Homemade Cleaning!

Don't get me wrong, I never had anything against homemade cleaners...but for some reason I always just thought I wouldn't be saving enough to make up for my trouble. Boy was I wrong.

Here are five of my favorite homemade cleaners, their recipes, and printable labels for when you make your own!

WARNING: Feel free to tweak recipes (I know I do!) But don't ever MIX ammonia and bleach! The fumes can be extremely hazardous to your health!

Note: These are all written for 24oz Bottles, Divide or Double (etc.) as needed

Blessing 'in a Bottle

12 oz. of White Vinegar

12 oz. of Dawn Dish soap

1 tsp. of Laundry Detergent

also known as "kitchen Magic" This stuff will get through anything, make your sink and shower shine like new, and save you when just about nothing else works. The laundry detergent is optional-I add it simply to cover some of the vinegar smell!

Window Cleaner

1 oz. of White Ammonia

4 oz. of Rubbing Alcohol

1 drop of Laundry Detergent

Fill remaining space with Water

 This is streak free, just like we like it. You can add a few drops of blue food coloring if you want it to resemble windex more (since it's mostly WATER), but there's truly no need~I've actually found I like this more than windex!

Air & Fabric Freshener

1 oz. of Scented Fabric Softener

2 Tbs. Baking Soda

Fill remaining space with Water

This is a 'fake febreze' recipe that I love! It has the fabric softener for scent (which you can buy in so many more cents than fabreze!) and the baking soda for odor elimination. The coloring will come from whatever hue your softener contains. Again, most of this is JUST WATER, amazing how much we're spending for a few ounces of cleaner and a bottle full of water, huh?

Bleach Cleaner

2 oz of Bleach

1 tsp. Laundry detergent

Fill the remaining space with Water

Because everyone needs a bleach cleaner!

The Cure-All

5 oz. of Rubbing Alcohol

3 oz. of White Vinegar

1 tsp. of Laundry Detergent

1 tsp. of White Ammonia 

2 drops of Essential Oil

Fill the remaining space with Water

This is kind of my "Multi-purpose, Multi-surface" Cleaner. I've added Essential oils to the recipe which make it smell nice and threw in a few drops of food coloring to separate it from the two other clear cleaners. I go through this probably the most out of any of them (as most of us do with our multi-purpose cleaners). Again, again, again-I'm so amazed with how much of this is water!!

{Click here for a Free printable}

Use Avery shipping labels to stick directly onto spray bottle: Template 5163

Everyone Please Read!! Update January 2013: 

Alrighty everyone, listen up! I've gotten literally over 100 emails, comments, and messages about where I purchased these bottles so I'm going to put it in one place here, lol!

The process of finding cute bottles was not easy, but the way I ended up doing it could not be any more convenient! I looked online for spray bottles around 25-30oz and there's lots of them, but you have to buy them in bulk, if you chose to pay a 'small order' fee, it often ends up at almost $7 a bottle a the least! I wasn't willing to sacrifice the sleek bottle look (because I hate the retail industrial cleaning bottles you can buy at the store) so what I ended up doing was simply going to target and getting 6 method cleaners when they were on price cut (which totaled less than 10 dollars). I then used a few empty milk jugs to store the cleaner from five of them and have since used this jug to refill the one cleaner over the last year. I removed the labels from the remaining empty bottles and used them for my home made cleaners. 

Short answer: Go to the store and find a bottle you like, buy six of them, empty five, and use those :) Some of you want these bottles specifically so I'd advise going to target, and pick up any of their 28 oz 'method' cleaners.

Happy cleaning!

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Nothin' a little paint can't fix

My husband mercilessly teases me as we drive by our complex's dumpster or we pass a pile of precariously stacked rejects on the side of the road when my eyebrows raise and my head turns clear around as I examine the potential treasures. Every once in a while, I'll find something I'm genuinely excited about, so lets get to work!

This was originally purposed as an entertainment center base, the TV sat on top with room on either side for displaying items. Provided underneath is a nice spot for consoles and hidden storage on either side. My hope was to make this into a bench to place against a lonely part of our wall and provide casual seating in our itty bitty living area!

It was a nice wood that, all things considered, was in reasonable shape but the first thing I noticed about this was the intricate detailing on the cabinet doors and around the border.

Unfortunately, intricate detail means intricate dust placement! All that white on the left is dust buildup from who knows how long...so I got a thin cleaning cloth, a toothpick, pledge, popped in a movie and got to work.

Once dusting was all finished, I lightly sanded some spots and then I broke out the paintbrushes and learned that intricate detail not only meant intricate dusting, but intricate painting!! At this point it had been hours, but I was so excited at how it was coming along that I didn't mind!! I went for black for a few different reasons-1. the wood grain I found it in matched nothing in our house 2. Most of our accent pieces are black and 3. Giving an older piece with antique cutouts a fresh coat of paint can bring it a whole new look-I was so happy with the sleek look the black gave it, while still preserving its character!

Part 2: The Cushion

After measuring and determining how much fabric I would need, I pressed creases into the fabric in three x's and got to work pinning them!

After doing a double hem on all of them I decided to add a black accent stitch to pull the cushion and the bench together visually.

Using button molds and black fabric, I got to work cutting and making matching fabric buttons to place in the center of each X that I'd just stitched into the cushion cover

Also, with the developing plan of making black pillows to throw on top, I made a few buttons out of the tan fabric to have ready for me.

After a lot of sewing the cushion was made and stuffed! On went the black buttons!!

Adding pillows to the top wasn't at all in my original plan, but once seeing the cushion without them the space didn't feel as inviting as I was hoping for. So using the black fabric (Same exact fabric, different color), I threw together two small throw pillows for accent and coupled them with a statement pillow to pull the color scheme of the room and the black & tan bench all together.

I love the open section in the middle for displaying little things and then the closed cabinets-because who in the word doesn't like pretty storage?!

Could this have easily been done without going through the trouble of painting it? Of course. But there's just something about a fresh coat of paint that completely revives an old piece of furniture and gives it a whole new look, check it out!!

So here's the finished product, I'm so incredibly happy with it and it's quite seriously one of my most prized DIY's!