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I was asked how I saved on cleaning supplies.
These tips were gathered over three and a half decades from friends who run cleaning businesses, books on professional cleaning procedures, and tips I received from the food industry where several members of our family have worked for years. While I wish I could give credit to each one for the tips, I really do not recall what piece of advice came from what source.
Because every home has different needs, what I do may not work for you. Take what you can use, and leave the rest.
I purchase concentrated cleaners. Then, I make sure I read and follow the directions on the bottle for diluting the cleaners correctly with water. Most people are using FAR too much.
I use Simple Green and OdoBan because they are economical and Climate Friendly products. The OdoBan is also EPA approved to kill the coronavirus in 60 seconds. I use Simple Green for light cleaning. I use OdoBan when there is a strong smell that needs conquering. I used it to remove cigarette and stale odors from my mother-in-law's home with great success. It has a strong fragrance when you use it at stronger concentrations, but it works exceptionally well to remove bad odors.
I also use Dawn dish detergent or the Sams Club similarly formulated version. I pour just a little in a soap dispensing scrub brush and fill it the rest of the way with water. That method cleans very well quickly and saves me a fortune on dish detergent. If a brush is not what I need, I pour a little of the blue dish soap on an industrial scrubby pad, which I cut to size or dishcloth. I use it to scrub the item out of the sink water. I keep that cloth in a bowl so it stays soapy for the next item that needs cleaning until it needs rinsing. It never goes into the soapy sink water because it will get diluted too much to do the harder jobs. This method cuts down on the amount of dish soap I use which helps with stewardship over the earth and my wallet.
For dishes, I also wash from the cleanest to the dirtiest which really helps cut down on the amount of soap needed. Greasy pots or pans are always washed last. I actually put water in them FIRST so they are quick to wash when I am ready for them. A little boiling water in a very dirty pan works wonders! I will also heat water to a boil in a pot that is harder to clean.
Dawn or similar can be used in so many ways to clean so many things. I use it to pretreat stains on clothing. I also use it with vinegar to cut soap scum in our bathroom shower. I bathe our dogs in it in the summer with 5-minute wait times between rinsing to kill fleas and ticks. I also use IGR (home and yard), Pyrethrins (home), and nematodes (yard). We also use Dawn or similar to wash our cars, clean off our deck, wash our heavy industrial mats (aka dirt-catching rugs for traffic areas), car parts, etc.
I use the $ 5-a-gallon commercial pink dish detergent for when my family washes dishes (you can guess why). I also use that diluted with water in the hand soap dispensers in our home.
Foaming soap dispensers will also help cut down on how much you use. You can use these for dish soap at the kitchen sink and hand soap in the bathroom.
To keep from buying paper towels, I have been using cloth and microfiber towels for most household cleaning needs for decades now. Many of the cleaning cloths I use are worn-out clothing that I cut up. I wash and reuse them until they have to be discarded. Cut-up sweat clothing is great for dusting furniture.
Because worn-out clothing doesn't cut it for everything, I also use what I call "fancy" microfiber cloths.
Now, there are a lot of name brand products out there to take your money, but an insider tip from the agriculture industry (friends who sell meat and various dairy products from their farm with FDA approval) and the restaurant business (packaging industry and restaurant) say these grey silver infused cloths do the job just as well as the expensive ones and only cost $1 a cloth. Some claim they clean better. I know of a family who uses them as their washcloths too.
You can clean a lot of things with just plain water using the "fancy microfiber cloths" which is also good for the pocketbook and environment. I've used them for a long time and absolutely love them!
I also have a couple of sets of E-cloths for windows, which come with a five-year guarantee. I like the polishing cloths in these sets. I clean most windows and glass using these and water. If I use my very hard well water, I need that polishing cloth to remove the "mineral haze." If I use distilled water, I do not need the polishing cloths.
Another thing I do to use to cut costs is clean up solid messes with a plastic grocery bag over my hand before I clean it with a cloth. Let's say spaghetti landed on the floor. I would put a bag over my hand/s and scoop up all I could into a bag or into a bowl. Then I would clean behind it with a paper sales flyer (mail). I save the ones that look like newspapers for cleaning. The final clean would be with a cloth. It does not take me any longer than it would with paper towels, but it saves me from having to purchase them. That saves a lot of paper towels over the course of a year right there.
I do use paper towels sometimes. I use them when I am camping/off-roading. I take microfiber cloths, but I use paper towels when I am afraid I'll ruin them with campfire soot, etc. I also use them when someone vomits because it is more sanitary than washing out a cloth that will then spread the germs all over the sink and then a laundry basket. I will put those sick-laden paper towels inside-of-a-plastic-grocery-bag inside-of-a-plastic-grocery-bag inside-of-a-grocery-bag and then in the trash bag. We mamas of large families do not play around with germs!
I have been using essential oils for medicine and cleaning since before they became a popular thing. I think they are wonderful! Cleaning can become pricey using them at the scale and rate I clean though, so I use the Simple Green and Odoban. I do use the essential oils for air freshening though. I put a few drops in water, shake the bottle, and spray the house.
(Extra tip: I also use essential oils for perfume. It is healthier and more economical.)
After trying everything under the sun, I have not found a good solution to one area of my home. Did I mention we have hard water? Multiply that by several showers a day. Our shower turns orange almost as soon as I can clean it. It has been a cleaning issue that has really challenged me. I have to use a strong cleaner to clean those orange mineral deposits. In between the heavy cleanings, I use the blue (Dawn off-brand) dish soap in a spray bottle with vinegar. It is fantastic at cutting the soap scum which slides right down into the bottom of the tub. It does not solve the issues with the mineral build-up though. If you have actually experienced this problem and know of something economical and environmentally friendly that will work, please let me know.
The minerals are so bad that I use a tear-off system for our shower curtain. I install several inexpensive ones at one time over a nicer one. I pull them off once they are heavily discolored to reveal the new one underneath.
Before those water guys start calling: We've had whole house water systems but the systems were constantly failing. We never had one last a full year. Our water mineral load is literally way off of the professional test kit charts. There are many wonderful advantages to living along a river, but this is not one of them. Our water is fine for drinking and cooking, but it is rough on the tub and dishwashers (which I gave up on).
I shared my challenge because I don't want you to think I am someone I am not. While I do try to be as environmentally friendly as I can, I am not perfect at it. But, I am not perfect in any area of life. I'm pretty flawed, but, thanks to Jesus, I am also REDEEMED!
One thing I do to help save time with cleaning is staying on top of decluttering and putting things in their spot. Dusting and mopping generally take the same amount of time each time I do it, but tossing things and putting things away can grow into a huge job. If I stay on top of that, the rest goes much easier.
Fels Naptha soap is good for treating stains on clothing. It is also great for bathing within two hours of being exposed to poison ivy. I have been saved from rashes after direct skin contact many times by bathing with Fels Naptha within two hours. I soap up three times and let it sit on my skin for a few minutes between rinsing which seems to help cut the urushiol oils. Following the same technique with other soaps has not given the same good results, so I keep a few bars of Fels Naptha on hand.
Another tip to save money is to make your own cleaners. There are some very good recipes out there to try, so there is no need to repeat them here. I have made my own laundry detergent, window cleaner, all-purpose cleaner, oven cleaner, stainless steel polish, brass polish, furniture polish, etc, etc over the years. There were a few recipes I would not try again, but most of them were cheaper and worked at least as well if not better than the chemical-laden store-bought cleaners.
In addition to repurposing worn-out clothing, you can also use worn-out toothbrushes to clean those hard-to-get areas. I wrap duct or electrical tape around the handle so everyone knows it is a cleaning toothbrush. I hang my clothes outside, but if I used a dryer, I'd reuse the fabric softener dryer sheets for as many things as I could.
When I am cleaning, I fold the cloth to the size I need. Then I open and refold as the used side becomes too dirty. This saves me time and allows me to use the entire cloth. If you are using paper towels, this trick will help you save too.
As you can see, I try to purchase products that can be used for many cleaning issues instead of a product that is very specific.
I have also saved money on very nice furniture care products by purchasing them from thrift stores. At the nicer furniture stores when you buy a piece of furniture with a warranty, they give you a kit to clean and care for it. These are expensive to acquire without the purchase. These kits turn up in thrift stores in my area for $1-$2, so I grab them. The kits usually include decent-sized bottles of leather care, fabric cleaner, stain and moisture protectant spray, and wood polish.
One of my Mom of Many friends has ten children. She shops for convenience. She stacks savings by using store coupons with store sales and manufacturer's coupons to buy the cleaners she needs. She finds some fantastic deals. One of her favorite places to shop is Dollar General so she can use the $5 coupon off of $25 on the weekends.
