Et cetera : Earth Week a good time to consider homemade household cleaners

With Earth Week just around the corner, some may consider using homemade household cleaners. Commercial household cleaners are required by the government's Federal Hazardous Substance Act to carry the appropriate labeling. If an ingredient is dangerous or poisonous, the label must say so. “Homemade cleaners should be labeled the same way,” says Brenda Schmitt, ISU Extension Family Finance Specialist. An ingredient such as lemon juice isn't harmful, but bleach might be. Plus, some products, such as chlorine bleach, cannot be safely mixed with other ingredients.

Since items such as baking soda and vinegar are common in most homes; would using them as cleaning products be more cost-effective than buying commercial household cleaners. To determine if this is true check the unit pricing of the commercial cleaner and of the more common household items. Unit pricing can be determined by dividing the total cost of the item by how many units, such as ounces, it contains. Then decide how much of each cleaner is needed to do specific jobs. The result may surprise you.

Some homemade cleaners are only effective on certain kinds of messes, while all-purpose commercial cleaners may be good at many household jobs. Some homemade cleaners require more "elbow grease" than commercial cleaners too, so determining how much work you're willing to put into cleaning jobs is a must.

Cornell Cooperative Extension has this advice about safety: Remember that commercial mixes have been tested for safety; homemade ones usually have not. And while individual ingredients – such as lemon juice, vinegar or baking soda – are safe, mixtures of them may not be. And above all, never mix cleaning products – whether commercial or homemade – since toxic fumes could be the result.

If you decide to mix up my own cleaning products, make sure not use old cleaning product containers because of possible residue left in them, and do not use containers that look like a food container. For more information about homemade cleaning products, check out http://blogs.extension.iastate.edu/isumoneytips