  That's simple.
When I was younger, I had the "I wants".  I also had debt and stress and my life was complicated.  I worried all the time.  I worried to the point of losing sleep and I worked to the point of exhaustion.  Was it worth it?  I thought it was. 
Then I started to think about things like by the time I pay for this on my charge card it won't be worth having or I won't even want it anymore.  The thought that I was paying so much more for it because of the interest adding up made me sick.  What was really strange was the less money I had, the more I wanted to go out and shop.  This could not keep going on.
We put our minds to paying off our debt and build an emergency fund.  It took us just short of 2 years of being super intense about paying off our debt and another year to fully fund our emergency fund.  When that was done we started investing.   Something happened along the way.  Something really wonderful.  Seems that now that I can afford what I wanted .....I just don't want it anymore.   I can go to a store and just about get what I want and I just don't want to.  I guess it's true that if you eat enough lobster it starts to taste like soap. 
My life is good and I've never been happier.  It is uncomplicated and I don't really worry anymore (just about the kids, but hey that's what mothers do).  I like (no, I LOVE it) that way.  The quote is right on - It's not about having what you want, it's about wanting what you have!