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Do Homemade and Commercial Cleaning Products Work
Equally?
by Rachel Paxton - rachel@creativehomemaking.com
The results are in! Homemade cleaners equal and even
outperform commercial household cleaning products!
My daughter Amanda and
I spent the good part of 2 weeks, including her Christmas vacation, working on a
science project for school to find out which household cleaners work
best.
We did three tests: one with window cleaners, one with carpet
cleaners, and one with laundry stain removers.
Each test was performed
six times with my husband and I each judging the results without knowing which
product cleaned what. The results were very interesting.
We decided to
try cleaning a mirror coated with a mixture of toothpaste and water with 409,
Windex, and a mixture of ammonia and vinegar. The ammonia and vinegar solution
far outperformed the other two with 409 second and Windex last.
Next we
tested three carpet cleaners (Woolite, shaving cream, and Resolve) by staining
some carpet samples with cola.
Overall, the cleaners all did a pretty
good job of getting out the stain (it seemed at first), but the Resolve and
Woolite were not successful in preventing the carpet from stiffening when the
carpet dried. The stains also re-appeared slightly after drying. You could
definitely feel where the stains had been. Believe it or not the shaving cream
removed almost all traces of the stain every time. You couldn't even feel where
the stain had been. I'm converted! Just rub a little shaving cream into the
stain and wipe with a sponge. (Shaving cream also does a great job cleaning
upholstery stains.)
Last we tested laundry stain removers. The only
homemade version we could come up with was rubbing salt into the stain before
washing. This is supposed to work pretty well on fresh stains,
but didn't
work so great on dry stains. Shout worked the best and Spray 'n Wash worked
second.
All in all we were very pleased with the test results. We went
into the project with no expectations about how things were going to turn out,
curious to find out which cleaners really work best, and it's exciting to share
the results with you knowing the tests were done in a completely scientific
manner.
Amanda would like to caution, however, that you be careful with
the ammonia and vinegar solution. The ammonia is very toxic and you should wear
rubber gloves and be very careful not to inhale it.
Window Cleaner
Recipe
1 spray bottle (any size)
Ammonia
Vinegar
Take your
spray bottle and fill it up with the ammonia and vinegar, using 1 tbsp. vinegar
per 3 tbsp. ammonia. Spray very slowly, and very lightly for
safety.
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author
of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner
ideas. For recipes, tips to organize your home, home
decorating, crafts, and
frugal family fun, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com
and Suite 101 at http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/creative_homemaking.
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