My sister called the other day and asked me how I use vinegar in the wash in place of fabric softener. I told her and we got to talking about other uses, she asked me to blog about it so she could easily find it, so here goes.
My stash of cleaning stuff:
Laundry:
I use vinegar in the fabric softener spot - fill er up. If you have a Downy ball, fill to the fill line with vinegar.
I also use very little detergent and add Borax to the water.
If clothes come out of the dryer with a bit of static, I dampen my hands and pull them apart, cutting the static. I've noticed this is mainly on any fleece clothes my kids wear.
Dishwasher:
I put vinegar in the jet-dry compartment.
I've been using this dishwashing soap mix (Mix together 1 cup Borax, 1 cup Baking Soda, 1/4 cup LemiShine, 1/4 cup salt, keep in covered container and use 1-2 Tbsp/load) and it has helped tremendously with getting our dishes clean. Sometimes I still use a bit of the PalmOlive liquid dishwasher detergent with this mixture. If I do that, it would still be a total of about 2 Tbsps of cleaner. I found it here and it looks like she has an update.
General Cleaning:
Mix together Borax and Vinegar in hot water. Add drops of tea tree oil or other essential oil and drops of a low-sudsing soap (currently I use Shaklee's Basic H because it was given to me by my in-laws). I mop my floors with this, I put it in spray bottles and the kids use it to clean bathrooms or any other general cleaning we do.
For tougher jobs like a greasy stove top or water deposits on bathtubs/showers try this: put baking soda in a container (I use an old plastic one) add a low sudsing soap (again I use basic H) and add a bit of water to make a frosting consistency. Rub it on with a sponge and then rinse it off. It works wonders and leaves no residue behind as it rinses clean.
I wrote here about the cleaning wipes I make for the kids to use daily to wipe toilets and sinks or even doorknobs.
Hope this helps Jenny. I can't recall anything else right now, if I do, I'll let you know.
2 comments:
We used to use a lot of Borax until we found that it will kill plants. We reuse our wash water on our fruit trees to conserve water and killed one fruit tree. Luckily it wasn't a very healthy tree anyway but I thought I'd give a heads up to anyone who likes to reuse their water.
Thanks for the tip Kim. I know that currently neither I nor my sister would need it based on where we live, but anyone else reading or if we ever move, it is good to know.
Btw, I read your comment right after reading a note from my cousin Kim and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why my cousin was saying that because I didn't know she saved her water too. Then I was drawing a complete blank as to who Kim was, and then after awhile I went, "Duh" and realized it was my friend Kim, not cousin Kim. :-)
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