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***



Making my Swiffer WetJet more cost effective

Recently I scored a great deal on a Swiffer WetJet Starter Pack at Albertsons. It normally sells for $25 but was marked down to $19.99. I had a $5.00 off coupon and they were having a promotion where you got $5.00 towards your next purchase when you bought a Swiffer. So all in all I paid $10.00. Score!

But then I realized that the starter pack only comes with two pads and a small bottle of cleaner. Of course the replacements for these are pretty spendy and would need to be purchased on a fairly regular basis. I saw some Albertsons brand replacement pads that were considerably cheaper but I just knew there had to be a better way.

So I got home and put my mop together and realized that anything that would stick to the velcro on the bottom would make an acceptable replacement. Then I remembered that I had a handful of Sham Wow cloths that hadn't been put to use. So I took a small one, measured it against the mop and after some cutting was able to get 3 cleaning pads out of it.

I stuck one to the bottom to test it out and it held strong. I mopped my kitchen floor to test it out and it not only continued to stick but it did a great job cleaning the floor. The best part is that when I was done I peeled it off and threw it in the washing machine. Hello reusable pads!

Now onto the tiny rip-off cleaning bottle. Thanks to this article on eHow I was easily able to refill my cleaning solution bottle (despite the fact the label says not to). Trust me, this took such little time and is going to cost you pennies!

Here's what you need:

- Your empty Swiffer bottle, some Distilled White Vinegar, a bowl, water and some measuring utensils (essential oil if you prefer a certain smell, but totally optional)

Let's get to work:
1. First you have to loosen the cap so boil some water and pour it into a bowl. Then hold the cap of the bottle in the hot water for about a minute. Using a towel for grip, you should be able to twist it right off.

2. Now to add new cleaning solution. Feel free to fill with your favorite floor cleaning solution. If you are looking for something natural and cheap, you can just use vinegar and water. This bottle holds a little over 2 cups so you'll want to mix 2 Tbsp of Distilled White Vinegar with 2 cups of water. Then pour it straight into the bottle.

3. At this point I added in a few drops of Orange essential oil but that is optional. After that I screwed on the cap and that was that.

There you have it, a simple way to save some money when cleaning your home!