Earth-Friendly and Child-Friendly Cleaners

You see those cleaners at the store marked as "earth friendly" or "green", right?  Do you believe them--are they really "green"?  Do they really work and get the cleaning job done or are they just a wimpy, watered down version of regular cleaners?  Is it worth the increased price for those environmentally friendly cleaners?

Don't ask me!  I wouldn't know...I don't use them.

As I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving by doing some house cleaning, I thought I'd share some of my favorite cleaning items.  And guess what? I didn't buy them at the store (well, I bought the ingredients at the store, but I "made" them myself).  And guess what else?  I spent pennies to make them instead of paying tons of money for those name brand cleaners.  And there's even more!  They work just as well, even better in some cases, than those name brand toxic cleaners!

Since dusting is on my agenda this week, here is the recipe I use for dusting:

Homemade Furniture Dusting Spray

I did alter it a little, so my dusting spray recipe actually looks more like this:

2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1 3/4 cups water
1 tbs. lemon juice (this is in place of the lemon essential oil listed in the original recipe from the "Make Your Own" blog)

Here is the used, old spray bottle container I had on hand that I washed out and put my new concoction in (with my little helper):

So is it environmentally friendly? Yes!

Is it child friendly? Yes! (Heck, they can even drink it if they really wanted to--but more importantly it means they can help you clean and you don't have to worry about what they are being exposed to!)

Is it more expensive than storebought cleaners or "green" labeled ones?  No!  Just pennies per bottle!

Does it work?  Yes! In my opinion, it actually cleans better than Endust or Pledge or those other sprays.  It seems to leave my wood tables even shiner and more beautiful than the name brand ones.

My only issue...and I really mean my ONLY issue being such a minor one...is that the olive oil and water/vinegar want to separate of course, so as you are dusting you have to gently shake the bottle around a little.  Not a big deal though.  You can also do a shake dance every time you shake the bottle.  Makes it more fun.  Really.  Dusting is not fun, but you add some shakin' goin' on and all of a sudden it's almost fun.  Note: I said *almost*.