A-Z Simple Living: C = Cleaning

If you are wanting to start your own simple living journey then the best place to start is by making your own cleaning products. I started with laundry liquid first, and once I was sure it would be just as effective as the store bought ones, I then experimented further. Basically any product that you buy from the supermarket to clean with, you can make at home yourself for a fraction of the price. My last batch of ten litres of laundry liquid cost just $3 to make and has lasted me for six months. It has no nasty chemicals and does an amazing job of cleaning the kids clothes....it also does not irritate my sensitive skin like some laundry liquids have done in the past, and my daughter's dermatitis is now non-existent.

I use the recipe from Down to Earth and thought I would include it in this post so you can see how easy it is to make!

Ingredients

1 cup of Lux soap flakes

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax

1 1/2 litres of water

Add the above ingredients to a medium sized saucepan and heat, stirring, until all ingredients are dissolved.

Add 8 litres of water to a 10 litre bucket, pour in the hot soapy mixture and stir. The mixture will thicken into a gel as it cools, and you then place it into plastic containers for storage.

How easy is that? I bought the ingredients and it was a while before I got around to making it, so I kept my laundry liquid bottles to re-use, and for the rest I stored it in empty water bottles. You do need to give the liquid a shake before using as the mixture does separate, so leave some room in the top of the bottle to allow for this. 

Once you have made this laundry liquid you can use it as a base for so many other cleaners. I use a watered down version with a few drops of eucalyptus oil as a spray for my benchtops. There are also home-made cleaners you can make using vinegar or bicarb soda as a base ingredient to clean anything from showers, toilets, floors, dishwashers etc. I made a few and did a road test of the cleaners on this post Homemade Cleaners Road Test.

I have also experimented with making homemade soap. It turned out okay, and is totally natural, but I found the oils quite expensive to buy...and we don't use alot of soap. My family prefer the shower gels, so I buy organic homemade soap from the markets and turn it into Home-made Shower Gel instead. I am still avoiding the chemicals, saving money (cost about 20% of store-bought product), and am adding to that reduction in my carbon footprint. 

So, there are no hard and fast rules. You do what works for you...and experiment as you go along. Do you make any of your own cleaning products?

Simple Living Sunday

Sundays are the day I have chosen to summarise my simple living efforts for the week. This may be my gardening successes or failures, or my experimentation with home made cleaning products, or ways to save money. As I have been home this week, I have dabbled in quite a few different areas and have some progress to report on various projects I started when I commenced this blog a little over a month ago.

It may not look beautiful but my soap is adequate and certainly lathers and smells like soap. The white layer
(Homemade Soap) I ended up with seems to be a problem with my saponification, according to a few people I spoke to at Simple Living Forums and a lovely lady I met for coffee from there. It could have been caused from the heat of the oils and caustic not being the same or perhaps in cooling down too quickly. Basically the caustic has separated a little from the rest. Easy fixed, I just cut it off and still have plenty of soap.

I put together a sour dough yeast starter. I used half a cup of my bread floor and one cup of spring water, then covered it with thin cotton fabric from an old shirt. I will report back on its progress, and then I will investigate how I actually use it to make sourdough bread. It's all a learning curve.

Homemade Pesticide

To control my pest situation I made a batch of pesticide from Going Grey and Slightly Green. I made a half mixture of the All Round Insecticide. You just chop two onions, one clove of garlic and two chillies (I used minced chilli from a jar). Place them in a bowl with one teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and cover with warm water. Leave overnight.

Strain it and then add to 2 1/2 litres of water. I will report back on its effectiveness as my Broccoli and Spinach have now been sprayed.

Homemade Shower Gel

I prefer to use shower gel in our upstairs glass shower as it leaves less residue to be cleaned. I adapted a few recipes and came up with this one which worked really well.

You will need 1 1/2 cups spring water, 1 x bar of soap, a desertspoon of glycerin and any fragrance you prefer. My husband loves Palmolive Gold soap so I ended up leaving out the fragrance for this one.

Grate the soap with a cheese grater - it is very easy to clean afterwards.

Combine all ingredients and heat in a saucepan on medium heat until all the soap is melted.

Leave for approx 12 hours (overnight) and you will have a jelly type surface with a creamy, soapy mixture underneath. Beat with a stick mixer until smooth.

Then pour into bottles. I have a dispenser for the shower and an extra litre for storage. I tried it this morning and gave the boys a sample to use. Thumbs up all round! Can only imagine it will be even better with more natural soap but at least I utilised something I already had.

This was my first attempt at making breadrolls. The kids loved them but they were more like a large scone. I let the breadmaker mix a normal bread dough on the dough setting and when I removed it, it had risen beautifully. I really was not sure what to do next so I just broke it apart and rolled into rough balls before placing them straight in the oven. Advice I have been given is to re-knead each roll and let them rise before baking. Also to place a tray of water in the oven to keep them soft, instead of crunchy. Will definitely keep you updated on my next batch! Any suggestions are welcome.

Weekend Gardening Update

I turned the compost today and finally have something which is starting to resemble soil. Still a while to go yet. I am now not adding to this pile and have a separate pile for new scraps, following advice from a seasoned gardener.

The toilet roll seedling trays have not yet been a huge success. I have a few small Thai basil seedlings. I have now bought some seed raising mix (I used potting mix initially) and will try some carrot seeds.

I potted this hot climate variety of blueberry for the verandah. Not a very attractive pot covered in flood mud. It will do until I find another.

This Zucchini has gone crazy and has several large flowers which I will pick and experiment with. There are five small Zucchini growing on it.

Finally have a few small beans. Some of the plants died and I am not sure why. Beans are usually so easy to grow.

This is one of the Bok Choi I cut off which has new sprouts so hopefully will get another one for nothing.

The Roma tomato finally has fruit but the plant is very small so not sure how big the tomatoes will grow.

The strawberries are going well again. These are from the Lemon Tree garden, near the Zucchini.

More cherry tomatoes popping up everywhere. At least we will have some tomatoes if my others don't grow.

More progress with the cucumber. It has flowered but no fruit yet. Needs a good weeding.

These are Rockmelons. Paul threw some seeds under the lemon tree and they have gone crazy. Will need to thin them out soon. There would be 20-30 plants and these are the more mature.

Paul planted a few watermelon seedlings on the grass and they are doing well, to my surprise.

Another beautiful salad for lunch and a Spinach slice to be baked this afternoon.

So, there you have it. A round up of my simple living endeavours for the week, and some new ideas for you to try yourself. Any feedback on what you may have tried or any processes I have used above, is greatly appreciated as always.

How has your week been?

Homemade Cleaners Road Test

Road Test Number 1 - Laundry Liquid

A couple of months ago I made laundry liquid for my front loader washing machine. I was a little sceptical that it would work effectively, especially on my boy's socks, so I only made half a batch. Some people had said that after a while the whites don't come out as well and that Napisan is then required to rectify. I am pleased to say however that I am thrilled with the result. There have been no complaints from the kids that the clothes have not been clean, and I have not noticed any stains not being removed. An added bonus is that my daughter and I are both prone to allergies and the home made laundry liquid has not caused any reaction. In two months I have saved about $30 on this product alone.

So, with my stocks running low, I decided to make a full batch this time. I used Rhonda Hetzel's recipe from Down to Earth (Laundry Liquid). I now have ten litres of Laundry Liquid which will last several months and cost about $3 to make. I found with the front loader that less than 1/4 cup per load is sufficient as it uses less water.

Rating 10/10.

I then decided to spend some time concocting other home made cleaners and giving them a test-run on my dirty bathroom. These are my results:

2. Floor Cleaner

Since I had an excess supply of laundry liquid I thought I would use some as a base for a floor cleaner. I added about one part laundry liquid to six parts water and a capful of eucalyptus oil. To wash the tiles I then added about half a cupful of my laundry liquid to a bucket of warm water. It cleaned the floors very effectively, removing all dirt and grime and was not too soapy. It did not add a sheen to the floor though, which I did not mind. Other suggestions for homemade floor cleaner include vinegar which I will try next time I clean. Overall I was very impressed and it cost next to nothing.

Rating 8/10

3. Rhonda's Creamy Soft Scrubber

This is one of my favourite cleansers. Bicarb soda and a small amount of my homemade laundry liquid was all it took to make a creamy scrub. What a great idea! I added a teaspoon of glycerin as suggested and now have a jarful for later use. I found this scrub to be great in the bathroom as a substitute for other abrasive cleansers. It was perfect for the sink, walls and tile grout. I also found it to be very effective as a polish for my stainless steel bench top in the kitchen. I'm sure I will find many more uses for it.

Rating 10/10

3. Citrus Cleaner

Several sites including Down to Earth suggest a concoction made from citrus peel and vinegar. I put mandarin and lemon peels in a glass coffee jar several weeks ago and then transferred this liquid to a spray bottle. I have a glass shower and there was a build up of soap residue (I know, slack of me!) so I sprayed the cleaner on and left it for half an hour or so. It had dried up by the time I got back and did not seem to lift any of the soap residue. I resprayed and used an abrasive cloth which did move some of the soap but ended up spreading it everywhere. I then had the bright idea of using my creamy scrubber to lift the soap....what a brilliant move that was. It removed the soap residue beautifully. I then finished off with my citrus cleanser and wiped it off with paper towelling (cloth just did not do it for me). The shower is absolutely sparkling and I have resolved not to let it build up again!

Rating 9/10

4. Dishwasher Liquid

I trialled several recipes before I formulated one that works for me. It is pretty watery so I use a sauce bottle to dispense and store. It works effectively and I place vinegar in the rinse aid compartment which also assists with cleaning the dishwasher. The beauty of this liquid is that it uses the ingredients I already have available.

Place the following in a jug and pour two cups boiling water in to mix and dissolve:

1 Tbsp Washing Soda

1 Tbsp Borax

2 tsp Lux Flakes

10 drops lemon essential oil

Once dissolved, add two litres of warm water and pour into storage bottles. I have found that I only need to half fill the detergent compartment of my dishwasher and that the dishwasher works more effectively when it is clean. You may need to experiment depending on your dishwasher if you decide to make this. Overall I am pleased with the results. It works just as effectively as the tablets I was buying and saves about $4/week.

Rating 8/10

5. Spray and Wipe - All purpose Spray

Once again I decided to experiment with the ingredients I had so I just quarter-filled a spray bottle with my homemade laundry liquid, filled it up with water and added a few drops of Dettol which I had in the cupboard. When the Dettol runs out I will use the Eucalyptus oil I have. This spray is amazing! It cleans the toughest grime off my gas cooktop and does not leave any residue. It is also effective for wiping down my stainless steel bench and for cleaning the sink and taps.

Rating 10/10

So, my road test for the cleaning products I made in about an hour on Monday morning, has been successful, with a little trial and error. I then decided to try my hand at making Cold Pressed Soap. I decided to follow Rhonda's recipe once again as so many of hers have turned out effectively. This process was trickier than I had expected it to be. I decided to use Copha instead of coconut oil to reduce the cost ($2.50 vs $8). I did not realise that by the time the copha melted my oils would be too hot. The recipe suggests 50 degrees celcius and mine rose to 80 degrees so I had to wait for it to cool. Then when I added the caustic soda to the water and stirred until dissolved, it too was higher than 50 degrees. So the whole timing thing was a little tricky but I finally got them both to 50 degrees.

The other thing I found was that I did not know how much Oilve Oil would be required for 1000 grams. The 750ml bottle I had only allowed me to make half of the mixture, with some left over for cooking. The process of trace was unusual to me as well. I just waited until the mixture appeared thick enough and had a few ripples on the surface as suggested, then I poured it into my plastic cake container. When I am confident that I can make a decent soap I will invest in some moulds.

I then covered with a clean tea towel and the next morning I turned it out onto a board. It stuck a little in the middle even though I sprayed the container with cooking spray. It also appeared a little damp in the centre and I don't know if this is usual or whether it needed longer to set.

I then proceeded to cut it into blocks. If I used this container next time it would be better to make a full batch as my soap is a little thin. It also leaves a few lines on the soap. I did find the knife stuck to the soap a little so I wet it before cutting the rest and this worked fine. I did not get a really clean edge to my soap though.

This is my finished result. The soap has a thin white layer on the side that was facing up in the container. Not sure if this is what they call 'ash' or not. If so, apparently it will wash off. If you make your own soap I would appreciate your advice regarding mine. It's hard to know whether it is a success when you have not made it before and are not sure what it should look like.

I did not expect a perfect result first time around but if I have the process correct then I am keen to experiment and make more soap. I guess I will know more in two weeks after the curing or perhaps on the advice of homemade soap makers out there. My husband did say my 'cake' did not look very tasty haha.

The money I have saved and the satisfaction I had in producing and using my cleaners made my exercise so worthwhile. That, and the fact that I am using less chemicals has to be a good thing, right? Whatever the reason for my jubilation the fact remains that yes, I am turning into that 'greenie' the kids tease me about....and I am loving it!