Frugal Ideas and Household Hints

[mary1]

Oh and I DID the beer rinse and the dry, brittle ends of my hair (which I was planning to trim) seem to be back to normal! I really didn't expect that!

 

[Joe]

Does anyone make their own cleaning products? I've heard vinegar can be used as a 50:50 mix with water as an all purpose cleaner, and can be used to unblock drains...with baking soda or powder or something like that? xxx

I went to a talk tonight about making your own, non-toxic cleaning products. The speaker said they were usually cheaper than the commercial products they replace. She was going to e-mail us the "recipes." When I get them, I'll post them here.

Yes, I think you can unblock many drains by pouring baking soda down the drain then using vinegar as a "chaser."

 

[ledboots]

Yes, pour baking soda down the drain, then pour some vinegar in and immediately cover up the drain hole. The baking soda and vinegar foam and bubble madly, so when you cover up the drain, the reaction happens down where the slow drain was.

 

[thefadedone]

Anyone have tips on how to get pet odors out of furniture? My dog gets stinky, especially after being outside so everything I own tends to smell of stinky wet dog. I've tried spraying down the couch, throw pillows, chairs, etc . with essential oils, frequently washing things, and yet I still can't get the odors out.

 

[mary1]

Anyone have tips on how to get pet odors out of furniture? My dog gets stinky, especially after being outside so everything I own tends to smell of stinky wet dog. I've tried spraying down the couch, throw pillows, chairs, etc . with essential oils, frequently washing things, and yet I still can't get the odors out.

For anything to do with removing odors, I usually cover the thing in baking soda and leave it for half a day. Then vacuum it all up. Afterwards, I might do a spray of lemon and grapefruit essential oil mixed with water and alcohol.

 

[thefadedone]

Thanks Mary! I will give the baking soda idea a shot.

 

[mary1]

Thanks Mary! I will give the baking soda idea a shot.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Joe]

Finally got a reply from the green cleaning products lady.

Here it is:

Hello Everyone,
Thank you for coming out on Tuesday evening and for inviting me to speak to the Interfaith Earth Care Network.
I really enjoyed meeting all of you and hope that you feel that you got something out of the discussion.
Here is the information that I promised to send to you.
There's a lot of information out there, which can be overwhelming and sometimes misleading.
My suggestion is to proceed with caution and be a questioning consumer when it comes to purchasing pre-packed cleaning solutions.
The best way to know what's in your cleaning products is to make them yourself. I haven't tried out all of these recipes, but here are a few resources that I have found useful.
Links to recipes for homemade non-toxic cleaning solutions:
http://www.mnn.com/health/healthy-spaces/stories/10-totally-nontoxic-deep-cleaning-recipes
http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm
Someone asked me about a dishwashing detergent. I did some research and found this one: http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blo...-dishwasher-detergent-with-secret-ingredient/.
I haven't tried it yet, but I think I will.
I did read about some concerns about using Borax. From what I read, there isn't any concrete information on it and I guess you can find naysayers about any type of product. So, like I said it is trial an error. Try out some of these homemade cleaning solutions and see what works for you.
Please feel free to email any questions.
Happy Spring Cleaning Everyone!
Thank you,
Tara

 

[Spidergrrl]

you can't buy borax anymore here (that i can find) but they sell borax substitute (what it says on the box) that works the same as borax but is not mined the same way.

 

[Joe]

Here's an attachment to Tara's e-mail that I was unable to post yesterday:

 

[Joe]

Spidergrrl wrote:

you can't buy borax anymore here (that i can find) but they sell borax substitute (what it says on the box) that works the same as borax but is not mined the same way.

That's interesting, in part because whatever the controversy is about the mining, it apparently has not reached public consciousness here in the U.S.

 

[Amy SF]

I found this site bookmarked. http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/

 

[KLS52]

This is my jar of white vinegar and orange peels. Supposedly in two weeks I will have an orange scented potion with which to clean. You just mix it with some water and put it in a spray bottle. It's been four days and it already smells orange-y and not too vinegar-y.

 

[ledboots]

This is my jar of white vinegar and orange peels. Supposedly in two weeks I will have an orange scented potion with which to clean. You just mix it with some water and put it in a spray bottle. It's been four days and it already smells orange-y and not too vinegar-y.

View attachment 2222

What a great idea! Ants and other bugs are deterred by orange peel, too.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I found this site bookmarked. http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/

I'm going to try using vinegar to kill the weeds in the paving in my garden.

 

[ledboots]

I'm going to try using vinegar to kill the weeds in the paving in my garden.

I use it and it works as long as I get the weeds when they are little.

 

[Amy SF]

I'm going to try using vinegar to kill the weeds in the paving in my garden.

I use it and it works as long as I get the weeds when they are little.

Murderer! Killing poor 'lil baby weeds!

 

[mary1]

oo I want to try the orange peel vinegar thing!

 

[Spidergrrl]

I'm doing the orange vinegar thing--love it! I've got 4 days to go and it will have been brewing for 2 weeks. i keep smelling it. it smells like sunchine in a bottle and the vinegar is hardly noticible.

I found a recipe for making your own fabric softener--6 parts water, 3 parts vinegar, 2 parts hair condtioner. We have very hard water and no tumble drier and everything is a bit crispy. I found some cheap cruelty free superdrug conditioner that is citrus and I'm going to use the orange vinegar and make it next week.

 

[KLS52]

I'm doing the orange vinegar thing--love it! I've got 4 days to go and it will have been brewing for 2 weeks. i keep smelling it. it smells like sunchine in a bottle and the vinegar is hardly noticible.

Mine is done brewing. I've been using it daily. I'm way too excited over this but I love that I actually made something myself, however simple it may have been. I am usually very poor at following through on stuff I say I am going to do.