Homemade cleaners

Tomorrow my father in law and brother in law are coming for a visit. YAY! But then I looked around the kitchen, looked at the bathrooms, and then I looked at the floor. My house was a mess! I thought to myself, I *could* use up the cleaners that I have stashed away under the sink in the kitchen, but that would just put harsh fumes in my house, that, in my opinion are definitely NOT safe with a toddler and a baby. What else can I use? I looked through my cabinets, I have baking soda and vinegar! I've used them before for various things, but not cleaning the whole bathroom and kitchen. So I filled up a spray bottle with vinegar and water....aaannd..... Voila!! My homemade cleaner!!

What you need:
An empty spray bottle (Since I had months ago planned to go green, before I had actually started, I saved my empty spray bottles from cleaners. If you do this, make sure to wash them out thoroughly)
2 TBSP of vinegar
water

I just put in 2TBSP of vinegar into the bottle (most of the time I just eyeball it), and then fill the rest of the bottle up with water. Since we don't have paper towels, I cut up some old t shirts and made rags out of them. That way, when I'm done scrubbing stuff down, I can just throw them into the wash. You can also use a sponge (something like a scotch brite natural sponge, just be sure to throw that in the dishwasher or microwave to sanitize as soon as you're done).

For my tough spots and big things, like the bathtub, I sprinkled some baking soda on top of the vinegar spray. If you do this, you should hear a little fizz (that's the interaction from the vinegar and baking soda). This is completely fine and will not hurt you in any way. Then if you want to scrub that down, you can. But if you just want to let it sit, you can do that too, then just rinse!

What you need:
Baking soda
Vinegar spray

(I also hear that dawn dish detergent and baking soda work great on bathtubs too)

Another thing that baking soda and vinegar work great on are the stove top eyelets! It works great to spray them down with the vinegar spray and sprinkle baking soda on them, let them sit for a long while (especially if you're like me, and they need a GOOD scrubbing down). And then scrub with a sponge! Be sure to put some elbow grease into it! Don't be afraid to get your hands gritty! But if that really bothers you, throw on some gloves:)

For mopping, fill the sink with water and add a cup of vinegar. Works great! If you have one of those mops that have the spray bottle attached to it (hopefully a refillable bottle) make the same vinegar spray as noted above.
*For hard wood floors, instead of using a cup of vinegar, use only a half a cup when filling up the sink*

Another all purpose cleaner other than just plain vinegar and water, you can add in a teaspoon of borax and a few drops of dawn dish detergent.

*NOTE* If you prefer your cleaners to NOT have that vinegar smell, add in 10 drops of essence oils such as lavender or citrus.

*NOTE* If you use bleach for anything, NEVER mix it with vinegar or ammonia, as it will cause a harsh chemical reaction and fumes that are dangerous to the human body!