How to Make Your Own Detergent
Do It Yourself Cleaner is Environmentally Friendly and Easy to Do
Nov 3, 2008
Most environmental websites advocate making your own cleaning fluid, your own detergent, or at least, using baking soda as a cleanser.
Easy to Make, Multiple-Use Green Cleanser
Here’s a way to make your own green cleaning product that works well in scrubbing your bathtub, sink, toilet and some fixtures – however, it is not meant to be used on glass.
It’s easy, cheap and doesn’t take a lot of time or expensive equipment: In fact, there are only two ingredients to this environmentally friendly cleaner. All you need is a bowl to mix them up in.
DIY Green Cleanser Ingredients
- Borax (found in the cleaning supplies and detergent sections of most grocery and hardware stores.)
- Baking Soda
Instructions for Making Your Own Environmentally Safe Detergent
- Measure equal parts of Borax to equal parts Baking soda. In other words, if you want a two-cup measure to fit into a mason jar or an old sauce or condiment jar, take one cup of Borax and one cup of Baking Soda. If you want more, just keep the ratio the same.
- Stir the powders together carefully – make sure to keep the powders dry. It will clump, and become difficult to pour.
- Pour the resulting mix into an old jar with a tight fitting lid; an old pickle jar or condiment jar works best.
- With the lid tightly screwed on, punch holes into the jar: Take a nail and hammer holes into the lid at half-inch intervals.
The Advantages to Making Your Own Green Cleanser
This environmentally safe detergent works as well as any commercial scrubbing detergent like Ajax, Arm & Hammer or anything with a scouring agent. Borax is a water-softening agent, and works well as an aggregate to get out mineral stains.
The added advantage to making your own frugal detergent is not cheaper than buying store bought, but it won’t leach as many chemicals into the atmosphere or the water supply.
Why Use Both Borax and Baking Soda?
Some say that Borax alone is sufficient as a cleaning agent: Borax is a hydrated sodium borate, Na2B4O7·10H2O, an ore of boron, that is used as a cleaning compound.
It’s a natural mineral found by deposits produced by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes. Baking Soda alone works well, too: By combining both you get the added strength of two (natural) chemical reactions working to clean extra well.
Make Your Own Label
You can have a little added fun: Paste your own label on the cover using a picture of your own design. Use a book label or even just masking tape you can marker up nicely. It’s recommended that you include the ingredients and the ratios, so that when you run out, you can just make more. Frugal can be fun, and look good, too!
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