Guest Experts

Here's where you'll find articles on a wide range of topics by various experts.
The NYC Insiders Guide
for women who aren't kids
Sign up for our insider newsletter
Email:  
NORDSTROM.com - Shop Dresses under $150
Annie Figenshu was trained at The Container Store as an elfa closet expert. After nearly four years and thousands of closets, she teamed up with other organizing companies including Ship Shape and Ann Sullivan Organizers. She is currently available to help you with all of your organizing needs.

Annie Figenshu is also an actress and improvisor. She performs with Chicago City Limits every Friday and Saturday nights at the Broadway Comedy Club.

When not organizing or improvising, Annie can be found in her New York City apartment trying out a new recipe, mixing new cleaning supplies, or attempting to fold a fitted sheet.

Get more great tips at her web site: www.all-abode.com

5 Natural Cleaning Recipes Using 5 Ingredients
and 5 Reasons Why

by Annie Figenshu, All-Abode.com

I hadn’t planned to start making my own cleaning products. I didn’t think of it as any sort of radical or trendy statement on the environment. Really, I was just lazy.

It was a freezing February night and my bathtub had been clogged for too long. I looked out at the snowy evening and knew there was no way that I was leaving my apartment to go out in that weather. I was just going to have to figure out how to fix this myself. I consulted the Internet. Within five minutes I learned that my problem could be solved with boiling water, vinegar, and baking soda. Done.

Later on, I researched making my own cleaning supplies and realized how much sense (and cents) it made. Again, not to save the Earth (although that was a nice byproduct) but for more selfish reasons. I've included my five favorite products as well as five great ways to use them. For more details about these recipes, plus cooking, cleaning, organizing, and entertaining tips, head to http://all-abode.com.

5 Selfish Reasons to Make Your Own Cleaning Products

1. You want more room under your bathroom sink. Do you really need a tub and tile cleaner, a toilet cleaner, a window cleaner, a floor cleaner, an air freshener, and a grout cleaner? No, you don’t. A few ingredients will give you all of the cleaning power you need and save you space.

2. You like money. If you bought the five products I’ve included recipes for, you would spend over $20.00 (which includes Drano, where you use half of a bottle per use) The ingredients I’ve recommended will cost you about $15 (which includes peppermint essential oil where you are literally using drops at a time). That’s a latte right there.

3. You want your hands to look younger. You know how when you use certain cleaning you have to use gloves to protect your skin? Not a good sign. There are chemicals in commercial cleaning products that are not good for you to touch and especially for you to breathe. And if it’s bad for adults, think how much worse it is for kids.

4. You don’t like to take out the garbage. Refilling bottles to make your own supplies cuts down on trash.

5. You figure there’s enough mystery in this world. Commercial cleaning products aren’t required to list their ingredients. So they don’t. And that’s dicey. Making your own products gives you the piece of mind that you know exactly what’s in them.

The 5 Ingredients You’ll Need

1. lemon juice

2. white distilled vinegar

3. baking soda

4. distilled water

5. peppermint essential oil

With the exception of peppermint essential oil, all of these are easy to get at a local grocery store. The essential oil can be found at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and other health food stores. It’s usually with the lotions and soaps.

The 5 Recipes

1. Toilet Cleaner
Pour half a cup of each of lemon juice, white distilled vinegar, and baking soda in your toilet. Wait about half an hour. Scrub the inside of the bowl with a scrub brush.

2. Bathroom freshener
Put a few (about four) drops of peppermint essential oil on the cardboard of your toilet paper roll. Every time the roll is used, the fragrance will dispense into the air. Essential oils actually absorb the odors, not mask them.

3. Drain Cleaner [Note: this is better for preventive maintenance. If you have a clog, a plunger is the best.]
Pour about half a cup of baking soda down your drain.  Then pour about a cup of vinegar down your drain. Cover with a stopper or plunger until the fizzing stops. The fizzing action helps to dissolve the dirt. Rinse with boiling water.

4. Floor Cleaner
Fill a bottle with equal parts distilled water and white distilled vinegar. Put in 15 – 20 drops of peppermint essential oil. Shake to mix. Squirt on the floor and wipe with a clean rag. This works really great on linoleum. For tough scuffs, sprinkle baking soda first then squirt the mixture onto the baking soda. Let it fizz for a little bit, wipe. If there is any baking soda residue, squirt again with the vinegar/water mixture.

5. Glass Cleaner
The above combination of water, vinegar, and an essential oil is good as a glass cleaner as well.