Easy and Inexpensive Natural Cleaners

 I want to preface this post by saying, if you are one of those people who actually do make all of your own cleaning products...I applaud you. Let me just admit something right now...I'm kinda lazy when it comes to cleaning. If there's an easier less stressful way to do it, I'm going to try it!

 Many years ago, my sister developed extreme sensitivities to many products; even to fragrances...whether it was perfume, cosmetics or household cleaners. Just being around some scents caused a reaction. While I didn't have the extreme sensitivities that my sister suffered from, I did get headaches from cleaners....even walking down the cleaning aisle at the store gave me a headache! My sister's and my own experience were enough to make me question what was in all of these products. I did some research and found that they were full chemicals, some I had never even heard of.

These are some of them: Phthalates, Perchloroethylene or “PERC", Triclosan, Quarternary Ammonium Compounds, or “QUATS”, 2-Butoxyethanol, Ammonia, Chlorine, Sodium Hydroxide.

This article provides information on each of these.

 That was 13 years ago. At that time I cleaned all of the toxic cleaners out of my house, and replaced them with natural products; baking soda, vinegar, and lemon juice, along with some products that I was able to buy online. My daughter told me about a company where I could not only buy my cleaners, but also toiletries, lotions, supplements, even dog shampoo! I started buying from there, and I've used natural products ever since.

 Somewhere along the way I had the brilliant idea that I could find these products locally, or maybe even make some of my own cleaners. I had seen all kinds of recipes on pinterest....hahaha...ya, I hear you laughing.

 So, I stocked up on all my old favorites (really stocked up!) and cancelled my membership with the online shopping club. These products are super concentrated, so I was able to make them last a very long time, but little by little I started to run out of things. Even though I squeezed every last drop from bottles, and then rinsed them out with water to get every last bit, eventually my cleaning spray bottles were empty. 

 I tried some of the natural products offered by another company, but wasn't really impressed with the quality or selection....and the price was way more than I wanted to spend! I continued to use huge boxes of baking soda, and gallons of vinegar, but make my own laundry soap...who was I kidding!? So the store bought detergent soon found it's way back in. Still, I refused to buy other cleaners from the store...and as much as I hated to admit it, my bathrooms and my kitchen sink were looking dingy...no matter how much baking soda or vinegar I used. 

 Homemade may be cheap, but I also like convenience...I like to be able to spray a surface and wipe it off and I'm done! So this scrubbing with baking soda was getting old fast.

 Then one day my last family size shampoo bottle was empty....my facial cleanser was gone....my last bar of soap was a tiny speck....my liquid soap was just water, and I had even used a knife to cut open my lotion bottle to get the lotion coating the inside! I had high hopes of buying homemade bars of soap, but never did....other than some that was so highly perfumed I couldn't use it. You can't imagine my excitement when I found a partially used bar of soap in the back of a cabinet! It was a little shriveled up, but nothing a little water wouldn't fix! I can't help but laugh at how silly this was.

 Shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, supplements? Once they were gone, I had to buy them somewhere.....and soon they were all coming from the store. All of the products that I had removed from our home 13 years ago.....

 And once again, my daughter came to the rescue.....and once again, I have all of my favorite products....no chemicals, no smells that give me a headache,  EASY and inexpensive!....and my bathroom is sparkling clean!