Saturday, January 5, 2013

Homemade Floor Cleaner & Cleaning Schedule

A while back I made the decision to switch to all natural cleaning products and am beyond happy with my decision.  Not only am I saving mad coinage and significantly decluttered my cleaning supply cupboard but I feel such a peace of mind having zero chemicals under my sink (actually I lied - I have dishwasher tablets, which are my next mission to get ride of).  It has been a learning experience and I have spend hours upon hours reading reviews and experimenting.  It's been a slow transition, adding a new homemade product every few months (all purpose here, and endust/furniture polish here).  Today I decided to add a concentrated floor cleaning solution to my collection.  I've been holding onto an empty 'Simply Orange' juice jug because I thought I'd be able to use it for something (I'm a freak and love containers).  Today was the day!  Here is my homemade recipe I came up with after reviewing 20+ recipes and reading some reviews. This is safe for hardwood floors, tile and linoleum. Happy Cleaning!

Ingredients
5 cups pure white vinegar (or distilled vinegar)
1 1/2 cups borax
15-20 drops of essential oil - Optional (covered up the vinegar smell though. I used lemon)

Method
In a pot over high heat warm vinegar.  Slowly add borax and stir often to let it dissolve.  This should take 4 minutes, tops.  Let cool.  Pour into a leak proof jug and add essential oil. Shake.  When ready to use shake then add 1/4 cup to a bucket of warm water. Happy scrubbing.  No need to rinse floors when done. Woot woot!

My husband and I also decided that in the new year (gulp! It's here already!) that we would start to follow a cleaning schedule. I hate schedules but I hate spending 3+ hours every weekend cleaning my house far more.  I also hate that by Friday our house feels and looks dirty.  Our hope is that by following this schedule our home will always been clean and tidy and if we have any friends or family pop by unexpectedly that we won't be concerned with how gross our house is. Here is the document I put together.  Feel free to use it and adapt it to suit your family.

*for some reason blogspot isn't letting me attach files/pictures properly.  I took a screen shot of my schedule so you can see how scheduled everything.  This schedule takes about 15 minutes a day if two people are completing the tasks.  Once blogspot is up and running properly I will try to attach a file that you can alter.  Sorry folks.





2 comments:

Unknown said...

Instead of using an empty juice jug, why not use a spray container? It’s more efficient to use. I love the concoction you made here, Jill! As long as it is safe and effective, I don’t see anything wrong with a homemade floor cleaner. Smart of you to write a cleaning schedule as well! ^__^

Skylar Cox

JILL said...

The juice jug cleaner is for the floors so I pour it into a bucket with water. A spray bottle wouldn't work well in this case.

:)