Homemade Household Cleaners

This has happened over and over again, but I just kept putting off making a change because...change. I'm not a fan. I'm also not a fan of not being able to breathe in the same room room I'm cleaning. I've used numerous household cleaners and most of them overwhelm me and I end up hacking and leaving the room.

Finally, I figured it was time to search out some good homemade household cleaners that everyone could use, including me! As I looked through some of these ideas, I was surprised at how many different home and personal DIYs it's possible to make! Things I actually wouldn't have considered.

Let's start with a disinfecting spray. Mama's Instinct has a DIY Natural All-Purpose Disinfecting Spray that's sure to get the job done! Looks like for homemade cleaning products I'll have to invest in some good glass bottles. I'm a fan of anything lemon so of course this one grabbed my attention!

Next we head over to Miss Information for a couple of ideas. My bestie has been making her own laundry detergent for years, but I've been too lazy to jump on that bandwagon, but I have taken dryer sheets 99% of the time out of our laundry routine with my dryer balls. Miss Information's other cleaner is a powdered cleanser to help get your home clean! Both have piqued my interest!

First let's start with the laundry detergent. This Homemade Laundry Detergent will also benefit my family because of my hubby's allergies.

Next is her All Natural DIY Powdered Cleanser. We can get some tough stains around here and I'm thinking this powder would come in very handy!

If you've got a Swiffer type mop at home, you'll love these reusable mop pads along with a homemade solution to get those floors clean. Aileen Cooks will help you with some great natural cleaning ideas! Start off with her Homemade Reuasble "Swiffer" Mop Pads.

With the grout I have in my bathroom, I've been needing a cleaner that didn't seem like it was going to kill me while I was using it by inhaling the fumes. I think a good place to start would be with Aileen Cooks' Homemade Grout Cleaner. You can see a visible difference pretty much right away!

How about a list of homemade cleaners all in one spot? Wondering what to have on hand to make them? Living Well Spending Less has exactly what you need for cleaning the entire house with her Green & Thrifty Cleaning Products. Man, she makes it all look so easy, and it is! I think those of us who haven't made the switch make it harder than it has to be.

Having been out in the garden over the past week + I've run into a ton of weeds. I should've been more vigilant during the winter since it was a mild one. As soon as I went to clean up my gardens, I realized I was fighting a battle against all kinds of weeds. Well, one homemade household cleaner I'm going to try for outside is Two Kids & A Coupon's Non-Toxic Weed Killer. I had no idea it could be so easy to make!

I don't know if I've ever smelled a worse chemical than oven cleaner. I mean, I don't want want the pets in the house let alone the people when we have to clean the oven. Gah! One of the worst tasks when cleaning the house. What's Up Fagans? has A Natural Solution for cleaning your oven you're going to want to give a try.

I'm going to be searching high and low for more DIY cleaning products, so if you've got one, please share it with me! I'm ready to toss all of the stuff that's under my sinks right now!

What is your favorite homemade cleaner?

Meguiar's Mirror Bright DIY Car Care Kit & Giveaway

Last November, before my oldest son even had his driver's license, he bought his first car! Some people who used to go to our church, but never knew were selling their 40th Anniversary Ford Mustang. We had been looking and test driving cars for months. I was glad to get away from a car lot and to an individual. Thankfully my son is babying his car, which is why I reached out to Meguiar's to see if they would partner with me.

One of my goals as a mom was to pass on my love of cars to my son, just like my dad passed on his love of cars on to me. For this kid to have a 2004 convertible as his first car, I feel like I've done my job! Teaching him to take care of his car with the right products was my next task.

The first step was being sent the Mirror Bright line of products. We received the 

• Automobile Shampoo: for all automobile finishes, including modern clear coats and is perfect for regular use on all car surfaces.
• Polishing Wax: that combines polishing and waxing into one, time-saving step to reveal maximum gloss, depth of color and mirror-like reflections. 
• Detailing Spray: a true multi-task product that gently cleans both exterior and interior automobile surfaces and finishes. 
• Wheel Cleaner: for safe application on all wheel and brake finishes including chrome, polished aluminum and painted.
• Leather Lotion: which cleans, conditions and protects leather in one simple step for a lasting soft and supple feel and low-sheen and UV protectant.
• Polishing Paste Wax: that cleans, polishes, and protects, removing light swirls and oxidation and providing the paint with lasting protection, all in one easy step.

The next step was waiting for a nice day out, my son not having a busy evening, and some shade.

Thankfully this week has proved to be simply gorgeous, but as we didn't want to wash his car in the full sun, we had to find that golden hour where it's still nice out, but the sun hasn't completely set. Our house faces the sun most of the day, which is usually a bonus!

I surprised my son with a DIY I did the day before. I had bought the pieces I needed to get it done last week so I'd be ready for a good evening to surprise him with it. I'll get to the DIY in a little bit. Of course he started out rinsing the car off. I hadn't realized it, but the pollen has been terrible the past week or so. That meant his car was covered in it since it hadn't been in the garage. Yikes!

He's in the process of learning how to get the car washed and waxed the right way. You know how it is when they're little and they just love helping mom and dad wash their car? Well, now he gets to do it the right way. While he washed and dried his car piece by piece, I went inside to work on some detailing.

That must've been the easiest job ever. Since he only recently got his license, it means he's only been driving his car on a very limited basis. That means his interior is pretty spotless. I didn't mind of course because it made my job easier. After I cleaned his dashboard and controls, I started with the Leather Lotion on his seats.

One of the things that I really loved about his car is how nearly mint everything is in it. The seats are leather and so far not cracked. The do have wrinkling, but no cracking. I'm hoping this Leather Lotion will keep that from happening. I was able to get one seat done, when I had to get out and help with the tires. He went back after he finished washing his car to take care of the rest of his seats.

 

I had no idea how nasty his rims were until I went to spray them with the cleaner. It's amazing what you see when you get close up. I went around and sprayed each rim as he was finishing up rinsing his car. I thought we had a tire brush, but apparently not. I went around just using the sponge he'd used to wash his car. The grime came off as soon as the sponge hit it. You can see the amazing difference!

It actually took a while to get the car washed and cleaned inside and out so today we're going to work on waxing today. I've never been a car waxer, and as I look back on it, when I lived in MN it probably would've extended the life of the finish of my car. Now, I know that there's a science to waxing, so this will be entertaining. I'm actually having him watch Meguiar's video on waxing a car so he knows when it's ready to be taken off. I'll probably have him watch some YouTube videos because if at all possible I want to avoid the swirling that can come with bad waxing.

My hubby and I went out to check out the moon later that night, and when we came back, his lights were shining on the back of my son's car. I'm pretty sure I've never seen a car look so sleek and smooth. 100% not joking. I was a little jealous. I think it's time we wash my car!

Because my son has a gorgeous white car (I'm not typically a fan of white cars) I wanted to be a little hokey and get crafty with his bucket and supply holder. I grabbed some spray paint and letter stickers because I haven't started the vinyl trend yet.

Supplies:

Bucket
Caddy
White spray paint
Black spray paint
Gloss clear spray paint
Letter stickers

So, I didn't do this because I don't always have my ideas all at the beginning of a project, even when I think I do. Because I wanted to match the Mirror Bright colors and my son's car, I decided to paint the bucket and caddy white. What I should've done was spray the black over the section that I was going to put the letters on. That way when I put the letters on and sprayed the white over them, when I pulled of the letters you would've seen black, not the color of the bucket.

I put the letters on the bucket first and sprayed the white over them. One tip I have with the letters is to remove them before the paint dries. Allow it to dry some, but I found out the hard way if you let it dry completely, it'll peel off some of the white that you want left. I had to go back over them a second time after I'd removed the letters.

After I removed the letters I let the buckets dry overnight. I used a clear spray to seal the white so that it wouldn't peel when my son used it. Just remember to spray the inside as well! Guess who forgot to do that and had to go back and spray it before he used it? Yea, this mom. Apparently crafting isn't my strong suit, but I'm trying! =)

Since I didn't use the black spray paint initially, I went back and colored in the letters with a black permanent marker. With that done, voila, he has his own personalized car washing care kit! Mom win! I also taught him how to change his windshield wipers. I'm hoping one of our friends who's good with cars will teach him how to change his own oil. Then when it comes time, I'll have my dad help him learn how to change his brakes. We also hung a ball so that he'd know how far into the garage he can park. Yea, with the convertible he gets to have the garage. Lucky guy!

How often do you wash your car?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Upcycled Solar Porch Lights

If you follow me anywhere, you KNOW I'm a Chick-fil-A fan! Last year they challenged us to use their salad containers and upcycle them. I used mine to hold plants and a bird feeder. This winter, they've challenged us to use their soup bowls and upcycle them.

Got my tortilla soup from @Chickfila under the wire a couple days ago! Man I love this stuff, and I dig my calendar card! #soup #comfortfood #ChickfilAMoms

A post shared by Mimi N (@mimibakermn) on Feb 1, 2017 at 6:09pm PST

My husband came up with the idea to make solar lights out of them somehow. I thought it was a great idea, but where to start! At first I wanted to use them along the garden, but since the garden is tucked in for the winter, it's not cleaned up enough to use in my post yet. What to do, what to do...?

I figured I'd get started on the craft, and go from there as to where I'd place it.

First off I started with 4 soup containers, tops and lids. I already had spray paint and the tools I'd need. All I had to do was scrounge up solar lights. We have some Fred put in the garden last year, but there were only a couple and they were in pretty bad shape. While we were out shopping, We found an 8 pk on sale for $5!! I need to go back and get more.

I started off by painting the bowls of the soup containers. I went with green in case I decide to put them in the garden once it comes alive with new growth! Yay to having the spray already!

From there, I cut out the square logo out out of the lid, not realizing I was going to end up using them later! After cutting out the logo, I put the round solar light on top of the lid, and gauged the size I needed to cut out to fit it in the top. It took several tries, but I'm sure I could've traced around it. I'm just too lazy!

When I put the top on, I realized that the light wouldn't shine out very well. I debated putting designs on all four sides, but that's when it hit me that I should figure out how to add the logo square. It wasn't easy to make sure it could fit, but I cut out a square roughly the same size as the square and put it in through the back so I could tape it in place.

     

I added the lid to each of them and waited for the sun to go down. I really had no idea how it was going to turn out, but it totally worked! I was actually pretty giddy about it! I made everyone go outside to admire my handy up cycling!

My step daughter told me I should add designs around the sides. Go figure! I haven't done it yet, but I still might. I really like how the light shines out the top and front. Maybe adding slits to the side or I might just let her get creative about letting the light come through the other sides!

I may get a red spray paint and make 4 more. I could put the green ones in the garden and the red ones would blend well with the brick steps! I'm excited about the possibilities!

What would you do with upcycled Chick-fil-A soup containers?

DIY Wool Dryer Balls

Not sure if you're anything like me I get around to things when I get around to them. Even if it's something I really want to do or I'm interested in. Hence these dryer balls finally being made! I've wanted to make them for ages, but for one reason or another never got around to making them.

There are things that I would like to do to make life "healthier" this year. Starting the new year off I figured on a snowy day would be the perfect day to get started with them. Thankfully the other day when we were out shopping I picked up a couple of skeins of wool.

Let's get started shall we? I used a worsted wool that's a cream color. I also got a heather gray skein. I might do that one tomorrow.

The first step was to wrap the yarn around my slightly V shaped fingers about 12 times.

After that you remove it from your fingers and wrap it around the middle about 12 times.

From there, you start wrapping around and around and around.

When I had the ball halfway rolled, about half the size of a tennis ball, I put a few drops of lavender essential oil on it.

I continued rolling until it was the "right" size, and then threaded the end through the ball several times.

After getting all 3 balls rolled, I used a pair of crazy, old socks that are like stockings to knot the dryer balls up in. I haven't had nylons since the early 90s and knew these socks would do in a pinch.

I washed them in a hot water cycle several times to get them felted. They turned out perfect! I'm looking forward to making another set. They're extremely relaxing to make.

Let me know if you've done this before! Have you used roving wool? That looks like it would be fun to use! I may try that at some point after I've tried my hand at these enough times! And what tricks have you used to keep the static down?

What ways are you making "healthier" changes in your home?