Laundry Detergent

Over the last month I have come to the conclusion that I LOVE Sal Suds!  So, with all the plans that I had, my 32 oz bottle was not cutting it.  I needed more because I tried it as laundry detergent and I was lovin'  the results. Here is the link to Sal Suds laundry detergent I started with. It is quite good and inspired me.  When I tried this recipe, I was loving that when I added this detergent to the running water in the wash there were BUBBLES....but as I continued to use it as the weeks went by, I really wanted more sudsiness.  My favorite part is there is no grating soap in this recipe.  Also, this recipe no ugly gloppyness I was finding in soap grating recipes...this is a huge plus for me, because you don't have to add water later on to even out the detergent.  I was afraid it wasn't as effective as it was in the beginning.  

Thanks to my local Vitamin Cottage for ordering this gallon jug for me.  I am such a loyal of fan and love visiting this shop.  I could have ordered it online for the same price,  but I love supporting my local Colorado businesses.

Here is the link to Sal Suds laundry detergent I started with. It is quite good and inspired me.  My favorite part about making this recipe is there was no soap grating. I was so happy.  I loved the fresh, clean smell and BUBBLES this recipe provided... but as the weeks went on I realized I wanted more bubbles and a tad bit more cleaning power, so I decided to adapt the recipe. When I tried this recipe, I was loving that when I added this detergent to the running water in the wash there were plenty of bubbles and the results are just lovely.  My favorite part about using Sal Suds in laundry detergent recipes is there no ugly gloppyness I was finding in soap grating recipes...this is a huge plus for me, because you don't have to add water later on to even out the detergent.  I was afraid it wasn't as effective as it was in the beginning.  

So here is the recipe I came up with and I am so loving the results.... pure cleanliness.  My laundry smells so fresh and clean and not perfumey.

No-grate, Kick Ass Laundry Detergent Recipe

1 cup Super Washing Soda

1 cup Borax (optional, but I'm loving the results)

1/3 cup of salt

4 cups of water

2 Tbsp of glycerin (optional)

1 1/2 cups of Sal Suds

Over medium low heat warm up 4 cups of water, washing soda, borax and salt until mostly dissolved. Remove from burner and add glycerin and Sal Suds .  Fill gallon container half way with water, add warmed laundry concoction after letting it slightly cool. Top off gallon container with more water and rotate.  Be careful and add water slowly or else you will end up with too many suds. Before washings you can rotate or gently shake bottle before pouring in wash.  1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on whether wash is small or large.  In between for medium loads.  Also you can use more for extra dirty loads.  I hope you are as amazed as I am.

Once our printer is fixed  I plan on adding a label yet but I plan on doing so by including the ingredients.

Special Note: the glycerin and Borax are optional, because it works okay without it.  I just feel the addition of the two give the detergent some extra cleaning power.  The difference is pretty noticeable to me. 

Eucalyptus EO... Sticky Label Remover

While I was at the store last week purchasing eucalyptus EO the cashier told me it is excellent for removing labels and stickers as well as cleaning.  Who would have knew?  Definitely not me.  No wonder it works so well in my all purpose cleaner.

So I thought I would try it on this bottle our salad dressing came in.

I only intended to put 5 - 8 drops, but it came out  a little fast, so be careful to not get it all over the countertop. I think about 15-20 drops came out.  It's hard to focus when you are also the one taking the picture.  

After scraping for about 20 seconds with a nylon scraper and then wiping away with a

 sponge and warm water the label was totally gone.  Quite superb, don't ya think?  Now I have an adorable vase for my white daisies growing in the garden this summer.

   

Sal Suds Multi-purpose Cleaner

I wanted to post another recipe with Sal Suds that has a little extra power for cleaning messy countertops, bathroom sinks, spills on floors, dirty walls  This works awesome and I love the smell. Weird maybe, I know.  With TTO I find that people either love it or hate it.  This is a recipe I came up with myself after doing some research and talking to one of my green cleaning neighbors.

Sal Suds Multi-purpose Cleaner

• Water (24 ounces)
• ½ cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 TBSP Sal Suds Castile soap
• ¾ cup hydrogen peroxide
• 1 tsp Super Washing Soda
• 1/2 tsp Borax
• 25 drops tea tree oil (TTO)
• 2 drops eucalyptus oil 

Put in spray bottle an mix gently. The Borax and Washing Soda does take a little time to dissolve. Careful, the hydrogen peroxide causes the spray bottle to expand and contents may overflow even though bottle is closed.  Make sure to store on top of paper towel to protect surface from leakage when batch is fresh and bottle is full.   For best results wipe with a wet cloth, then follow up with a dry one.  This cleaner requires very minimal scrubbing and provides a sparkling clean.  Enjoy!
   

Sal Suds....Love!

Have you tried Sal Suds yet?  Well, if you haven't you should.  This is my favorite dish soap, multi-purpose cleaner, and laundry detergent.  For just under $12 for the bottle (at Vitamin Cottage in CO),  it is totally worth it.   

For my dish soap/multi-purpose cleaner I mixed a water filled spray bottle with 1 TBSP of Sal Suds, and 2 drops of Eucalyptus EO, and 25 drops of Tea Tree EO.  Make sure you add the Sal Suds after the water is in the bottle or else you will end up with a bubbly mess, a little goes a long way.   I got this idea from Lisa Bronner's blog.

The dishes came out spotless this morning...and I thought I should definitely post about this and share some Sal Suds lovin'.  

The hubby and I also used this solution to clean the refrigerator over the weekend and it is sparkling.  I have also used Sal Suds to make a stronger all-purpose cleaner and some laundry detergent. I tried it in some homemade dishwasher detergent and it did not work as well as the detergent I normally use.  I don't think my sink, dishes, kitchen appliances and laundry have ever been so clean.  I also used it as a substitute for the Dawn dish soap in my Kick Ass Glass Cleaner recipe.  

If you use Sal Suds, or if I have inspired you to try it, I would love to hear from you.

   

Kick Ass Glass Cleaner

Please note: I had to repost this because I accidentally  deleted it, which also deleted some lovely comments from my readers.  Please feel free to comment again and know that your comments were not deleted on purpose. I really love hearing from my readers.

Since I ran out of glass cleaner I had to make more yesterday.  I wanted to try this recipe I found on pinterest just for kicks.  If you are interested, here is the link http://www.crazydomestic.com/2011/03/best-homemade-glass-cleaner-ever.html.  It works even better than the one I made up a few days ago (it really kicks ass, lol). The few things I did different were adding Dr. Bronner's liquid soap (love, love Dr. Bronners), peppermint essential oil, camphor essential oil and the drop of blue food coloring.  I find the Dr. Bronner's adds some extra cleaning power to just about anything, but the tiniest amount goes a long way. I increased the essential oils because the increase in alcohol creates a very strong smell and the EO's help tone it down.  If your you don't mind the smell feel free to leave out the EO's.


So here's my version of Crazy Domestic's Best Glass Cleaner.. Ever.  I will call mine Kick Ass Glass Cleaner...well because in my opinion, it kicks ass.

I even took new picture of it, because it looks a little different than my other recipe.

Kick Ass Glass Cleaner

1 Cup of Water

1 Cup of Alcohol

1/2 to 1 Tbsp Ammonia (I use 1/2 Tbsp)

1/2 tsp of Dawn Dish Detergent

4 drops of Dr. Bronner's Liquid Soap

25 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil (Optional)

2 drops of Camphor Esssential Oil (Optional)

1 drop of blue food coloring (Optional)

Combine all about all ingredients in spray bottle, shake and you are good to go.

   

Homemade glass cleaner...that works!

3/27/2012 Please Note: check out my recent post on another glass cleaner that works even better... http://cohippychik.blogspot.com/2012/04/kick-ass-glass-cleaner.html.  The recipe in this post does work well but I just wanted to make sure you knew about this other one that I like even more.  :)

There are so many homemade glass cleaner recipes on the internet. I have tried so many of them that I have lost count.. including the green ones with club soda and vinegar.  I would prefer to be green and most of my homemade cleaners are. However, I am a stickler for clean mirrors and windows, and being green for this recipe wasn't cutting it.  The cornstarch recipe out there was not working out for me at all. That was my worst experience. It actually made a white caky mess on my mirrors that took me 3 cleaning attempts to get it off.  This cornstarch recipe was the last one I tried and I was really hoping it would work, but to my husband it was a disaster, but a humorous one.  My husband thought I was crazy trying all these recipes and told me to give up after the cornstarch incident. So, after much research and trial and error here is the glass cleaner recipe I came up with. Well guess what?  It works and my frustration is over. If you try it out,  I would love to hear what you think. For some of you the cornstarch or other methods may work.  I just hope you don't have to go through the same disaster I did.   

J's glass cleaner

  2 Cups of Water 

  2 Tbsp of Ammonia

  4 Tbsp of Rubbing Alcohol

  1 squirt of Dish Soap (I use the blue Dawn)

  3-4 drops of Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap (optional)

  10-15 drops of Peppermint essential oil (optional, for fragrance)

  1-2 drops of blue food coloring (optional, just for kicks)

Combine all ingredients, shake and your ready to clean glass.

On a side note with glass cleaner the sprayer you use makes a big difference.  The one I use is from an old  Febreze bottle and which gives the spray the perfect spread.  Kind of like a heavy mist. I also use microfiber cloths, which are the bomb.