I was doing a little grocery shopping the other day and I realized I rarely visit the cleaning isle.  There are TWO rows full of cleaning products in most grocery stores that I am able to avoid with a few simple products.

I think advertisers want us to believe we need a different product to clean every surface in our home.  Well I am entirely to cheap, frugal for all that.  What you see in this picture is what I use to clean pretty much every surface in our home. 

Vinegar is a miracle product when it comes to cleaning your home.  Plus it disinfects! 

All purpose spray:

A solution of equal parts vinegar and water plus a splash of lemon juice is the perfect all purpose, all natural, and all frugal cleaning solution.  Perfect for an empty bottle of your old cleaning solution or a purchased spray bottle. 

Dusting:

A damp rag woks just as good as anything else. Don’t fall for advertising that makes you believe you need fancy sprays or equipment. 

Toilets:

I use baking soda.  It cleans, deodorizes, and it’s $.50 a box.  A little sprinkle and a light scrub from the toilet brush is all it needs.  I do occasionally use bleach but only when I have to (hey I never said I was perfect). 

Moping:

We have a H20 mop and as much as you can possibly love a mop…I love this one.  All it needs is plain water to clean and it does a way better job than any mop I have had in the past!  It is about $100 but it will easily outlast 10 $10 mops, I don’t have to buy additional cleaners, and it is less work than standard mops! Complete review here.

Laundry: 

I make my laundry detergent using soap nuts. Complete recipe here.  As if it wasn’t simple enough I found an even easier already made SUPER concentrated version of the same thing here. It is affordable, all natural, and very easy! 

Dishwasher:

The last several times I unloaded the dishwasher there was a film of soap left on our dishes.  Dishwasher detergent sounds much more dangerous than delicious so I decided to give the Soap nuts solution a try.  Turns out it worked great!  The dishes were clean and residue free! 

• Ok let’s do a review.  Here are my must haves for regular cleaning: Vinegar
  Baking Soda
  Cleaning clothes
  Soap nuts or Soap nuts liquid
• Optional use and occasional cleaning:
  Lemon juice (makes the vinegar solution smell nice)
  Dr. Bronner’s soap (makes your laundry smell nice and can be used for lots of other stuff)
  Bleach: occasional tough stains in laundry and cleaning.
  Windex: I don’t know of anything that works better on mirrors and windows. 

I have the same bottle from when we first got married 7 years ago…don’t judge me. 

The must haves AND the optionals are still much wiser choices than what most Americans have in their cleaning supply closet. 

What do you use (or don’t use) to clean your home? 

 

Featured at Sorta Crunchy, the Greenbacks girl, Life renewed, and a Delightful home