While many of today’s cleaning products come in a vast array of packages and offer as many promises for the amazing things they can do, you might be surprised to find that a large percentage of them are made mostly of water. Water is the best cleaning solution around and we all have plenty of it at our fingertips. Hot water will clean nearly any mess.
Soaps and other ingredients are generally nothing more than lubricants added to make scrubbing easier. Other ingredients may include germ killing agents, but in most products, there is nothing special about the ingredients, except for maybe the fragrance. Add your own scented oils and a few drops of antibacterial hand soap to some water to achieve the same effect.
You can purchase a refill bottle of antibacterial liquid soap at a good discount to make sure you always have plenty on hand. One bottle will last a long time and it costs about as much as one small bottle of whichever cleaning product is currently the most popular.
Most cleaning products contain a tiny percentage of bleach or soap, but water is the main ingredient. Check out Michele Cheplic’s article, “Guess I Should Have Read the Label First,” to learn more about a new product that is getting rave reviews, even though it is made almost entirely of water. You can make a similar solution yourself with a clean spray bottle and 99 parts water to one part bleach. You can use scented bleach if you want fragrance, although with that tiny bit of bleach, you probably won’t have to worry about the scent being overpowering.
Next time you get ready to clean, try using plain water for as many tasks as possible. If needed, add a few drops of soap or bleach. You’ll be surprised how well water works. You’ll also save a bundle, since what you’re really paying for when you buy these products is a lot of water in fancy packaging.
*See my next article, Water, Water, Everywhere to learn about other ways that water is packaged and sold that you may not be aware of…