Homemade carpet shampoo

About a month ago, I decided to shampoo the livingroom. It needed it. It's whitish carpet and we have a dog, a cat, and a kitten who runs around here like she's barely tame.

And, let's face it... we aren't total neat freaks. Our house is tidy- for the most part- but it is very lived in. Shoot, I painted and stained the coffee table in here a few days ago :). And, I had some mishaps in a room upstairs this week too. Enough of my faults and on to my disgusting shampoo water....

I shampooed it with some homemade solution that I'll advise you NOT to try. It was mostly water, but had a rather large helping of laundry detergent in it (like maybe a cup?) and a smidge of vinegar. It isn't the ingredients that were bad... but I didn't have the best proportions going.  After a month, this is what we had...

Tracking. And just dirty, dirty carpet. Can you see the lines that run through the middle? This is THE highest traffic area in the room. Those lines are from the carpet cleaner dispersing my solution. And the dark spots of nastiness? Apparently my mixture was too foamy for the carpet cleaner and just right for looking clean temporarily.

So, today, I gave it another attempt. This time, I used MOSTLY all water, about 1 TBS of Gain, 1/3 cup of vinegar and about a TBS of OxyClean. It worked GREAT. It was still a bit foamy, but ended up being ok. Then, I went over the entire carpet with plain water and sucked it all up. I did this twice. Overkill? You tell me...

This sink of nastiness is after one rinse with just plain water in the cleaner. (Please note the lack of the first round with soap photo. Nasty.)

I'm sure that I could have done this ALL day and still would have had dirty water results. It never fails. Every time I clean the carpet, I am bound and determined that we are getting hardwood in this room. We are... it's just a matter of when :).

If you are thinking "oh, our carpets aren't that bad.." I dare you. Clean them. You will want to rip out every square foot of the stuff. 

If you try out your own cleaner like this, let me know. And, if you ever stop by here and I say "oh, I just cleaned the carpets, don't take off your shoes" I mean it. I don't want your crisp white socks wet with this nasty brown/green/gross water from my "clean" living room :).

Does the living room smell like vinegar? YUP. Will it fade? I hope. :)

It doesn't seem to bother the girls. They have congregated to the corner where I didn't go ALL the way to the wall though.

I won't mention that immediately after this picture was taken, a certain cleaner/blogger/photographer let the beagle outside where she immediately started digging. The cleaner/blogger/photographer thought the beag was after a snake so the digging was allowed. Needless to say... no snake... it was an ant hill. And I wonder why the "clean" carpet water is still so nasty :)

I also did the couch, love seat, and rocker. I used a different method on them though. More on that soon.

Green Spring Clean

I am READY for spring! I want my windows open all day and night. I wanna see flowers and SUN! I want my house clean ...any volunteers? ;) I am excited to try out a few homemade green cleaners though. That makes it a bit less painful.

I posted a few months ago about a laundry detergent I planned to try out. I thought that now would be a great time to repost it and a few other homemade cleaning solutions as I prepare to Spring Clean the house this year.

THE DETERGENT
I have never been so excited to run out of laundry detergent OR to do laundry before in my life! :)

In my quest of being an even bigger cheapskate and wanting to try to go a bit "greener" I decided to make my own laundry soap. Although I am in love with Gain and obsessed with OxyClean, I really like to save money. It really wasn't difficult to find the ingredients and I live in a small town.

Ignore the castille soap and the Ivory and mentally add baking soda to this pic... :)

The recipe I used:
3 cups Borax
2 cups baking soda
2 cups washing soda
2 cups grated bar soap

Mix it all together and store in a sealed tub. I used the Gain box I just emptied. Not exactly "sealed" but it gets the job done.

This recipe is actually the original one cut into fourths. I didn't want to make such a huge batch on my first go 'round. Since then, I make enough to fill my Gain box at once. Just multiply the above recipe by 4.

You only use 1/8 cup per load. That is only 4 tablespoons! And it is CHEAP to make. One source I saw said that it can be as cheap as $1.11 for 110 LOADS!

Doesn't it look like food with cheese on top?

This was before I poured it into the Gain box and mixed it up.

Grating the soap wasn't exactly fun, but it wasn't difficult. I could probably have cut it into chunks and put it into my food processor, but Mom didn't answer her phone and I didn't want to do it without asking her first. (She's used to answering the phone to a "Mom, can I..." or "Mom, how do I...." But, I think it is usually more like "Mom, will you....." :))

We have a front load HE washing machine that we bought in April, so I was a little weary. However, all my research says that the most important thing for HE machines is low sud and that's what this is.

I was also afraid that it wouldn't have a "clean" smell. (see above mention of  my love for Gain) But, it smells good and isn't overpowering. It is when you make it, but that fades.

We've been using this for 3 or 4 months and love it. I won't ever buy detergent again! It even gets Dustin's dirty, grimy clothes clean.

DISHWASHER DETERGENT
This is even easier than the laundry soap. I have two recipes.....

Recipe 1:

1 cup Borax

1 cup washing soda

Recipe 2:

1 cup Borax

1 cup baking soda

Since I have all three ingredients, I made a combo. I only used 1/2 cup Borax, 1/2 cup washing soda, and threw in some baking soda for good measure.

I mixed it up, put the lid on it, and shook it up. My Borax is getting a little clumpy, so I mixed it all up with a fork so I could sift through it and mash the clumps. I store it in a canning jar with a screw on lid. It is perfect.

I won't "wash my dishes before I wash my dishes". But, I do give them a quick rinse to get the majority of the food off of them.

**My mom tried this and her water was too hard for it to work. One solution is to add vinegar in the rinse aid compartment. That still didn't work well enough for her, though. You might want to make a small batch to test it out first if you know you have hard water.**

I also have been using a great Dawn/vinegar/water recipe to clean EVERYTHING. It works really well! I clean the bathroom and kitchen both with this stuff. One of our friends told me it kills ants pretty well too! :)

Lemme know how they work for you. And, if you come across any other green cleaning recipes, send them my way. I still need to test out a toilet bowl cleaner and a window cleaner that I haven't made yet :) I have also tried out a homemade natural drain cleaner that I need to add... it worked GREAT! The 9 year old in me loved it!

For more great ideas, check out

Dusting/fabric softener/rinse aid solutions

Where have I been, you ask?

Well, I have not been on..oh, shoot... what are they called....

va.....

you know...

when you leave your house/town/state and go lay on a beach for a week and read trashy novels?

Oh, that's right.. vacation. No, I haven't been on vacation (in like 4 years actually).

I have been busy. I've been on the couch most of the time it seems with back aches (yeah, I know... I'm 27 and have pretty intense back pain from time to time--it is a long story.. with a video, actually, of me falling 8 feet or so onto the gym floor with my lower back/left hip catching my fall. I was in high school and a *cough* cheerleader. Then, later that year I had a walking cast on my foot throwing my back/hip even more out of alignment... unrelated injuries and I promise that I'm not accident prone. 15 was a rough year :) ).

When I wasn't on the couch, I was at my desk grading or at my desk doing homework. Today, I had the wonderful pleasure of starting (and completing, thankyouverymuch) a 17 page research paper. Luckily, I L-O-V-E to research. Too bad it wasn't blog research... that is way more fun than the ineffectiveness of administrative observations in the classroom and suggestions for better alternatives. But, I submitted the last assignment in the first course of my doctorate program!! Too bad it isn't the first assignment in my last class... oh well....that post is about 2.5+ years away.

But, I have been collecting a massive amount of homemade cleaner recipes over the past few weeks. I write this guiltily after I just shampooed the bonus room/office/room above the garage (we can't decide what this room is called) with commercial "deep cleaning" shampoo by Hoover. oops. But, hey, it needed to be done and I already owned the bottle of it. My goal is to use up just about all of the cleaners that I have and replace them with homemade ones as I go. I'm a bit impatient though, so some of them may get the boot a little bit sooner.

But, in the meantime, here are a few quick and easy solutions that I've recently discovered....

Dusting- use a dryer sheet. That's all... no cleaner.. just a dryer sheet.

Fabric softener- (I guess this is because you're now using your dryer sheets for dusting cloths....harhar) put some vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser.

Rinse aid in the dishwasher-- you guessed, my new BFF vinegar.

I promise to be back with more recipes soon. I need to organize them a bit. And, I have a few projects around here that need to be painted/glazed/glued/finished.

Homemade laundry soap

I have never been so excited to run out of laundry detergent OR to do laundry before in my life! :)

Cross your fingers... I'm using my first batch of homemade laundry detergent as I type. In my quest of being an even bigger cheapskate and wanting to try to go a bit "greener" I decided to make my own. Although I am in love with Gain and obsessed with OxyClean, I have high hopes for my detergent. It really wasn't difficult to find the ingredients and the hardest part was not tripping over Ellie who seemed to be greatly worried at my stint of being homemaker-ish!

The ingredients (minus the baking soda because I forgot about it until I was mixing it up)

And, because I went to the store without my list, I bought the wrong kind of castille soap. That will be going back. I only needed the Fels-Naptha OR the Ivory, but I already had the Ivory and was surprised I found Fels-Naptha in town so I bought it too... we can always use the ivory in the shower.  

The recipe I used:
3 cups Borax
2 cups baking soda
2 cups washing soda
2 cups grated bar soap
Mix it all together and store in a sealed tub. I used the Gain box I just emptied. Not exactly "sealed" but it will get the job done.
You only use 1/8 cup per load. I looked it up online and it is only 4 tablespoons per full load. I actually cut the recipe I was following into fourths. I didn't want to make such a huge batch on my first go 'round.

Doesn't it look like food with cheese on top?

This was before I poured it into the Gain box and mixed it up.

Grating the soap wasn't exactly fun, but it wasn't difficult. I could probably have cut it into chunks and put it into my food processor, but Mom didn't answer her phone and I didn't want to do it without asking her first. (She's used to answering the phone to a "Mom, can I..." or "Mom, how do I...." or something similar.... a lot of times I think it is more like "Mom, will you....." :))

We have a front load HE washing machine that we bought in April, so I was a little weary. However, all my research says that the most important thing for HE machines is low sud and that's what this is supposed to be.

I was also afraid that it wouldn't have a "clean" smell. (see above mention of  my love for Gain) Fear not-- my entire house smells like the detergent I just made. It just smells clean. It is overpowering in the kitchen, but it starting to fade as the dust settles. --it was a bit of a dusty experience.

And, although this isn't the exact recipe I followed (mine had a bit more in it) I just discovered this cost saving breakdown...

I copied and pasted this from another site (http://www.tidbitsandstuff.com/household-tips/laundry/142-homemade-laundry-detergent) I'm going to try the recipe on their site next.

In May of 2007, in the Northeastern region of the United States, the recipe cost as follows:

• 20 Mule Team Borax: $2.50 for 70 oz.
  Cost per batch: .28 (8 oz needed for recipe)
• Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda: $2.50 for 55 oz.
  Cost per batch .18.(4 oz needed for recipe)
• Ivory Soap: $.99 for 3 3.1 oz. Bars.
  Cost per batch: .33 (1 bar of soap needed for recipe)

Cost to make: .79
Yield: 442 oz.
Cost per oz. = .00178
Cost per ½ cup = .007 or rounded to .01 cent per load
The cost to wash 110.5 loads is $1.11. How does that compare to your store-bought detergent?


I feel like I have a whole lot more than $1.11 invested in my first batch/110.5 loads, but this is the trial run! Laundry detergent is SO expensive. I'm happy that I'm finally out of Gain and can start experimenting! I might save the type with the Fels-Naptha for Dustin's work clothes, which tend to be a bit dirtier, and try out the other site's recipe for our everyday type of laundry.

I'll let you know how the sheets in the washer turn out.....

Green Clean- Vinegar and Dawn

I'm trying to make the move to using only natural cleaners. This decision has a few factors behind it.

1. I'm cheap. I love to save money and hate spending it... or at least on things like cleaners....
2. We try to be environmentally friendly around here when we can.
3. I read bizarre things like dishwasher detergent releases formaldehyde into the air every time the dishwasher runs. I don't know the truth to these things, but I think about this EVERY single time I start the dishwasher. -unfortunately I'm too good of a bargain shopper at times so I currently am trying to get through 2 bottles of formaldehyde-releasing detergent so I can try out some homemade stuff! I already bought them... I have to use them...:)

So far, I haven't done all that much "green cleaning". I'm trying to get through all the cleaners I have now before I really start to hit it hard. So, this is my warm-up.

Things you need:
a spray bottle
vinegar
Dawn
water
rag

I filled the spray bottle 1/4 of the way up with vinegar, added a few "squirts" of Dawn, and filled up the rest with water.
My mom uses this on her glass shower door and shower stall. It is always sparkly clean. Our tub wasn't so "sparkly" and was actually just embarassing. Note the lack of before photos.... I sprayed down our tub, the tile surround, and the faucet and let it set for about 10 minutes. Yes, it stunk like vinegar, but that only lasted until I was done. When it dried the smell was gone. Then, I went in with the rag and just wiped the tub and surround down. Soap scum, dirt from work, grease, general nastiness all wiped off with one swipe. And I didn't have to scrub- I really just wiped it. Then, I turned on the shower for a rinse and voila! I had a spotless tub. I hadn't used bleach cleaners, so I wasn't nervous about chemicals mixing and producing a poisonous gas. (I have an unnatural fear of this in reality! I think Mom must have scared me about this as a child or something.....)

I had about half the bottle left. Later that day we went on a kitchen cleaning spree. Dustin is a pro at kitchen cleaning. I convinced him to try out my cleaner in the oven. (by the way... Thanksgiving was here last year and we hadn't cleaned the oven since--- well, since we moved in three years ago, I don't think.. (yikes! maybe I should keep a few things to myself!ha!) He sprayed away and let it set. Then he ran the "clean cycle" On the oven and a few hours later, it was spotless. (I'm not sure how much the cleaner helped... but I like to think it did......)

I make no promises. But, I in my brief green cleaning spree, I have found luck with vinegar! I also haven't done much research on it, but I wouldn't use it on things like wood and other finished. I've only used it on things like ceramic tile, whatever my tub is made of--fiberglass, maybe??, and the metal faucets. I'd test it on a spot if you are nervous.

Another vinegar use..... about once a week or so we just have a load of glasses fresh from the dishwasher with gunk in them. This REALLY grosses me out (gagging, Dustin has to talk me down from the ledge kind of gross me out.. what if I drank from it without noticing until I was done! UGH...been there, done that..). No matter how much we handwash and rerun them through the dishwasher, the gunk is set. This past time, I put a splash of vinegar in each glass and filled them up with water. I let them set for the afternoon and stuck them in the DW that night. You guessed it... gunk be gone when they were done!

Coming soon-- home made toilet bowl cleaner, home made laundry detergent, and the third annual Spa Day that all the girls in my mom's family get together for. All homemade spa treatments. This year it is here and on Halloween so we have a spooky theme. I'll post those recipes once I know what they are.

PS- The kitchen back splash got a coat of primer this morning!