Recipies for DIY Household Cleaners and Personal Products

           Basic Ingredients to Make Your Own Household Cleaners
                        These * have antibacterial properties

Laundry Powder / Washing Soda (same thing)       Borax
White Vinegar *        Apple Cider Vinegar *              Lemon Juice * 
Baking Soda *           Rubbing Alcohol *                     Boiling Water *
Hydrogen Peroxide *     Table Salt                             Cola / Club Soda
Castile Soap              Essential Oils, Cinnamon or Vanilla flavoring     

Important 
     If you choose to use bleach and ammonia based cleaners, never use either as a mixer with anything but water.  Never use a bleach based cleaner in a toilet with urine in the bowl or to clean pet stains or the cat box.  Urine contains ammonia.  Bleach + Ammonia (or vinegar) = deadly gas.  
     Do not buy bleach or ammonia based cleaners in poor quality spray bottles.  They leak; when the temperature rises the fluid is forced up the tube and out the nozzle and down the outside of the bottle.  If you have these two chemicals in the same location and they both leak, they will create a poison gas.  
     Under the sink is not a good place to store cleaning products.  The alternating hot water down the drain and later cooling creates the perfect place for poor quality spray bottles to leak.  This range of temperature also creates condensation which softens cardboard (such as boxes of laundry power or baking soda) and encourages mold.  

                  Recipes for Homemade Household Cleaners
I have indicated the sources for most of these recipes.  If there is no credit listed, I have used the recipe myself for so long I don't remember where I learned it.  

Disinfectant Soak for Toys
2 quarts of warm tap water per 1/2 cup baking soda.  Add 1/2 cup vinegar to deodorize.  Make sure the baking soda is well dissolved and mixed completely in the water.

Powdered Laundry Soap (from SimpleDollar.com , an excellent site for all aspects of maintaining your home.  I've used this recipe for many years)
1 bar of soap grated finely.  Add 1 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup borax, 1/2 cup oxygen based cleaner such as OxiClean (some people add 1/2 cup baking soda instead of OxiClean or in addition to).  Mix thoroughly in a ziplock bag and use a tablespoon to measure laundry soap into the washer with the water running but before you add the clothes.  Two tablespoons will wash a normal load.

Homemade Glass Cleaner (recipe from About.com/housekeeping )
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup water
1 tablespoon of vinegar
Mix well in a squirt bottle.

Magnificent Mold Remover (from The Complete Guide to Eco-Friendly House Cleaning by Anne B. Kocsis.  An excellent resource with many recipes and is available at the local library)
Mix 1 cup of Hydrogen Peroxide with 2 cups of warm water in a spray bottle and spray directly on moldy areas.  Let sit for one hour and use scrub brush to remove mold.  Or, create paste out of 2 cups of baking soda and 1 cup vinegar.  Mix the paste well and scrub onto moldy surfaces.  This may be repeated if necessary.

Kitchen Sink Sanitizer
Pour boiling water from the tea kettle onto the sides and bottom of the sink and on your dish cloth or sponge, let them cool slightly and add a small amount of dish soap to your dish cloth or sponge.  Work the dish soap through the cloth or sponge and wipe the sink.  Rinse with warm tap water and wipe dry.  Rinse the cloth or sponge again and wring it out with all your might.  Leave the dish cloth or sponge as dry as possible.  Hang the cloth or lean the sponge against the faucet so that air will circulate around it to dry it completely.  Mold and bacteria need wetness, don't give them any. 

                     Recipes for Homemade Personal Products  
(from Planet Home by Alexandra Zissu and Jeffery Hollender, an excellent resource available at the local library)

Deodorant (stops odor safely by reducing the number of naturally occurring underarm bacteria)
Add 1 part baking soda and 6 parts cornstarch in a resealable container and shake well.  Use cotton ball or cosmetic pad to dab a small amount of powder onto clean armpits.  Baking soda has antibacterial properties and is a natural deodorant.

Toothpaste 
Combine 2 parts baking soda with 1 part fine table salt in a resealable container and shake well. Dip tips of damp toothbrush into powder, brush and rinse well.

Shampoo (there is much information on the internet about going no 'poo)
Combine 1/2 cup baking soda with 3 cups warm water in a squirt bottle.  Rub a small amount into hair and rinse.  For 1 time use, rub 1/8 cup baking soda into hair and rinse.

Conditioner
After shampooing, rinse hair with a mix of 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and 1 cup warm water.  Add a drop of essential oil or vanilla flavoring for scent.

Deep Conditioner
In a bowl, mash 1 peeled and pitted avocado and 2 tablespoons honey.  Massage into hair and leave 20 to 30 minutes.  Then wash hair as usual.

     Keep in mind that our bodies have adapted to repeated doses of shampoo, conditioner, etc. It may take some time for our scalps to stop over producing oils used to combat the effects of the hair products we've been using. You may find your hair to be oilier than usual when you switch to homemade. That's O.K.  Actually, it's more than O.K., it's very good.  
    We've been taught to believe that hair oil is dirty. There is nothing better for luxurious hair that evenly dispersed natural hair oil. Try less washing and more brushing, ideally with a soft, natural bristle brush. Do not change how you look, change how you see.  
      Do not be deceived by advertising. The luxurious hair shown in the commercials doesn't exist. It is not a result of the product they are going to great extremes to get you to buy. It is the result of camera tricks, lighting, rehearsing, multiple camera shots and products only known to the camera crew, director, the hair model, her stylists and the special effects artists; but of course, you know that.