An economical and environmentally friendly DIY, general-purpose detergent
Optimizing your shopping is a goal that is useful for anyone: finding the most effective products, or the most versatile ones, means saving time and money in most cases. This also applies when it comes to cleaning products. There are, of course, some surfaces or materials in every home that require special care with the right products. But for most regular cleaning, the number of detergents one can buy can also be greatly reduced.
Indeed, one could even go so far as to use just one, prepared at home using simple ingredients: and with just one DIY detergent, you can clean almost everywhere. The one we suggest below is based on using soft potassium soap (also known as grandma's yellow soap). Read on about how to prepare this:
Yellow soap can be easily purchased online, and in it's traditional form, it is a slightly soft and sticky brick, which you can cut into cubes (some shape it into balls).
What is needed:
- 100 grams of soft, yellow soap
- half a liter of water
- a spoonful of hydrogen peroxide
How to proceed:
- Heat the water in a pot;
- Add the yellow soap and let it dissolve, stirring with a wooden spoon;
- As soon as it is dissolved and well mixed, let the mixture cool down;
- Add the hydrogen peroxide;
- Pour into a spray bottle.
Now you have a DIY multipurpose degreaser spray, just like many you can buy.
If, on the other hand, you want to prepare a slightly thicker liquid detergent, which you can then dilute in hot water to wash the floor, the shelves or bathroom fixtures, or even in the laundry, then you just need to increase the dose of soap to be dissolved in the water, changing the proportions. You can experiment, perhaps doubling the amount of soap used. And you could also add 10 drops of an essential oil of your choice for perfuming the detergent.
In short, having a few simple ingredients at home can prove to be the solution to avoid making multiple different purchases!
