If you are spending an average of $30 a month on cleaning products for your home, you could save over $360 a year by making your own cleaning products.  The following is a room by room list of products in your home that can be replaced with a combination of three simple (and very cheap) ingredients:  baking soda, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol, all three of which can be picked up for free or under a buck at your local CVS or Walgreens.  Bonus benefits: your home with be cleaned without harsh chemicals that could harm children or pets, and creating these concoctions takes less time than running to the store to grab a bottle of 409—plus you’ll save a ton of room in your cleaning closet (which leaves more room to stockpile toothpaste, hooray). For more helpful advice on living greener, check out LighterSaferGreener.

In the Kitchen

Drain Cleaner &  Deodorizer: Pour ½ box baking soda down the drain. Add white vinegar until the foam begins to bubble over.  Let the foam settle, then repeat until all the baking soda is gone.  To deodorize and sharpen the blades in your garbage disposal, run ½ lemon and some ice cubes down the disposal every few weeks.

Microwave Cleaner: Microwave a bowl of ½ vinegar and ½ water for two minutes.  Wearing rubber gloves, dip a sponge into the mixture and wipe down the inside of the microwave.  The heat steam cleans all the food off the surface, and the acid in the vinegar deodorizes.

Dishwasher Rinse Agent & Dishwasher Cleaner: Use vinegar in place of a chemical rinse agent.  Alternatively, fill the detergent well with vinegar and run it, empty, through a wash cycle. This cleans the entire dishwasher including the heating elements.  Bonus tip: throw your sponges in the empty cycle to sanitize and deodorize them.

Degreaser: Use vinegar, diluted or straight, as an inexpensive degreaser.  Simply put in a spray bottle and go to work.

Fruit & Vegetable Wash: Use equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle to wash fruits and vegetables as soon as you get them home from the supermarket.

Ajax/Scouring Powder: As a mild abrasive with the cleansing power of Ajax, use baking soda and a scouring pad or sponge.

In the Living Room or Bedroom

Dusting Spray & Furniture Polish: Mix 1 cup olive oil with ½ cup lemon juice in a spray bottle.  Using a scrap of old flannel or an old sock, lightly and evenly buff furniture or shelving to dust and polish.  The lemon juice has the power to dissolve dirt and smudges while the olive oil restores shine and moisture.

Carpet Stain Remover: Mix 2 tablespoons white vinegar into 2 tablespoons baking soda to form a paste. Work into stains with an old toothbrush and allow to dry.  Vacuum up baking soda when dry and stain should be removed.

Carpet Refreshing Powder: Stir baking soda in bowl with your favorite essential oils until lightly scented. Sprinkle powder into carpeting to remove odors and lightly scent the carpet. Vacuum well.

In the Bathroom

Glass Cleaner & Chrome/Stainless Steel Cleaner: Mix 1 cup water with 1 cup Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and 1 tablespoon white vinegar.  Use as a cleanser and polisher for glass, mirrors, chrome bathroom fixtures, door knobs, or ceramic tiling.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner: Pour 1 to 2 cups of undiluted white vinegar into the toilet bowl and swish with a toilet brush. The acidity kills viruses, bacteria and mold while removing stains and absorbing odors.

Mold and Mildew Remover: Mix equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle to kill mold and mildew bacteria.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes for maximum bacteria killing power.

Around the Home

Laundry Booster: Adding one cup of white vinegar to your washer’s rinse cycle has many benefits as a laundry booster, including whitening your whites and brightening  your colors while preventing dye in any new clothing from running, eliminating static cling and preventing lint from forming, killing any bacteria present in your laundry, softens laundry while neutralizing any odors present and has the added bonus of removing soap residue from your clothing and your machine, keeping your washer running in top condition.

Windshield Washer Fluid: Did you know you can make your own?  Mix equal parts vinegar and water and replace your vehicle’s windshield washer fluid with this frugal version to save money and cut through grease, dirt and bug grime on your windshield.

Tire Cleaner: Mix baking soda and water to form a paste.  Rub onto tires and scrub with a stiff brush to cut grease, brake dust and grime from your tires and rims.

Bonus Tip:  Scenting Your Homemade Cleaning Concoctions

1. The fresh-from-the-garden approach:  Add fresh flower petals or herbs to desired strength (the more you add to the bottle, the stronger the scent).  Let steep for at least 10 days and then remove.  Use as desired.
2. Add essential oils directly to the vinegar to desired scent.  Suggestions:  lavender or rose for use in laundry products, or peppermint or citrus for cleaning usage.  My favorite combination is 2-3 drops each citrus and rosemary essential oils to 1 cup white vinegar for a delicious and clean smell that rivals Pine Sol and is much better for the environment and safer for your kids.

Decorating Your House for Pennies-Part Two:  Room by Room Ideas

Free and Low-Cost Ways to Transform your Humble Home into a Holiday Paradise

A Few Room by Room Ideas for Redesigning your Retreat:

• Kitchen and Dining Room
  • A simple pretty bowl filled with some in-season fruit scored cheap on your last shopping trip can bring beauty and a feeling of abundance into your home, not to mention serve as a visual reminder to meet your 5-a-day quota. 
  • Switch up your towels.  Something as simple as switching to new set of pretty kitchen towels picked up cheap at Walmart can really improve the look of your kitchen. It sounds silly…but I got new kitchen towels for Christmas one year, and after draping one over the oven handle, it really did give the kitchen a new look. 
  • A fun idea to mix it up is to sew up some quick café curtains (you know, the little ones that only cover the bottom half of the window). They are so NOT practical or useful, but somehow…I adore them. Depending on the size of your window, you can probably do it with just a half a yard of some cute fabric that matches those new kitchen towels, and just string them up on a tension rod—these are less than a dollar.  A whole new look for your kitchen, for under $2.
  • To delight your inner culinary artist, plant a windowsill garden of fresh herbs. Not only will you save at least $20 a month off your grocery bill, you’ll have more flavorful food, the herbs act as a natural air freshener and aromatic delight, and the vibrant green hues of the plants are naturally stimulating and complementary to many of the colors you probably already have in your kitchen.
  • If you’re renting or in military housing, you probably won’t want to paint or do any permanent designing like painting, so go with the next best thing:  wallpaper. Find some cheap wallpaper that matches your color scheme, and cut out individual designs or pieces of the wallpaper and place them strategically in your kitchen.  For example, in one of my kitchens, I found some cute wallpaper with fruit on it. My color scheme has always been black and red, so I cut out the red apples from the wallpaper and placed them in a few key spots around the kitchen.  The wallpaper itself was hideous (probably why it was clearance) but the apples were adorable and matched perfectly.
• Living Room and Bedrooms, etc.
  • Throw Pillows: A variety of throw pillows in different sizes covered with a fabric complementary to your current design covers gives a cozy and elegant feel to any couch or bed.  Just pick up some fabric on clearance that complements the area they’ll be accenting, sew up some quick slipcovers and throw them on those bargain-bin throw pillows you picked up.  The stains and small tears on the pillow will never be seen, and your wallet won’t even have felt a dent from their purchase.  *Military Mama Tip:  Take one of your husband’s old flannel shirts, cut off the collar and sleeves so you are left with a rectangle, and sew up the edges so you are left with a big flannel square. Unbutton and stuff in a pillow and voila, you’ve got a great “Daddy Pillow” for snuggling during long deployments*
  • Blankets and Throws: A nice throw draped over the edge of a chair or couch is always inviting, or try finding a blanket with a scalloped or interesting edging that matches your throw pillows and drape it over the bottom cushions of the couch, with the edge hanging neatly down.  This always worked well for us as Allysa likes to snack on the couch (and consequently make a mess of crumbs everywhere…so we could just throw the blanket in the wash rather than having to wash couch cushions).
  • Glass Bottles or Vases with flowers: Pretty glass bottles or vases, grouped together, look beautiful when filled with real or fake flowers.  Try experimenting with different colored bottles on a windowsill for a pretty way to adorn your dwelling. My husband is a beer connessoir, so different colored and sized Ale bottles make great decorations after he’s had his indulgence.
  • Flaunt a Frame: The dollar store usually has a great selection of cheap picture frames. A picture frame acts as a great accent piece for an end table or the top of a TV or empty bookshelf.  Especially when we lived in a small apartment, taking advantage of every surface can give an area a cozy feel, without looking cluttered, if done properly.  Framing a photograph of a loved one or the entire family, or even a pretty picture cut out frame a magazine gives a room character and flair.  Pair the picture frame with some inexpensive candles you have (Glade candles, anyone?) in a complementary color and you’ve got yourself a beautiful and inexpensive display.
  • The Power of Pink: Try replacing the bulbs in your bedroom with pink bulbs. Although I usually advocate the energy saving fluorescent bulbs, this might be fun to try for an anniversary or *special night* as it gives a romantic glow to the room and can change the entire atmosphere of the bedroom, and a pair of these pink bulbs costs only about $3 at WalMart.
  • Magnificent Mirrors: Mirrors can make a room look much bigger than it really is, and they magnify the amount of light that is naturally let into the room through the windows. You don’t even have to hang them up; bigger mirrors propped up against a wall can give a quaint magical feeling to a room.  I’ve heard they look great just propped up against a wall rather than attached to one, but having little kids I’m too afraid to try this one. I’m sure it would take my daughter exactly two and a half minutes to knock it over and hurt herself.
  • A time for all seasons…A super cute idea that I recently heard of for a neutral décor idea is taking nice sturdy branches, clipping off all the leaves, etc. and then supergluing tiny white flowers onto the branches.  If you use a bouquet of tiny white flowers from the dollar store the branches end up looking almost like cherry blossoms. Place the branches in a tall vase and you have a beautiful faux-tree that you can then decorate according to the holidays. You could hang tinsel on it for Christmas, some tiny fake eggs for Easter, throw some colorful confetti on for a birthday.  The possibilities are endless!