Are you frugal when it comes to cleaners?

[crabtree122202]

So I have tons of cleaners in my stockpile so I am good for awhile to come. But several friends never by the traditional cleaners, they just use household items to clean things.

Anyone know what you can use and for what?

[motherofmolly]

baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and even salt are great to clean with. i use baking soda to keep the "funk" out of the dog kennel in the summer (sprinkle it around the fence area as that is where they lift their legs), vinegar for removing urine or other hard smells in clothes, and a lemon in your garbage disposal
they are books out that you can purchase that list many uses for each. my mom got me the baking soda book and i purchased the salt book

Vinegar, Baking Soda, and Lemons

salt
Over 60 Ways to Use Salt: Around the House | Household Item Uses | Reader's Digest

lemon juice
Uses Of Lemon Juice For Cleaning And Stain Removal

salt is used as an abrasive to help clean. lemon juice on hard sink stains and then sprikle salt on them...then give it just a few minutes and scrub with a scrub brush (or old toothbrush).

i use vinegar and salt (boiled together) to kill weeds

[nrpeace17]

white vinegar makes a wonderful glass cleaner, it doesn't leave streaks.

[Smee]

I use a lot of vinegar, baking soda, and salt for scrubbing. I also make my own laundry detergent just because I like it better, and unless I get it free, I don't find better deals on commercial laundry detergent. It's just washing soda, borax and a bar of soap-- usually Fels Naptha laundry bar, but I have also used plain Ivory soap or even homemade bar soap. I only use about a tablespoon per load of laundry, more if it's something gross. I add a cup of vinegar to the rinse instead of fabric softener.

I also use that detergent for scouring jobs like bathroom fixtures, kind of like one would use Comet.

I do buy some (and prefer) homemade soap, but I have plans (on my growing list of things to do) to try making my own basic soap. I'm not interested yet in trying to make the fancy-pants soaps like I buy from a fancy-pants soap maker.

I use salt and cooking oil for scrubbing out my cast iron.

My husband has partial dentures, and he uses a mix of vinegar and baking soda for soaking them instead of commercial cleaners. It's the same fizzy action.

I agree that vinegar makes about the best glass cleaner. We use crumpled old newspapers for that as well instead of paper towels or rags. Vinegar is also IMO the absolute best thing for removing urine, and with an old incontinent dog, we're grateful for that.

I often use plain alcohol for sanitizing instead of stuff like Lysol, though I confess to occasionally using Lysol if company is here and I'm needing to sanitize a surface, really just to make them feel better about it.

I have made (and prefer) my own and my dogs' shampoo out of vinegar, glycerin, Ivory liquid and water. I still have soooo much commercial shampoo, though, even after giving a lot of it away, so I do still use it. I just don't tend to continue stocking it as the deals come around.

One of the first things it seems I was able to really stock up on when I started couponing was cleaning (and HBA) stuff, and I still have a lot of it and use it occasionally, but even if it's free, I don't buy it much anymore. I prefer simpler stuff when I can use it for a variety of reasons, one being that I seem to be becoming increasingly sensitive to a lot of strongly scented products, another because we have a lot of pets with various health issues, and I try to reduce their chemical exposure as well.

[mzbeers]

I add white vinegar along with Jet-Dry in my dishwasher, I also use white vinegar mixed in with fabric softener in all my loads of laundry. It makes the other product last longer, and I think makes the dishes sparkle more, and the laundry smells better!

I also mix it in with window cleaner. Works great!

[Thrifty Bee]

I discovered microfiber this year and I love it, I hardly use any chemical cleaners now. I use cloths for most of my cleaning and designate different colors for different rooms.

I clean the shower/tub, sink and outside of the toilet usually with no cleaners at all. If I end up with something in the shower that the microfiber cloth can’t handle on it’s own and I use baking soda I’m recycling form the fridge and lemon juice or vinegar. I do use cheap Lysol from Meijer or bleach inside the toilet, and I use whatever spray disinfectant I have in my stockpile on the toilet seat and handle. If I don’t have any spray disinfectant on hand I use a solution of 70% alcohol and 30% water in a small spray bottle set on mist, I also use this on other things like doorknobs, phones and such.

I use microfiber cloths and a spray bottle of plain water set on mist for mirrors, windows, and LCD screens. I mist the mirror and windows themselves but only slightly mist the cloth before cleaning LCD screens. If the outside of my windows are too dirty for just microfiber and water I add just a drop or two of dish detergent to my spray bottle and use my DH’s windshield squeegee that has a scrubber sponge on it.

In the kitchen I use microfiber sponges for dishes and one squirt of foaming dish liquid that I make up myself with regular dish detergent and water. When I choose to use the full sink of water method for doing dishes I use a microfiber cloth and only one teaspoon of detergent. For my counters, stove, fridge, microwave and such I use microfiber, with very little or no cleaner. I pour recycled baking soda from the fridge or freezer in the garbage disposal and then poor just enough lemon juice in on top of it to make it fizz really good but not rinse it down; I let it set for as long a I can before rinsing it down.

For the floor I use, you guessed it, a microfiber mop. I usually only use water and my floors come really clean. But my mop came with an extra solution bottle that I keep Lysol and water in just in case.

For dusting I also use microfiber. I have shredded microfiber dusters that look like the shredded plastic dusters that you run across a TV to build up static. These don’t need to build up static and they don’t melt when they touch a hot light bulb. I have one on an extension pole so I can reach really high and low. When a feather type duster isn’t enough I use a microfiber cloth. I don’t use any chemicals when dusting only a slight mist of water when I really need to.

All of my microfiber is machine washable except the dusters, they have to be washed by hand. I wash and reuse my cloths, sponges, and mop pads over and over. I use the microfiber cloths for all cleaning projects not mentioned above unless it’s extremely gross. I’ve been using the same roll of paper towels for over five months.

[couponfanatic]

I only get store-bought household cleaners when they're free now. I normally use:
Vinegar for glass, chrome and vitreous china.
Ammonia and water for most all other surfaces.
Ammonia sems to work better than vinegar on plastics.
My kitchen counter does better with Ammonia (1970s formica), but my bathroom counter likes vinegar better (3 yr old formica). So it does vary surface to surface.
But give me vinegar, ammonia, and some bleach for tough stains (no - never mix them) and I'd never need anything else.
I haven't found anything yet that ammonia or vinegar wrecks.
For cleaning floors I refill my swiffer wet jet myself and use the Orange Glo floor cleaning pads that can be washed instead of the disposable ones (a tip I got from here) the pads fit perfectly.

[crabtree122202]

You guys are all awesome, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the tips and cleaning ideas!

[scissorbill]

Has anyone tried the 1 Tbsp borax and 1 Tbsp baking soda for automatic dishwasher detergent? I don't have borax and I'd like a review before buying it for this purpose. Thanks.

[uncommon]

We use diluted ammonia in the Swiffer Wet Jet and it works great.

I do buy "traditional" commercial cleaning products but I usually do so at Dollar Tree to keep costs down.