Homemade Oxi Clean and Fabric Softener

The other day I posted my own recipe for the homemade laundry detergent. It's working great, by the way. That same night I got into a huge DIY phase where I had to make all kinds of stuff all at once. I made homemade fabric softener and homemade oxi clean. Both are working wonders. I based both the laundry detergent and fabric softener on other recipes I had seen. Most of the recipes vary from site to site, so I made my own based on the different reviews. The oxi clean I came up with all by myself. They've all worked so well.

Fabric Softener:
6 parts water
3 parts vinegar (I used rice)
2 parts conditioner (I used some VO5 I had on hand)

Mix (not shake) together and use a funnel to pour into a plastic/glass container. I used another left over laundry detergent bottle for this. Use a half a cup per load.


"Oxi-Clean":
2 c. washing powders
2 c. borax
1 1/2 TBS Dawn dishwashing liquid
2 tsp febreeze

I used a fork to mix with, whatever you use be sure to mix in every thing well. The dawn and febreeze will mix in very well. I use 1 TBS per load.

All Purpose Cleaner:
2 c. washing powders
2 c. borax
water

For this I just used a medium sauce pan and just filled it up with water. On medium heat stir until the borax and washing powders dissolve. Pour into container.

Bathroom Cleaner:
2 TBS Lysol Toilet bowl cleaner for hard water and rust/lime
water
empty spray bottle

Ok, so I totally cheated on this one. All I did was dillute this amazing toilet bowl cleaner. It's awesome. You guys have no idea, it works really well for the tub and kitchen sink. I also poured some of this stuff about an inch deep in a plastic cup and put our shower head in it. Then I poured some more (not much) in the inside of the shower head. Five minutes later, it was clean and had a beautiful stream- like brand new. I love this stuff. Try it. Go. Now.


That's all I've got for now. Please be aware that these cleaners I've made are not "sudsy" cleaners. When they start to work you're not going to see a whole bunch of soapy looking bubbles like you might be used to. That's ok. I'm not only making this to save money but to keep plastic out of the landfills. If you can, please reuse containers. Alot of containers only need to be washed out before they can be reused. WARNING: NEVER MIX BLEACH WITH AMMONIA IN ANY AMOUNT IT CREATES DEADLY FUMES
I save a lot of containers and reuse them, it's recycling. Repurpose things guys, it's not hard at all and it helps our enviroment, saves you money, and provides convenience. There's a lot  you can do with the empty laundry containers. A lot of things need to be put in air tight containers and sealed well, these are air tight and seal well. They would also be good for storing the benneficial "tea" from your compost, storing any thing, like let's say Miracle Grow, that comes in a box. There are a lot of art projects you can do with these at all. My two favorite would be making animal "heads" out of them for hanging on a kids wall and making little fairy houses out of them by cutting out a door and windows and then covering with rocks, marbles and moss. Here's a list of more stuff you can do with these bottles.

1. Handy scoops can be cut out of them, like small trowels
2. If you're diabetic this is a safe way to dispose of your used needles
3. Ice salt shaker (store your ice salt for your driveways in these to conveniently shake it out.
4. fill them with sand or water to make weights for weight training.
5. storing small things like nails, screws, buttons, etc.
6. sturdy templates for crafting.
7. store old rags
8. to store grocery bags for reuse
9. hand washing station in the garden
10. storage of any liquids

Always make sure you thoroughly wash these bottles out





Helpful Links:
15 Uses for Laundry Detergent Bottles

10 Uses for Laundry Detergent BottlesReusing Laundry Detergent Bottles
How to Re-use Laundry Detergent Bottles in the Garage
10 ways to Repurpose Laundry Detergent Bottles

Homemade laundry detergent

Tonight we ran out of laundry detergent and had to go get more. There's always laundry to be done in this house. However, there's always a need for money in this house too. So I decided to get the ingredients to make laundry detergent. It's definitely worth a try. Here's what I picked up. Just so you know, before you ask I picked up all of these things at Walmart in the laundry detergent aisle. Be aware though, I didn't get a picture of my washing powders but what is in the picture here is baking soda. You don't want baking soda you want washing powders. It's not the same thing. They're all next to each other.





Ingredients:

1. a box of Arm and Hammer washing powders
2. a bar of Fels-Naptha soap
3. a box of 20 mule team borax

Directions/Recipe:

1. grate up half of your bar of soap into a medium sized sauce pan
2. add six cups of water and, on medium heat stir until melted.
3. add two cups of washing powders
4. add two cups of borax
5. stir until dissolved
6. In a large enough bucket (2 gallons or more) place 4 cups of hot water and stir in your soap mixture
7. add another gallon plus six cups of hot water and stir
8. allow to cool, will gel over night
9. add to your empty containers

 NOTE: I added the mix into my containers while still warm. When mix starts to gel it will have little beads of solid in it. This will not be as thick of a gel as what you buy, it'll still be a little soupy and will need to be shaken before each use. I use about a 1/2 a cup per load.

WARNING: Brandon has some pretty nasty work pants, that are really really soiled every night he works. Anything that's exceedingly gross should be washed by itself or in a small load, and if you'd like use some of my laundry booster (homemade oxi-clean, recipe to come later)

Fabric softener recipe to come later, along with kitchen and bath cleaner and an all purpose cleaner

This picture really shows what the mixture looks like after it's melted and all the powders are dissolved.

I have found that my laundry detergent recipe works pretty darn well if I do say so myself, but here are some links to other recipes where other people have made their own, you'll see that they don't vary very much! Some will be dry and one is unscented!
Homemade Laundry Detergent @ Simply Designing
Homemade Laundry Detergent @ Great Oak Circle
Hypoallergenic Laundry Detergent @ Ehow
Homemade Laundry Detergent @ Happy Hooligans
Homemade Dry and Liquid Laundry Detergent @ Life at Cobble Hill Farm
Stain Removal 101 discussion about scent free laundry detergent



Storage Inspiration!

Organization... no one really wants to do this.

I was on Pinterest today (I'm an addict) and found a couple of organizational ideas that I honestly feel really stupid for not thinking of before. I thought I'd share them with you guys. These are things that are actually easily and cheaply done and free up space, or time, which we all need! I know no one actually wants to do this with all the other more relaxing things you could do but these are simple tips to start organizing your home one step at a time.

1. The dollar store wire dish drainer can be bought pretty cheaply and work amazingly for storing all of those plastic lids. It's already made to hold things like that upright and is easily picked up and out of the cabinet to rummage through. I have the good intentions of buying the nice storage system with the easily found lids but I never remember it when I'm at the store with the money. I only remember it when mine come sliding out of the cabinet, attempting to assassinate me. Go ahead and throw out all the ones that don't have a bowl to them anymore. I had fifteen. Really? Fifteen lids that went to absolutely nothing.

2. The cheapo shoe organizer. You know what I'm talking about, the clear plastic thing meant to hang on your closet door to store all your shoes that you never use. Yeah, that thing. Cut it down, and attach it to the cabinet door under your sinks to hold extra shampoos, brushes, lotions, cleaners, etc etc etc. I was thinking the main problem with this one is the way you attach it because we've all had that one shampoo bottle leak and it's not easily cleaned up. Any ideas on that?
3. The DIY hat organizer. My Brandon has a lot and I mean A LOT of baseball caps. Does he wear them? No. He only has two that he wears, a UK hat and his work hat. Can I throw the others away? No. Why? Because he might wear them one day...So all you do is get a wooden hanger and some round shower curtain hangers (the part that attaches the curtain to the rod) put the little hangers on the bottom of the clothes hanger and clip the hats onto those-facing the same direction. I have 20 on mine. All stored away in the back of the closet just "in case".

4. User Manual/ Warranty Organization. If you're like me you have a drawer dedicated to this crap. I can never find the one I need when I need it. All you need is a large three ring binder (I buy these at thrift stores quite a bit) and some clear three ring pockets (they only have an opening in the top and three holes on a tab to connect to the binder. Dedicate one pocket to each product and in this pocket keep your receipt, user manual, and any warranty information or insurance information. Just as a little add on I also recommend keeping a note (maybe on the outside of the pocket in sharpie) of the brand name model number and serial number. Also keep note of any expiration dates on any of these warranties as with several companies you may be able to call in and renew the warranty as long as you call in before the expiration date. Trust me, I work for one of these companies and I can't count the number of customers who had a serious and costly problem two days after their warranty expired.

5. The tension rod. Last one for this post. You can get small tension rods pretty cheaply at the dollar store and walmart. I know you know what I'm talking about even if you don't realize it. These are the spring loaded round rods you put in your window frame to hang curtains. In this application however you put them in your cabinets, running vertically (or horizontally if you'd like though you'd need more this way) to store baking pans and cookie sheets separately so that you don't have to unstack a huge pile to get what you want.

This post is really longer than I wanted it to be. I guess Brandon's right, I do talk too much!! Please feel free to leave any comments of any ideas you have. I'm particularly fond of re purposing something, using it in a way you never would have thought of and thanks for reading!