Showers and Baths and Toilets, oh my!

I had a revelation.  This DIY cleaner thing may be the way to go.  I went through my cabinets/cleaning products and thought how sad it was that we were spending so much money on this stuff when there were equivalent products we could MAKE at a fraction of the cost.

Who doesn't love saving money?

I have a confession to make.  I'm a horse-a-holic.  There.  I've said it.  WHEW!  I've had horses since I was 12 years old (actually, I still have THE horse I got when I was 12 years old - he's 25 now).  My horses suck the cash out of our pockets....save money, not as much cash sucked out.....well, it won't *feel* as if as much is getting sucked out. 

See?  He's pretty cute.

Not to be outdone - here's one of my girl...

I found a recipe online that sounded to be good.  But it came with a warning.  It smelled S-T-R-O-N-G.  Yeah, they were not lying.  The first time I used it was in the shower in our basement.  AKA - my husband's shower.  Picture this - floor to ceiling dark grey tile, covered with white soap scum and hard water residue in a 4x4 shower. Nice eh?  Well...nice when it's CLEAN!  Anyway - I sprayed it on and within 20 seconds it was pretty hard to breathe.  I wasn't prepared for the smell.  Not bad, just strong.  Since then I've used it many times and have gotten used to it.  I don't even notice it anymore.  And it doesn't linger - it goes away as soon as the stuff is rinsed off.

Back to the point.

It WORKED!!  Not only did it WORK it was AMAZING!!  

I sprayed it on (left the room to breathe), waited for 15 minutes and came back to rinse it off.  I took a damp sponge and wiped everything down, I didn't scrub, I just wiped the surfaces.  Then I rinsed it all and let it dry.

I'm telling you - AMAZING!!

The shower was sparkling clean.  The glass doors, the tile, the hardware.  All clean and sparkly with no water spots or streaks at all.  It also stayed that way for several days and when I cleaned it a few days later, it was so easy.  I hardly used any spray the second time and it rinsed easily.

This stuff is FAR BETTER than anything I've tried before.

The cost difference is good but not super-crazy-amazing (yes, I'm 34 and just said that!) The store bought stuff I was using was Snuggle Ultra Cuddle Up Fresh. 

The product I have been using pretty exclusively has been Scrubbing Bubbles with Bleach bathroom cleaner.  I've tried the others but this one did the best job for me until now.  The bottle that we used to buy was $4.99 on sale, was a 750ml bottle and typically lasted about 4 "cleans" (for me, a "clean" is 2 showers (1 regular size and 1 4x4 huge shower and the whirlpool tub)

Scrubbing Bubbles - $4.99/750ml
Homemade - $1.08/ 750ml

SAVINGS OF $3.91/bottle 

Here is how I did it and what it cost.

Shower and Tub Cleaner

Ingredients

·      1 cup dawn dishwashing liquid

·      2 cups white vinegar

Directions

1.     Heat vinegar, add dawn and mix.

Yield

·     750ml

Cost

·      Dawn dishwashing liquid ($2.49/750ml) = $0.83/1 cup

·      Vinegar ($1.49/4litres) = $0.25/2 cups

·      Total - $1.08

So after the laundry soap success.....

I was impressed.  There are SO MANY recipes out there for DIY cleaners, soaps etc.

Laundry Soap, check.

Fabric Softener - lets go....

Same deal.  I researched for hours and came up with, what I thought, would be the perfect fabric softener.  One problem....I can't find 'Suave' hair conditioner ANYWHERE!.  Ughh.

So I substituted.  Garnier Fructis hair conditioner. Smells like lemons. I picked it up for $1.00.

It went ok.  I've used it in about 15 loads or so.  The vinegar is the fabric softener, the conditioner is really just for scent.  My clothes are very soft and even after the towels hanging on the line to dry, they don't come off stiff and crunchy anymore (I usually try to sneak in a dryer load when I'm washing towels - I LOVE ME SOME SOFT TOWELS!) and yeah, yeah, yeah....I KNOW you're really not supposed to put fabric softener in with towels but I always have and the "absorbency" of the towel hasn't changed at all.

I don't LOVE this softener yet.  I think I may be addicted to the smell of Snuggle (mmmmmm Snuggle....) but as far as performance, it does the job better than the snuggle.  I just miss the smell.  

In the meantime, I have started to become the crazy lady in Walmart smelling the conditioners.  

I will try it again.....just with a different scent.

On a side note - yesterday, my husband and I were discussing the new detergents and fabric softener -- mainly because he didn't know which was which.....yes, I do most of the laundry.....anyway, HE has actually NOTICED a difference in the feel of the clothes -- that they are softer and not hard when they come in off the line.  SCORE ONE FOR THE DIY!!

The cost difference is good but not super-crazy-amazing (yes, I'm 34 and just said that!) The store bought stuff I was using was Snuggle Ultra Cuddle Up Fresh. The jug that we used to buy was $6.29 on sale and advertises on the bottle that it does 60 loads.

Snuggle - $6.29/bottle, 60 loads - $0.10/load
Homemade - $1.28/10 cups, 83 loads - $0.02/load.

SAVINGS OF $0.08/load!  

Here is how I did it and what it cost.

Laundry Fabric Softener

Ingredients

·      2 cups hair conditioner (suave, or other favorite scent)

·      3 cups white vinegar

·      6 cups hot water

Directions

1.     Whisk together hot water and conditioner.  Make sure the conditioner is mixed completely with the water – no clumps

2.     Add the vinegar and mix well.

3.     Use 2 tbsp/load

Yield

·      10 cups

Cost

·      Conditioner ($1.00/500ml bottle) = $1.00/2 cups

·      Vinegar ($1.49/4 litres) = $0.28/3 cups

·      Total - $1.28

·      $0.02/load (2 tbsp per load)

My family thinks I'm crazy......

And they might be right.  Several weeks ago, before I was injured at work, I discovered Pinterest.  Baaaaaaaddddd idea.  LOL.

So, when I was injured at work and essentially bed ridden for the next 10-14 days, I spent a great deal of time surfing the millions of ideas on Pinterest.  300 odd 'pins' later, I was hit by the DIY bug.

How did it start?  Laundry soap.  Yep.  I'm insane.  And obsessive.  I take meds for that....they don't work. :)

I spent H-O-U-R-S researching how to make liquid laundry soap.  I read blogs, read all the comments to see what worked and didn't work, researched the ingredients,  checked the flyers for prices etc. (you can't get Fels-Naptha soap in Canada unless you want to pay ridiculous $$$$ for it.  Kinda defeats the whole, make-your-own-soap-and-save-money thing.)

Crazy.

One day when I felt up to it (and my husband was at work, because otherwise he would have KILLED me for leaving the house)  I made a really quick trip to the closest store to the tiny hamlet I live in.  10 minutes there, 10 minutes to find the ingredients/go through the checkout, 10 minutes home, 6 hours laying in bed because my back was absolute toast.  Bad idea.  Too soon.

Several days after my "I have to get this done NOW" trip to the store, I psyched myself up.  Laundry soap made - took 5 minutes.  How do people not love that???  Quicker than a trip to the store and makes enough soap for 96 loads of laundry.....for essentially pennies.

Does it work?  YES!  I'm all for saving money but I'm not going to compromise and use something that SORTA works.  It has to work as-good-as or better than the regular/storebought stuff.  Period.

The BEST part??  I've been using this soap for the past month.  My clothes smell clean, look clean, most of the stains I couldn't get out with the store bought stuff are now GONE!.  AND - I've easily done more than 32 loads and still have half a gallon left from the FIRST GALLON I made.  We clearly don't use 1/2 a cup of soap per load like the original recipe said.  Maybe 1/4 cup?  I don't know - I just fill to the max line on my washer each time.

The cost difference is pretty amazing.  The store bought stuff I was using was Purex - which is just about the cheapest liquid detergent you can buy.  The jug that we buy (well, used to buy) was $8.99 on sale and advertises on the bottle that it does 32 loads.

Purex - $8.99/bottle, 32 loads - $0.28/load
Homemade - $2.01/3 gallons, 96 loads - $0.02/load.

SAVINGS OF $0.26/load!  Since I actually only use about 1/4 cup per load, it actually works out to about $0.01/load.  I also only do my laundry during the "off peak" electricity times and line dry them outside as often as possible.  Savings all around.

Here is how I did it and what it cost.

Liquid Laundry Detergent

Ingredients and Tools

·      1 bar sunlight soap

·      1 cup borax

·      1 cup washing soda
    1 large stock pot
    1 large plastic bucket (5 gallon bucket - Lowes/Home Depot have them for $5)
    Immersion Blender
    Container for the soap to go in (I used 3 1 gallon Rubbermaid juice containers - on sale at Superstore for $4 each)

1   water

Directions

1.     Grate the bar of sunlight soap.

2.     Bring 4 cups of water to a boil on the stove and slowly add the soap, stirring gently.

3.     Reduce the heat and let it simmer gently until all of the pieces of soap are melted.

4.     Add the borax and washing soda and stir until they are dissolved.

5.     Pour the soap mixture into a large container.  Add 16 cups of hot water to it.

6.     Stir until the mixture is well mixed (immersion blender works well)

7.     Let it sit overnight.  It will ‘gel’ together.

8.     In the morning, add another 16 cups of hot water and mix again.

9.     Divide into 3, 1 gallon containers.

Yield

·      3 gallons

Cost Breakdown

·      Sunlight Bar Soap ($1.99/2 pack, 130g each) = $0.98/1 bar

·      Borax ($4.99/2kg) = $0.49/.204kg/1 cup

·      Washing Soda ($7.29/3kg) = $0.58/8.4oz/cup

·      Total - $2.01, $0.67/gallon

·      $0.02/load (1/2 cup per load)

Notes:

1.  The soap tends to separate when it sits in the gallon jugs.  Just give it a quick shake before pouring it into the soap dispenser.
2.  It IS SAFE for HE washing machines.  HE soaps are low sudsing, and this recipe is as well. If you are worried that it may crud up the hoses in the machine (it won't) just use the vinegar fabric softener I also make (I will post it in a few days)