DIY Super Granite Cleaner!

Good Morning! Or afternoon, evening, whenever you happen to read this. It is morning here and finally Michigan has some warm days so I am in a fabulous mood. Even though I have been getting contractions and pains as long as its warm I will be happy! Little man is coming on Friday (we are hoping no sooner) so I thought I would make this post now before I become even more of a sleepless zombie.

We just bought a house (three kids in a two bedroom apartment, no thanks) and we have granite counter top. I know, fancy right? It was just remodeled so everything is all pretty, we really lucked out with this house! Now, back to the counter top. I have never ever been fancy enough to own granite. Well, I have lived in apartments for the last 10 years or so and they usually don't do the kitchen in granite. I have no clue how to even clean granite counter top and let me tell you, just water does not work at all!

What am I to do? Well eat some ice cream first, because I'm 9 months pregnant and do what I want. Then I go and look up what I can clean granite with. Yes, there are some things you should never clean granite with! I didn't know that so I am glad that I looked it up! Now I love cleaning with vinegar mixed with oranges, I guess with granite that is a no-no because it can damage the granite's sealant. Also bleaches and other all-purpose cleaners will do the same thing. I always wondered why granite had its own special cleaner. So what is there left to use? Water? Well I have tried that and it left a bunch of streaks on my granite, which bothers me. I might be called Messy Jessie (real nickname by the way) but I am trying to stay to a cleaner path and do get a little OCD about things from time to time.

So any thing acidic is a huge no-no. All purpose cleaners are a no-no. Water is okay but it leaves streaks so I looked around at different DIY granite cleaners. The recipes for them are pretty much all the same. You put isopropyl alcohol (or rubbing alcohol), water, and a little bit of dish soap into a bottle and bam you have granite cleaner. Some also like to use some drops of essential oils. One day when I finally talk my husband into buying some I might try it, I wont use orange or lemon for just in case but there are other great scented ones out there! So I decided to try it out but only in a smaller amount. Everyone (and I do mean every or almost every other blog out there) says to put ¼ cup alcohol, a couple drops (or some blogs went as high as ¼ of a teaspoon) of dish soap, and some water in a bottle. Then you mix it, spray it on and wipe it off! Now I used my 300 ML bottle because I wanted just to try it out. Here is the recipe I used just in case you wanted to just try it out too.

1 300 ML bottle (got mine from the dollar store a while ago)

5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol.

2 drops of dawn dish soap

and water!

I first put in the 5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. I ended up spilling some trying to put it in so I put in a little bit more at the end. So, we can say I used roughly about 5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. I think next time I will use a couple more just to see what that does. I might actually make the full recipe all the other blogs post about instead because it seems to work well. Then I add the water almost to the top of the bottle and put in the two drops of dish soap. Mix it up a bit and that’s it! It does have an alcohol scent, the essential oils might work in getting rid of that. I don't mind that scent and it goes away pretty quickly. Now I will show you a picture of what my counter tops looked like after just cleaning with good ol' water!

See the streaks! Its enough to drive you crazy! What I did first was clean my counter tops with water and a sponge. Then when that dried a little, I just sprayed on a little of the cleaner and wiped it off with a coffee filter. I love coffee filters for cleaning but I am sure that paper towel would work too. I always clean with the water first to get the gross stuff off then I follow up with the granite cleaner to leave it nice and shiny! I suggest cleaning up spills and everything (especially acidic things) immediately. I am horrible with that, so that's something I have to work on. So, here is what it looked like after I used the granite cleaner:

Pretty huh? I seriously took like 20 pictures of my counter top but I think these pictures show the before or after a lot better than the others do. I really do love my granite, it seems to hide a lot of things and I love the different dimensions. Overall I think the cleaner does a great job. I will definitely have to have it in my cleaning arsenal. Go out and try it! Then tell me how you like it! :-)

DIY Laundry Soaps! Powdered and Liquid!

After two weeks of not blogging (maybe more, my pregnant brain is done working for now) I finally got around to writing a blog post! Yay, I missed it! We have just moved into our first house so I have been getting that around. I also had a horrible sinus infection, so that while being 9 months pregnant equals not a good time! I feel better though and can finally post the blog post I have been wanting to!

My husbands (and now my) Aunt Bonnie messaged me after I think it was my first blog post talking about a DIY laundry detergent that she uses. What a coincidence, I also make a DIY laundry detergent that I have been using for the past year! Hers was a liquid and super easy to make and mine was a powder and while still being easy to make, had to put a little more effort into it. I told our wonderful Aunt that I would make them both and do a comparison. So first lets talk about how to make each one.

We will start with Aunt Bonnie's recipe first. I have been waiting to make this but I needed to move so I can start saving empty milk gallons. That would be the first thing you need is an empty gallon container. I will make a bullet list of ingredients because well, I love bullet lists!

Here is what you need:

• A milk jug, or any other seal-able gallon jug
• ½ cup Borax
• ½ cup Washing Soda
• ½ cup Dawn Dish Soap
• Water

Yep, that’s it! So, the first time with me making it I put in the Borax, Washing Soda, and dish soap first then filled it with water. Let me just tell you not to do that. I had bubbles galore from my dish soap. What I decided after spending a day trying to fill it with the bubbles was to add in the Washing Soda and the borax then adding a little bit of hot water and mixing it. By a little I mean just enough to wet the two and have them kind of mix. Then I filled it up enough to leave room for the dish soap with cold water and put the dish soap in last. I gently shook it to finish mixing the ingredients and we had a batch to try! You add ¼ of a cup to each laundry load, gently mixing each time. What Aunt Bonnie did, instead of the Dawn Dish Soap, used a dish soap called Seventh Generation. She uses an unscented and a lavender. If I wasn't so obsessed with Dawn Dish Soap (especially the green apple kind) I would have used that. So there you go that’s the first recipe!

Now on to my recipe that I have been using for my powdered:

• A storage tub. I used just a small one.
• 1 Fels Naptha Bar
• 1 cup Borax
• 1 cup Washing Soda
• ½ cup of Baking Soda
• 1 container OxiClean
• 1 container Purex Crystals (I used lavender blossom)

With mine I used a lot more pictures just because it takes a little bit more to make it. So first of all I grate the Fels Naptha Bar (I found mine in the laundry section of Wal-Mart). The easiest way I do it is to unwrap the bar and let it sit out for a day or two. When you try to grate a brand new bar it is the hardest thing to do! Leaving it out helps it dry out just a little and makes the grating easier. Also, if your awesome enough to have a food processor (one day I will be that awesome) you can just process it and it makes it into a fine powder which actually dissolves a lot easier. So here is pictures of me grating (on the smallest size possible) and what it looks like all nice and grated:

So next I add the Washing Soda, Baking Soda, and the Borax to it. Then I add the whole container of OxiClean to the mixture. Here is what my tub looks like after that:

After that I just put the crystals on top and give it a good shake. If you are really dedicated (Also smart, and not lazy like me) you could mix each ingredient after you add it to really incorporate it. I however and too lazy so I just put in everything and shake it. Maybe if its lucky I will take a spoon and mix it, maybe. So this is my container at the end with the Purex Crystals on top:

I then put the finished product back into the Purex Crystals container and use the little purple topper to measure my detergent. They have measuring lines on the lid which the first line is about two tablespoons so I use that for normal loads. Now if you have a super load, or if its really dirty then you can go up a line. I always put in the detergent first and let the washer fill up a bit, then add clothes. Here is what it looks like in the bottle (pretty right?):

Yes I did all of this from my couch!

So now for the comparison. Lets talk about cost first. Since both use around the same ingredients I will just list the price of everything from Walmart. I think I bought some stuff from Meijer but I know I got the Fels Naptha bar from Walmart.

Borax: $2.67 per box

Washing Soda: $3.24 per box

Baking Soda: I want to say I got a smaller box of the Meijer brand for $0.57. For a 4lb box of it from WalMart is around $2.24.

OxiClean: $7.52. I used the free of stain remover which is free of dyes, chlorine, perfumes, ya know all that good stuff.

Purex Crystals: $8.96

Fels Naptha; $0.97

Dawn Dish Soap: $2.63 for 24 fl oz.

Water: Well it depends on where you are! Lol.

Tub: I paid 7 bucks for mine but I know you can find it cheaper.

I am horrible at math, sorry everyone I will leave you to do that math on this one. Obviously the powder is going to last longer because it has more in it and you use less per load. I do think that they would average out to be around the same cost though. The liquid might be a little less but I am not sure because I don't know how long that one lasts.

I have been using them back and forth for a couple days now. I try to use them with the same (or similar) clothing just to see if one washes better. For me they pretty much work the same. The powdered one does not sud at all and the liquid one suds a little bit. I have no clue whether my new washing machine is HE, between the manual and what the washing machine looks like, it gives me mixed signals. I used both with no problem (I know the powder is HE approved) but if you know for sure that yours is HE I would experiment with the liquid type to know how much to add for just in case. I know my powdered one last forever. With me being pregnant and the way I slack on laundry and it has lasted me for almost a year. It might last a non-slacker half of that time (yes, that is how much I slack) but let me know how long it last you! I am not sure how long the liquid one lasts. I just made it and I am using it on and off so you, my beautiful, lovely, readers will have to let me know if you decide to just make that one.

Well, there ya have it! You now have two new things to try out (or one, I am not one to tell people what to do!) and I hope you like them as much as I do!