Home Ec Lesson - Natural Cleaners

One of our recent Home Ec lessons was the safe use of household cleaners. We also discussed the traditional uses of natural cleaners and then Miss Abigail made an all-purpose spray cleaner and a soft scrub cleanser to put in her fancy cleaning tote.

Here is the recipe for both of these.  First, the All-Purpose Cleaner:

Put 1 teaspoon borax into a spray bottle.

Add 1/4 teaspoon vegetable-oil-based liquid soap.

Add 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice.

Add 2 cups very hot tap water. Gently shake to combine all the ingredients. The minerals should be dissolved completely. Spray onto the surface needing to be cleaned. Scrub and wipe off with a soft rag.

Plain baking soda has long been used as a gentle scouring scrub.  Just for fun, we mixed up a Disinfectant Soft Scrub:

Measure 1 cup baking soda with enough vegetable-oil-based liquid soap to make a soft paste. Add 1/4 teaspoon Australian Tea Tree Oil (this adds the disinfecting quality) and 1 teaspoon glycerin (this keeps the mixture soft.) Blend everything well.

Place this mixture into a small squeeze-able bottle. We used an old dish soap container, but a mustard bottle would also be about the right size. Wet the surface to be cleaned and squeeze the product onto the surface. Scrub with a cloth or sponge, then rinse well. Because of the liquid soap, you may need to rinse and rinse! ;o)

Abigail filled a small glass jar with a half and half mixture of baking soda and borax to use as a dry cleanser. She also filled a spray bottle with vinegar, which boosts the cleaning action of the soda on hard water soap scum. Then she made pretty labels for everything.


Shared on Raising Homemakers Wednesday link-up.