Your Grandma's Way to Clean

Well, it may be obvious to some, but not all, and wasn't to me.

I'm talking about using the typical household ingredients for typical household cleaning.

I was born into and have been raised in the era of "bigger is better". What that has equated to is the prettier smelling cleaners, the "strongest fighting" cleaners. Well life lesson Camille; bigger is not always better. Here's how I came to my realization, and I'll share my new tried and true recipes!

My littlest one has had breathing issues since the day of birth. With out going into the nitty gritty of details, we were so desperate, we were beginning to evaluate every little detail in his environment to try to stop the wheezing, coughing and swollen eyes. As I began to do research on environmental factors that could cause asthma like symptoms in children, I read over and over again about how sensitive children with breathing problems are to household cleaners. "Aha!" I thought. "That's it, I need to stop using all these chemicals all over my house!". I went a little overboard, I'll admit. I tossed all products we had under the sink before even finding replacements that I knew worked. But, in my defense I was a worried mama bear trying to protect her baby. With no cleaning products and a dirty house I was on a quick fix mission to find cleaning recipes that were non-toxic, safe, and effective. I'll admit, not all of them worked. But here's the ones that I now use every day in my house that work great!

Hand Soap
• 6 ounces water
• 1 Tsp – Tablespoon Lavender Castille Soap (you can adjust this amount to how much soapiness you prefer)
• 8-10 drops of sweet orange essential oil (I haven’t added this, just because I don’t have it)
• Shake gently, the end. (You’ll want to give the bottle a brief shake before each use to remix the oils evenly… nothing crazy just a one, two shake will do it)


Nontoxic floor cleaner
one cup white distilled vinegar per gallon of hot water. For extra strength, use ½ cup borax (like vinegar, a natural disinfectant) and 2 gallons of water, plus 1/4 cup of any liquid soap.


Fabric Softener
½ cup white vinegar to load of laundry. May take several loads to build up softness.


No-Streak Glass Cleaner (This was the MOST impressive recipe I found, it works so well!)
For sparkling mirrors and windows, combine 1/4 cup undiluted white vinegar, 1 tbsp cornstarch, and 1 quart warm water. Mix in spray bottle. You can re-use until it's all gone. For a lint-free shine, wipe dry with a sheet of crumpled newspaper or a coffee filter.


Tile and Grout Paste
1 cup water and 3 cups baking soda mixed into a paste works great for cleaning tile and grout. Use a toothbrush to scrub the paste into grout.

So, there was some planning ahead that I had to do for this. For the home made hand soap I bought Dial foaming soap to use up so I could use the soap dispenser over again. You could buy foam dispensers from Amazon or something (but I didn't know what kind of plastics they were so decided against it). And, for the spray bottles it actually took me 2 tries. First I bought the $1.00 special spray bottles from Target. Sounds great right? Well, then when I got home I saw it wasn't labeled with a recycling number which meant anything could be leeching from that plastic. My conscious got the best of me and I went to McDaniels and replaced it with #2 recyclable plastic bottles that I knew wouldn't leech bad toxins into my product. Read here about how to know what are good and bad plastics to buy.

Here's some other notes on the use of household items that can be used for cleaning. Yes, I researched this and typed it up. Don't laugh at me, I'm a dork and I admit it.

Natural Cleaning Product Tips:

• Baking Soda. The cleaning powers of baking soda reach far beyond it’s role as a fridge deodorizer…

Baking soda works as a non-abrasive scouring cleaner on countertops and ovens, and in bathtubs and sinks. It also rids clothes of perspiration odors when used in conjunction with laundry detergent in the washer.
o The next time you do laundry, try adding 1/2 cup to a cup to your load.
o Before you vacuum, sprinkle it on your carpet as a deodorizer.
• Washing Soda. Also known as sodium carbonate, washing soda is a caustic cleaner that is far safer than other solvents. Wearing gloves when you use it, however, is still recommended.
o Washing soda is great at cutting grease, getting wax or lipstick out of clothing, and neutralizing odors.
• Lemon Juice. The acid in lemon juice neutralizes hard water deposits, dissolves buildup and dirt on wood, and tarnish on silver.
o White vinegar can be used in place of lemon juice. The infamous strong smell dissipates as the vinegar dries.
• Antifungals/Disinfectants. Grapefruit seed extract and essential oils such as lavender, clove, and tea tree oil have antiseptic properties and operate as natural fungicides.
o To keep mold at bay, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of essential oil to 2 cups of water in a spray bottle, or 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract to 1 quart of water.

Remember my hand made laundry detergent? It uses some of these ingredients and after about 9 months of using it, still works like a charm and is easy on the wallet! ALL of these are easy on the wallet.

I will admit, I do still have clorox wipes in the house. We use them for sanitizing the bathroom, doorknobs, and stuff like that that is just touched a lot. I like using wipes in general, so use Seventh Generation wipes around the house alot, which I love.

Maybe some of you will read this and say, "duh, I already knew that". Maybe some of you won't. I just hope someone else has an aha moment like me. I'm sure my grandma would just say, "duh!" cuz this was how it was done back then when things were just a bit simpler.