I am a big fan of making things from scratch. Bread, tortillas, cakes, biscuits, I love to make them instead of buying them. Another thing I like to make myself is cleaning products. I have a few reasons for this;
- I hate the idea of all those chemicals if not for the environment for what they must do to us using them
- I love saving money and hate forking out for anything unnecessary
- It’s just a little bit satisfying being able to make your own (no matter what it is)
These are just a few of the concoctions I use in my home.
For cleaning jewelry
- piece of aluminum foil
- boiling water
- bicarbonate of soda
- salt
Jewelry cleaner
Fold up the piece of alfoil and put it in the bottom of a heat-proof bowl. Sprinkle some salt and bi-carb on the bottom then place your jewelry in the bowl. Sprinkle with bicarb and salt again.
Home made jewelry cleaner
Pour the boiling water over the top until it covers the jewelry. I jiggle my jewelry around with a fork to loosen any dirt etc then leave it to sit for a while. Remove the jewelry from the bowl and rinse under cold water (with the plug in so you don’t lose anything!).
Before
After
See how sparkly it is!
Removing labels from jars
- eucalyptus oil
- cotton wool
- boiling water
Ready to clean
Removing labels from jars can be a very long and tedious process involving hours of soaking but not with this method. Fill the jars with boiling water and leave them for 5-10 minutes.
The key ingredient
Peel off the large pieces of label that are remaining (they’ll come off easily) then using a cotton wool ball dipped in eucalyptus oil, rub the sticky parts until the glue has dissolved.
Done
Rinse the jars and voila, no more sticky labels.
Easy air freshener
- lavender oil
- water
- a spray bottle
Fill a spray bottle with water and add a few drops of lavender oil. Spray wherever you like.
All-purpose cleaner
- white vinegar
- water
- eucalyptus oil
- spray bottle
Add a few drops of eucalyptus oil to a spray bottle, half fill with white vinegar then fill the rest with water. Shake it up and use it to clean kitchens, bathrooms, toilets – any surface that needs cleaning or disinfecting. If you need a little extra cleaning power, sprinkle some bi-carb soda then spray with the cleaner. It will fizz up for extra cleaning strength.
Those are my most-used household cleaning tips. Some of them I made up, some I heard from others and the last one I found on Simple Savings. White vinegar can also be used in place of fabric softener and as a disinfectant. I also use eucalyptus oil in my mop bucket to disinfect (and make the room smell fresh).
Do you have any cleaning tips you use at home?
I am Claire & I love food. Here you'll find my favourite recipes, tips, tricks, restaurants & plates full of frivolity with the odd crafty post. New inspiration posted daily.
I’m a huge fan of natural cleaning products as I’m quite allergic to many of the ones in supermarkets. They’re so harsh!
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Oh Claire, Your great Grandma would be soooo proud of your ability to use natural products and not waste money!
Mum xx
Well that’s where I must get it from! x
Thanks very useful post. I would definitely suggest the blog to my cousin that is obsessed in green eco-friendly cleaning. She even asked the Camden cleaning company that cleans up at her workplace to use green cleaning products.
That’s great Gavin. Tell her to get in touch if she has any questions.
Great ideas. I always forget there are simple solutions to this type of problems.
Yes it’s easy to fall into the trap of going for the convenient solution rather than looking at what you can do with what you already have.
I’m loving this post as my husband and I were just talking about how we need to learn how to do this!
If you have any other questions let me know. I’ve experimented with quite a few homemade cleaning products.
Thank you so much for the natural jewellery cleaner, works a treat! Also cheaper and saved me having to buy the cleaners from the jewellery store which was not in my budget this week. Thank you!
I’m so glad I could help Bauntai. I couldn’t believe how well it worked the first time I tried it.
This is what I always use and it comes out perfect http://howtohacklife101.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-clean-your-jewellery.html I use the one with the shampoo
Thanks Jessica I’ll check it out.
Great to hear Greenclean products are getting the attention they deserve! I use white vinegar and 1/2 water mix with a few drops of eucalyptus on shower screens, it removes built up soap scum and the screens come up shiny. It leaves a lovely fresh smell too, alot of people don’t realize that the vinegar ‘smell’ dissapears when it dries, leaving a natural clean smell, instead of the awful and dangerous aroma of ammonia and chlorine, that is still widely used by so many today.