I'm sick of the commercial kitchen bench type spray cleaners, comes in a 750ml hand spray bottle from SafeColes for $4 or so, you know the sort. The damn things don't seem to work irrespective of brand/cost, I reckon most of the cleaning is done by the rubbing action of the cloth.
Having an almost empty cleaner spray bottle I decided it must be possible to make something from readily available chemicals which did a better job and so began my search....
Some time later I settled upon a mix of cloudy ammonia, disinfectant and water. At Safeway: 1L cloudy ammonia = $1.40, 1.25L disinfectant = $2.50.
The cloudy ammonia should be mixed at a ratio of 1:10 and the disinfectant at 1:20 therefore for my 750ml spray bottle I mixed 75ml cloudy ammonia and 40ml disinfectant and then topped the bottle up with water - yes I know the maths are slightly out. The values are not critical but stay within 25% of them.
An initial test indicates this mixture clears normal household/kitchen dirt, grease and grime *much* better than the commercial preparations. Apparently it's also good for glass but I haven't tested that yet. Google cloudy ammonia it has lots of cleaning uses.
**DO** use in a well ventilated area, minimise contact with skin (gloves?) and eyes.
**DO NOT** mix with bleach, ever! Doing so will produce chlorine gas which is not nice, you won't like it.
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Thanks for the tip Mike. So, around 20c for the 750ml bottle. I might give it a try. Maybe add a little eucalyptus oil so the scent makes it seem like a commercial one. If I don't say it's homemade, it might be accepted better.
You probably need to get a fresh commercial bottle occasionally as that is probably the cheapest way to get a pump spray. They don't last forever.
On a related tip for household cleaners I have found the Magic Sponges to be amazingly good (sometimes called magic erasers or wipes). No chemicals or cleaning agents, just water. You can buy bulk packs of these on ebay and others for a fraction of the supermarket prices.
Thanks for the tip Mike. So, around 20c for the 750ml bottle. I might give it a try. Maybe add a little eucalyptus oil so the scent makes it seem like a commercial one. If I don't say it's homemade, it might be accepted better.
You probably need to get a fresh commercial bottle occasionally as that is probably the cheapest way to get a pump spray. They don't last forever.
On a related tip for household cleaners I have found the Magic Sponges to be amazingly good (sometimes called magic erasers or wipes). No chemicals or cleaning agents, just water. You can buy bulk packs of these on ebay and others for a fraction of the supermarket prices.
+1 for the Magic Erasers. They work brilliantly without, apparent, scratching.
We always use a combination of water, a dash of white vinegar and a few drops of dishwashing liquid to clean any colourful carpets in our house (need to clean up cat vomit due to hair balls).
For white carpets we use a commercial spray bottle with oxi action which seems to remove the stain better than the home made liquid.
It's not recommended for cleaning your car, or for those other surfaces for the same reason a scouring pad isn't. It's slightlly abrasive. Just a lot finer than a scouring pad.
Family of mine, who live in the tropics, say that vinegar is the best thing to use to stop mould growing. It sold out just after some floods so it was a popular belief.
Fabric softener is also supposed to encourage mould growth (also using too much laundry detergent) so replacing it with vinegar in the washing machine is also a good idea.
That's +2 for vinegar.
-- Edited by Buzz Lightbulb on Monday 25th of April 2022 11:14:27 AM
