Homemade Cleaners

I've been retired for 2 years now, and have been fiddling with several homemade cleaners.  I thought I'd spend a couple of blogs talking about what works and what doesn't for me.  I am also dying to know what some of you out there use that works.

Why do we try the homemade cleaners?  To save money?  To help save the environment? To make sure our homes aren't filled with toxins?  All of the above?  Something different?  I go back and forth on this.  My answer would be 'all of the above.' So why do I still occationally buy the other stuff?  Actually, the only thing I still buy is Dollar General window cleaner.  It's a dollar, does a great job, and lasts me forever (which gives you an idea of how often I clean my windows...)

Here's my new favorite homemade cleaner:

The one on the right, silly!  I've read about it on other blogs and on some of the yahoo groups I belong to, so I take no credit for it.  It's the vinegar/Dawn cleaner some of you may have heard of.  Fill half your spray bottle with white vinegar, put in your microwave for about 30 seconds to get it warm. Fill the bottle the rest of the way with Dawn detergent.  The recipe calls for the original blue Dawn, but all I had was the orange, so I used that.  I started with the refrigerator.  Ours is white, and the handles were dirty.  I had tried everything on them, but figured maybe they were just worn down and the "paint" was coming off.  I used the new cleaner on them and, amazingly, VOILA!  Clean as new.  I then used it on the little drip pan that's below where the water/ice come out on the door.  I had also had trouble getting it clean.  It cleaned up great!  I love it when something homemade works so well!

I had read that the cleaner worked on soap scum.  I took it up when I cleaned the bathroom (if you remember the disgusting "before" pictures from a previous post...), and it worked great on the soap scum.  After awhile, I opened the cabinet and found the other cleaner (the Scrub Free, above,) and decided to try it.  Well, it worked the same, but the fumes forced me out of the bathroom.  I quit using it altogether, and it is going out to the curb.  This is my new bathroom and kitchen cleaner.  Cheap and wonderful. 

Please share what you use!