See It, Pin It, Do It - DIY Cleaning Products

In the last year or two I have really become more aware of the amount of store bought products that could easily be replicated at home with less cost and often less chemicals. Since then I have found it enjoyable to try out the different suggestions and see what works well and make as many swaps from store bought to homemade as possible. So I thought it would be a good idea to make this See It, Pin It, Do It post about DIY cleaning products. Let me share what I tried.

I already make my own laundry detergent so I didn't have to try that one out. You can see my post HERE if you are interested in giving it a go yourself. I honestly whip this up every couple weeks and the supplies last me quite awhile. For my family, it works great.

This last week I ran out of dryer sheets so it was the perfect opportunity to try out the reusable dryer sheets I had pinned from One Good Thing (click the name for her instructions). I loved the idea of eliminating the waste of dryer sheets and already had the white cloths and liquid fabric softener on hand so decided to give this a whirl. You can also do this with homemade liquid fabric softener (see One Good Thing's link above for those instructions as well) which I plan to try when I run out of the Downy I already have on hand. I hung them up in my laundry room to dry and they were ready by the end of the day. Have been using them ever since and absolutely love them!

The before picture of my dryer sheets

Another DIY cleaning product I have already tried out and been using for some time is a replacement for store bought Swiffer Wet Jet Cleaning Solution. You can see my post on that HERE. However I may have to replace that with the next product I share with you.

I was thrilled when I found a Pin with a homemade citrus cleaning product. I just used the pinner's suggestion so I am going to link you back to that original pin instead of an actual blog. This can be used as an all purpose cleaner (and would be great in your Swiffer Wet Jet!). You are looking at a two week process here so you'll want to save your citrus peels now. As soon as one solution was ready, I started the next one so I would have more when the first bottle ran out. My first batch smelled mostly of vinegar but cleaned really well. I am trying more peels in my second batch to see if that helps create more of a citrus scent. Here's what the process looked like for me:

Supplies - container, 2 cups vinegar and citrus peels

Sealed container with instructions and ready date

2 weeks later...ready to mix with 2 cups water

Mixed, labeled and ready to go!

Next I tried a very simple bath tub cleaner (that was pinned from Food.com of all places!). Click the highlighted words for exact instructions but this is basically equal parts heated vinegar and Dawn dish soap. {For full disclosure, I didn't use Dawn but instead whatever brand of dishwasher soap I had on hand but I still got great results}We have two baths in our house so I sprayed them both down and let them sit while I cleaned the rest of the bathroom. I had my husband do the second tub because he is sometimes a sceptic about the effectiveness of homemade cleaners and we were both equally pleased with the results. Coincidentally, my sister also made this same cleaner within the last few weeks and raved about it as well! I would say it's a keeper.

Labeled bottle with ingredients so I don't have to look it up next time I want to make it

Finally I wanted to share with you the DIY toilet bowl cleaner I have been using for years now. I don't have pictures or a source because it's a simple tip I picked up awhile ago and have done ever since. I pour a cup of vinegar into a medium sized bowl, hold it over my toilet bowl and add 1/4 cup baking soda and mix slightly before dumping it into the toilet (vinegar and baking soda has a really fun reaction so make sure you don't use a bowl that's too small..been there done that!). I let that sit for a minute and then use the toilet brush to wipe down the inside before flushing. With 3 small kids in the house who have all at one time or another gotten into the toilet water and a cat who frequently uses it as his watering hole (I know, gross!), I like to keep chemicals out of the bowl so this is a method that I feel safe using and that is also effective.

There's the list so far. I am waiting for my Febreeze to run out so I can make my own and also have the ingredients on hand for a mattress stain remover so you may see some add ons to this in the weeks to come. Hope you find this a handy go-to list to refer to - have fun trying them out and feel free to share your favorite DIY cleaning products! If you want to see what other DIY Cleaning Products have caught my interest, make sure to follow my DIY & Cleaning board on Pinterest.

***Just wanted to mention that I get all of my squirt bottles at the Dollar Store but you could easily reuse an old cleaning bottle as well. Just make sure to thoroughly clean it out so you don't have a reaction with mixed ingredients***



See It, Pin It, Do It - Make Ahead Mixes

For some time now I have given up on buying prepackaged mixes and have just made my own from scratch. Okay, once in awhile I give in if there is a sale/coupon match-up I absolutely can't pass up. But for the most part I have taken to making my own because it truly is more cost-effective and also allows me to control what goes into my family's food. No preservatives here! Now I realize for a lot of people the convenience of the box can be the most appealing part of store bought products and is hard to pass up so I thought I would try some make-ahead mixes I have seen on Pinterest that would combine the convenience of having it all together with the benefit of making it yourself. Win win!

Now I did this on a whim with all items I already had on hand. You could obviously do a lot more with some planning ahead but here is a very basic make-ahead list to get you started. In a little over an hour I was able to make up all of these:

Pictured above are 4 brownie mixes, 2 oatmeal cookie mixes, 2 sugar cookie mixes, 2 pancake mixes and 2 muffin mixes. All of them with instructions for add ins and baking written right on the bag. Easy for those mornings I am in a rush but want to whip up something heartier for breakfast or those afternoons when my husband is feeling snacky and wants to prepare himself some brownies or cookies. Want to copy what I have done? Here is where I found all of my mixes (just click on each to go to find their instructions):

Fake Betty Crocker Brownie Mix from Fake-It Frugal

Fake Betty Crocker Cookie Mix from Fake-It Frugal (will find above pictured sugar and oatmeal cookie mix as well as chocolate chip and gingerbread cookie mix instructions)

Pancake Mix from good (CHEAP) eats

Muffin Mix from good (CHEAP) eats

I didn't get around to making this today, but I am also going to make up this huge batch of Cornbread Mix from Country Mama Cooks:


~picture belongs to Country Momma Cooks~

Let me share with you one final mix that isn't pictured but that I use on a regular basis and love, love, love. This is a recipe for homemade taco seasoning that will make you turn your back on that prepackaged version you would normally buy at the store. Trust me, this has great flavor and if you hit a spice sale, it will be cheap to make at home. I use this on everything from taco meat, to Mexican Meatloaf, to homemade burgers, and a zillion other things.

Homemade Taco Seasoning from $5 Dinners

Happy Mixing!!

See It, Pin It, Do It - Deep Cleaning

Now that I have planned out some family activities to make the most of our summer, I wanted to focus on doing some of the projects that are on my wish list {aka my Pinterest boards}. So I am creating a post series called See It, Pin It, Do It (cook it, create it, clean it...whatever is relevant) that will be inspired by the things I am pinning on Pinterest. Some will be copied exactly from the original idea and others will be inspired with my own twist on them. I will always link to the original blogger so that you can see the true inspiration and so that credit is given where due when possible. Hope that you will be inspired to Do It too!

I had planned to make my first post in this series a cute Family Rules project but I started it and it got tucked away so we are going to start off with some cleaning pins instead. Maybe not all that exciting but definitely practical and let's face it, as boring as they can be, practical posts have to happen too. So let's get down to business - I am going to show you 3 cleaning tips I pinned and then tested for myself.

I started with this post by One Good Thing on how to clean your top-load washing machine (she has a link for front-load instructions as well). Does it drive anyone else crazy to have to clean the appliances that are supposed to be cleaning stuff for you? It irks me everytime I think about it...but I digress. The truth is I don't know the last time I cleaned my washing machine so it was actually pretty grimy. No judging - I am doing this for you all so I am trusting you will turn a blind eye to the grossness. Capiche??

Click on the link above for exact instructions but the basics of this involves running two different loads, one with bleach and one with vinegar. The good news is that when all was said and done the inside of my washing machine was sparkling and looked like this:

I will say that I had to do a little scrubbing on the inside after the final rinse. There was a ring around the tub of the basin where the water had sat and there was still residue on the agitator but I used my handy dandy Magic Eraser and that was all gone in no time. To be fair, I think the problem had more to do with the fact that I didn't really have enough hot water for the vinegar load because our hot water tank needs to be drained (hard water build-up). Either way, I ended up with a clean washing machine so I am happy!

Since the washing machine project involved a lot of waiting time, I decided to tackle two other projects while I was at it. This pin came from Practically Functional and was actually something I have done in the past but wanted to pin for continued reference in the future. This is about as easy as it gets involving simply water and vinegar heated in a bowl for 5 minutes which helps loosen the gunk making it easier to wipe clean. The vinegar also helps with any smells that are lingering. If the vinegar smell bothers you, just add some lemon juice to the mixture. Again, the microwave while frequently used is rarely cleaned like it should be so this was a much needed project. Ready for the results?

I should just have entitled this post Projects Chrystal has Neglected for Far Too Long. My last project tackled today was no exception - the vents above the stove. Ick. Double Ick. This again came from One Good Thing (let me urge you to browse her site while you are there - tons of great tips!). When I pinned this particular tip I was excited about the idea of simply having to boil the vents with some baking soda to remove the grease. Unfortunately I didn't have a pot wide enough to do this so after reading some of the comments from her readers I got the idea to just do it in my sink. I filled it part way with warm water, put some baking soda on the vent and let it sit while I boiled some water on my stove top. I splashed a little vinegar over the baking soda to make it work it's magic (and this helps from getting a stale smell when you air dry something like this) and then poured the boiling water over the top of the vent. I used a scrub brush to really work the grease off and then did the other side. Repeated this with the second vent and then put them out in the sun to dry. A little more work than her method but came out super clean.

I would say these were all successes, wouldn't you? Makes me excited to try out some more of those pins I have been storing up...even the cleaning ones. In the meantime if you want to see which cleaning tips are catching my eye, you can follow my DIY Cleaning Board.