Because we live on a budget here at Casa Whitaker, I am always looking for ways to cut costs of living. I've been really intrigued by the idea of creating my own cleaning sprays. These were the two that I fashioned today with things that I already have around the house. The only thing I bought extra was the scented potpourri oil from Wal-mart. It's a good investment to have - definitely though - because a little of it will go a long way, and it's cheaper even than buying another bottle of basically any cleaning solution.
I keep a pretty big bottle of white distilled vinegar around because there are so many uses for it. My favorite usage, of course, for white vinegar is for making Red velvet cake. I'll add my recipe for that around Christmastime. :)
Anyway, so today I took my nearly empty bottles of Tilex shower cleaner and Lysol kitchen spray and sat them on the counter. I took a pair of scissors and removed the label for the Tilex and then used my fingernails, a paper towel, and some adhesive remover to get off the label for the Lysol. I've been periodically diluting the bottle of kitchen spray with water to keep from having to buy more, but I think I had finally gotten to the point of there being more water than solution left!
The other one that was so pressing was the empty Tilex bottle that had been staring me down for a while. I would just about rather clean anything than clean my shower. Our home is a former rental property gone foreclosure, and so the state of our stall shower leaves much to be desired in the area of cleanliness. There are some elements of our shower that won't come clean with a regular scrub no matter what we do - it needs to be re-sealed for starters, will eventually require a new door (the current one is pretty unstable), and the bottom of the shower is stained beyond my cleaning capabilities. ** Anyway, when I do finally undertake the job of cleaning that stall shower, with the misery and unpleasantness of the task swelling in my bosom, the last thing in the world I want to think about is having to deep clean that shower again any time soon. Hence, today when I sucked up my intense dislike and eschewed my procrastination, I knew there was going to have to be a reintroduction of shower spray being used on a daily basis.
So with those things in mind, I finally bit the bullet, got my funnel and measuring cup together, and set about fashioning some homemade solutions.
**If anyone has a trick for un-staining the floor of a stall shower, I am all ears. PLEASE share it.
Kitchen Spray
1 cup of white vinegar
1/4 cup of liquid dish soap (whatever you have)
1 T of lemon juice
2 3/4 cups of water (or fill the rest of the way with water)*
Shower Spray
1 1/2 cups of white vinegar
2 cups of water*
1/2 cup of liquid Potpourri (I used Elegant Expressions "Ocean Flowers" from Walmart)
*if there is any room left in your bottles afterward, fill the rest of the way with water
**I used 32 oz bottles for my solutions, if your bottles are larger or smaller, you will need to adjust your recipe accordingly
***Shake well after combining ingredients
God Bless!
