All Purpose Cleaning Solution
About 5 years ago I started paying more attention to what went into my body. Not just food, but also chemicals found in body care products and cleaning products. I tried to consume less paper and make what I could at home, with ingredients I could pronounce.I’ll save my body care products for another post. But today I want to share with you a recipe for an all-purpose cleaning solution that is completely safe and non-toxic.I originally found it in a book called fix it, make it, grow it, bake it by Billie Sharp.
I have these ingredients on-hand at all times, but you may need to order some before you can make it (I order everything from Amazon, but I’m sure you could find these locally).
- Liquid Castile soap (I used organic)
- Borax (you can use baking soda… but some people are sensitive to it)
- Essential oils (I used lemon)
- A glass spray bottle
Now, to be honest, I’ve had this on my to-do list for a week. Usually things sit on my to-do list when I decide they are going to take me too long. I generally have an hour or two in the middle of my day when I come home for lunch and to walk Gus. I don’t want to tackle any to-do’s that are going to take more than five minutes. For the record, this took about three. (This is one of my many, many to-do lists).
A few notes. I cut this recipe in half, since my spray bottle won’t fit a quart of water. I keep a few boxes of Borax around (you can tell this box has been around for a WHILE), but you can use baking soda, too. My skin is sensitive to baking soda, plus Borax is a lot cheaper. Oftentimes I use lavender essential oil, but today I used lemon. Citrus smells clean to me.
I put 10oz. of warm water in a glass bowl. I added ½ tablespoon of liquid castle soap and ½ tablespoon of Borax. Borax can get clumps over time, so I used a whisk to break them up. I added a couple drops of lemon essential oils and poured it into my spray bottle.
**I don’t use paper towels in my house. The rags shown here are a cut-up old cotton bed sheet that I originally used for homemade dryer sheets. The dryer sheets were a bust, but they are the perfect paper towel replacement.
