How to: Homemade glass cleaner
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Healthy Living, Moneywi$e, Recipes & Kitchen Tips, The Journey of Motherhood
You may recall that one of my goals this year was to start making my own cleaning products. The reason for this is two fold:
1) I want to have products in my home that are safe for our family and don’t add extra allergens.
2) I want to save money.
The first homemade cleaning product I tried was a scrub that would be used in place of Comet. I love this easy, inexpensive mix. Just this week I let a friend of mine try it. She cleans houses for a living. After using it she was so impressed, she asked me for the recipe!
Now that spring is here, I am noticing that my windows are *ahem* not very sparkly. So I decided to whip up some glass cleaner. This glass cleaning recipe is so darn easy that you will have NO excuse for not giving it a try:)! Ready?
1) Find a spray bottle (I used my empty Windex bottle).
2) Fill it half way with water.
3) Fill it the rest of the way with white vinegar
All done!
This mixture works wonderfully, has no after odor and no chemicals. Plus it is CHEAP! I buy my vinegar at Costco. You can get (2) 1 gallon jugs for $3.99. Now lets say that you used this vinegar ONLY to make glass cleaner. Once you mixed the vinegar with water (1 to 1 ratio) you would get 4 gallons cleaner total. One gallon = 128 fluid oz.
This means you would get 512 oz. of glass cleaner for $3.99. Compare this to buying a 32 oz. container of Windex at Walmart ($2.48) or Target ($2.49). To get 512 oz. of Windex you would pay about $39.84! This means that making your own glass cleaner is a savings of 898%! I will never buy another bottle of Windex again.
Another alternative is the E-cloth. I have these for cleaning and they work really well! You
can get one for glass and polishing for $9.99 (they have other options
depending on what you are cleaning). Because it can be washed and reused
needed, you will find your costs being saved in the long run. You can
see Ashlyn with the blue E-cloth in the image below (at her feet). And sorry, you can’t hire her to clean your windows–we keep her far to busy cleaning our house!
Happy spring cleaning!
How about you, do you have any favorite methods for cleaning glass?
1/2 water and vinegar is what we use for cleaning too! I love the fact that my little ones can grab it and I don’t have to worry about them. I use this as a multi purpose cleaner as well.
I have been enjoying being a minimalist in the cleaning area. My arsenal consists of vinegar, tea tree oil, hydrogen peroxide, and Comet (maybe I’ll ween myself off of Comet… I grew up with it and it’s a hard habit to kill). My shelves where I store cleaning supplies are pretty bare and yet I still feel like I am getting things clean.
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That’s awesome Katie! I would encourage you to try my homemade Comet at least once just to see what you think of it, you might be surprised how well it works:)!
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I use the vinegar/water mix with a tablespoon of lemon juice for table tops and counters. Citrus works like a charm on grease, crayons, and dried mystery foods. I run an in home daycare and a mom to three (soon 4!), so it is a cost lifesaver and works! Can’t wait to try the comet. Usually just clean with baking powder and vinegar in sinks, bath tubs, and toilets but I forget the awesome affects of borax
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Rubbing alcohol for glass and disinfectant.
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what is the commet recipe?
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mom4life Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:05 am
@Ashley, You can find it here: http://blog.mom4life.com/healthy-living/confessions-from-a-cleaner-mom/
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Heck yeah! This is what I use to wipe down walls and clean up splashes in the kitchen!
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Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for the recipe. I used this and it worked out awesome! I’m so excited to go green just a little bit!
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You are welcome Melissa, I am so glad to hear that it is working well for you too!
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I use this in my classroom and with my children to wash window and mirrors. In the warm months, cleaning with this will prevent ants!
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[...] I know some people don’t like using rubbing alcohol. If that’s the case, check out Heather’s glass recipe [...]
Heather, the link to the homemade recipe for Comet is not working. How can I find your recipe?
Thanks!
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mom4life Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:06 am
@Cassie, sorry about that! The link should be fixed now. It is here http://blog.mom4life.com/healthy-living/confessions-from-a-cleaner-mom/
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Cassie Reply:
November 24th, 2011 at 9:28 am
@mom4life, Thank you, Heather!!!
Can’t wait to see how this works on my shower. LOL!
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[...] was at it, I placed a basket of rags under our bathroom sinks as well along with a squirt bottle of homemade window cleaner. This provides the perfect opportunity to quickly clean our mirrors as the need arrises without [...]