Friday, June 15, 2012

A Cleanex Kind of Day

cleaning antique highchair

I am very sensitive to chemicals; I’m sure that my having fibromyalgia has contributed to that sensitivity. Because I strive to be as healthy as possible I don’t like to use commercial cleaning products if I don’t have to. I use an all-purpose cleaner I make myself.  I keep a small Mason jar in the fridge filled with citrus peels and add vinegar. After a week or so it is ready to use.

My basic recipe is about 3/4 cup of citrus infused vinegar (strain if necessary); 2-3 drops of hand dish washing liquid then fill the bottle with water.  Here I'm re-using a Windex bottle. It doesn’t smell bad and the citrus scent is a nice addition. This bottle stays under my kitchen sink and I use it on my counters mostly.


I had some time set aside for some extra cleaning then found myself with a couple of little ones so I put them to work too.

They actually enjoyed it and the oldest stayed right with me until everything was cleaned up. 

Since it was a safe homemade cleaner, I knew they would be safe too. I began to wonder if the citrus peels could be soaked in vodka if you didn’t like the vinegar smell. I know that tinctures are often made with vodka so I googled cleaning with vodka. And yes as it turns out, vodka is a good cleaning product. I plan to try it out in the future.
Just for fun and because I want you to be healthy too; I’ve listed below some links I found that list some cleaning ideas for vodka.

Oh the Cleanex kind of day? Well the oldest granddaughter recognized the spray bottle I was using as something ‘ex’. She couldn’t remember the 'Wind' part so she decided to call the spray Cleanex.  I kinda think that’s a good name for it!
*Disclosure: The opinions are my own and you should make your own conclusions about using the cleaning spray I use or vodka as a cleaner. Just to be sure you know, I have not been compensated in any way to list these links, nor do I know any of these people. These are simply sites I found that I felt had good info.

I linked this post at Cornerstone Confessions.
Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

5 comments:

  1. Did you pull a Tom Sawyer on your grandchildren??!! Great idea!

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  2. I always have a bottle of water with vinegar in my kitchen, and I clean everything but bathrooms with it. I need to try using some peep too!

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  3. How strong is the vinegar smell? I could see my family complaining! WE don't have any vodka.

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  4. Diana, I've been making my own cleaning products for almost a year now and a majority of them call for vinegar. The smell evaporates very quickly, but if your family strongly objects to the smell (like mine does), a few drops of an essential oil will take care of the smell. Tea Tree, Lemon and Lavender are a few good ones that also have disinfecting properties,making your cleaner smell better AND work better!

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