Is there anything that Borax and baking soda, once combined, can’t clean up? Actually, don’t answer that.
You all know the childhood song: Comet, it makes your teeth turn green. Comet, it tastes like gasoline. That song was written because Comet is nasty and it doesn’t belong touching the stuff you touch with your naked body, like your bathtub*.
It was time to clean the Foundry bathtub and I had to think fast. Truthfully, I had plenty of time. I’m just trying to build up suspense for this blog post.
I found this recipe for “scouring powder” (the generic name for Comet) and noticed it contained my two favorite household cleaning ingredients: borax and baking soda. So I gave it a try, and it works great!
The recipe is: equal parts borax, baking soda, and salt.
So here’s the updated, ever-expanding list of commercial household products I’ve replaced with diy recipes:
- Shampoo and conditioner
- Laundry Detergent
- Dishwasher Detergent (never wrote a post about this one. It’s equal parts borax & baking soda)
- Scouring Powder
Anyone else have any other household products that they make themselves? Even if it doesn’t use borax or baking soda.
* There’s a product called Bon Ami that’s a lot less caustic. So if you must buy a commercial scouring powder, buy that one. But if you’re into that kind of stuff, why did you read this post?
Foundry in the Forest 
Hey Yolfer, I’m enjoying you’re blog. I’m StashinIt from the MMM forums.
Not exactly what you asked, but one thing we do at our home is make foaming soap with regular hand soap. Just buy 1 bottle of the foaming soap. One you’ve used it all, keep the bottle and add about 50mls of the hand soap and water. Shake and use. One bottle of regular hand soap will last a long time.
Hi StashinIt, Thanks for reading!
I forgot about that tip. It’s a good one! We used to that when the children were younger. These days we’re back to Trader Joe’s oatmeal soap. They’re 85 cents a bar, and last a couple months.
I’ve been doing this with non-scented glycerin soap (liquid) by purely glycerin. It Moisturizes hands after cleaning them! Add a some lemon essential oil to the soap and you’ve got a great cleaning product. If you don’t mind the smell, add frankincense & myrrh (skin’s cellular matrix rebuild plus rids inflammation this is an arthritic killer). I always look for glass containers being sold with products and use those. Plastics break down and leak into the product, over time and especially with variations in temperatures. 🙂
I have a lemon tree and after juicing the lemons I put the lemon peels into a large mason jar and fill with vinegar for a nice spray cleaner. I use it to clean fruits and vegetables plus use with baking soda to clean hummingbird feeders etc.
Great idea! You must live in a warm climate to have a citrus tree!
Really great idea for cleaning! I haven’t tried borax yet, but I often use baking soda and vinegar, my favorite combination for a all-natural-purpose cleaner is: 2 tsp baking soda, 1tsp sea salt, 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup water, 20-30 drops essential oil – it works and smells good! Good luck!
I love to use 2-3 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp, sea salt, 1 cup of cleaning vinegar, and about 30 drops of peppermint oil ( I buy them in boxes, of 16 oz each, it cheaper) not only it works wonders, also it’s smells so good and it keeps bugs away, (bugs, mice, roaches don’t like the smell of it). God bless u all and thanks for sharing!