As you’re thinking about mixing your own cleaners, I bet you’re finding that the internet is overloaded with homemade recipes. Trying to make sense of all the recipe variations is just as, if not more confusing than reading and deciphering commercial product labels. The confusion is enough to shy anyone away from making their own cleaners. Well, I’m here to tell you that understanding just a few basic principles are all you need to figure out whether a homemade recipe or even a commercial product is right for the job. You do not need to be a chemistry whiz to navigate through all the cleaners, homemade or store bought.
First thing you need to know is that it’s all about your water. Soap or a surfactant combined with water is the base of most cleaners. But its effectiveness is very much dependent on your water source which is in turn dependent on your geography. If you are harvesting and using rainwater, then cleaning with just plain ole soap, water, and elbow grease like people did back in the old days would work just fine. But times have changed and part of modernization means most of us get our water through municipal water systems which in turn get their supply mostly from groundwater and surface water. Water from these sources flow through soil and rock, picking up minerals along the way before reaching our water lines. The amount of these minerals, mainly calcium and magnesium, is what determines water hardness. Hard water is not a health hazard but it does make cleaning a nuisance. Soap is more affected by hard water than detergent since it reacts with the minerals to form a greasy curd, soap scum, that’s insoluble in water. More soap may clean more but also leaves behind more soap scum. With detergents however, you can usually use more to counterbalance the effects of hard water. Here’s a good site that describes basic soap and detergent chemistry.
The majority of households in the U.S. has hard water. That means that unless you’re softening the water in some way, cleaning with soap and water isn’t going to get the job done. Softening your water (by installing a water softener or adding borax or washing soda) and then following with a vinegar rinse will help soap clean significantly better. But the drawbacks are that you’re using more resources – water, your time, money, etc… and increasing the salinity/sodium content of your used water. The latter may not be such a concern if you’re plugged into your local sewer system but if you have a septic tank or greywater system to reclaim and reuse your water, then you definitely want to limit and control your water’s sodium content.
Surfactants have come a long way and are not as hazardous as they were back in the fifties. Surfactants today are also much more biodegradable, enough to be suitable for reuse as greywater. Not all surfactants are created equal. If you have hard water, then choosing a detergent with the least environmental hazard for your area and use condition is much more environmental and effective at cleaning than using soap. I wish there was a site to rate all the detergents available to us here in the U.S. so we can make more of an informed decision on which detergent to choose. Australians and New Zealanders have Lanfax Labs to thank for their in-depth research and very useful information on detergents commercially available down under. As for the rest of us, just stick with a mild liquid detergent. Liquids and powders are built differently. In general, liquid detergents are less alkaline and less corrosive than powders. That means liquids are gentler on your fabrics and surfaces but it also means that they don’t clean as well as powders. Then again, it is better to spot treat soils than to use a strong cleaner allover.
Water is called the “universal solvent” because it dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Water alone can clean most dirt and non-greasy food mess so long as it’s still fresh. Add surfactants to water and you can clean almost everything around your house. Heat and a little bit of elbow grease also helps. Basically, make your homemade cleaners from commercially available laundering products that you’re already using to clean your clothes. Use common additives like borax and refer to laundering do’s and don’ts for proper usage and knowing what you can or cannot mix together. Examples: Never mix chlorine bleach with ammonia, vinegar or anything acidic; it’s okay to mix borax and baking soda with detergent; vinegar solution and detergent is also fine. Stick with simple mixtures and basic chemistry. When you stick with laundering products, not only does it work but these products come with safety guidelines and you’re less likely to mix two unknown chemicals.
As of January 2010, the Consumer Product Communication Initiative Program took effect as a volunteer program within the household product manufacturers industry to inform consumers about the ingredients in their products. Not only is this useful for evaluating store-bought products but you can use this information to safely mix your own cleaners so long as you stick to common laundering products. No, you probably won’t achieve the same product, but you’ll get good enough cleaning power. Take for example Seventh Generation. Notice the similarity between their liquid detergents and all-purpose cleaners. So, if you’re already using their detergent, simply mix one tsp of it with 32 oz of water for a similar all-purpose cleaner.
The SDA site lists just some of the participants with links directly to the manufacturer’s websites. Another good site is the Household Products Database through the U.S. Dept. of Health and Services. There is also the Consumer Product Information Database which seems redundant but still worth a mention. Notice how water and surfactants make up a large portion of everyday cleaners. Many of the other ingredients exist to enhance the cleaning power of water and/or surfactants. And of course, there are those that are unnecessary for cleaning, like fragrance and dyes.
In the next post will be my homemade cleaning recipes (using mostly laundering products of course). Finally!
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