Thursday, February 21, 2013

Goin' Crunchy~ Disinfectant Towels



Are you familiar with those disposable, disinfectant towelettes (yes that is a real word...) that come in the cylinder shaped containers. The very convenient, snap tight lid, pull the towelette through the perfect shaped space on top to use anywhere, anytime, for almost any cleaning emergency wonder invention? I love those things!

I used to have one in the bathroom, one in each vehicle, one in the kitchen.... I was a disinfectant towelette (yep still a word, feels weird typing it..) kinda gal. By now if you have read anything in my Goin' Crunchy section you know that I love a clean house. I also love fun cleaning supplies. I just enjoy the satisfaction and it was pretty much bred into me so it isn't going away anytime soon.

I have been, for about a year, searching out ways to clean without the chemicals, and without the cost. Enter in my love for instant cleaning towels (oh so much better..) and a want to get back to natural items and what you get is my version of the Disinfectant Towel!

I searched the internet last summer and never really came up with what I wanted that would work for us. I pieced together a few different recipes from here and here and then made it work for us!


Disinfectant Towels

White Vinegar, Tea Tree Oil, Lavender Oil, Water

Bucket of Rags



Water and Oils
Pouring

Disinfectant Towels
2-3 Cups of distilled water*
2-3 cups of vinegar
20 drops of Tea Tree Essential oil
20 drops of Lavender Essential oil (you could use Lemon, Grapefruit, Peppermint...)
Large Bucket with a seal tight lid. We use an old gallon size ice cream pail.
Assorted rags. We have old mismatched socks, cut up bath towels, several torn up ancient t-shirts and apparently according to that picture someone's old Hanes boxers.

Start by cleaning your utensils and bucket in hot, soapy water. *To make distilled water bring filtered water to a boil and then cool. Mix together the water, vinegar and oils. In the large bucket place your assorted rags. I started this process by folding them all and placing them nice and neat in the bucket. After the third time I decided they would get just as wet all crumpled up and so now they just get thrown in. :) Pour your vinegar/water/oil mixture over it and seal it up.
Use as needed and then throw the soiled rags in the laundry and when your bucket is empty start all over again.

We use these everywhere and go through them quite quickly. If you don't have a potty training child that misses the toilet on occasion or any boys that miss the toilet daily you may need less. Last summer I carried a smaller version to my daughter's softball games to scrub yuck off of dirty fingers and dusty bleachers.

Let me know how it goes!

Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

Possibly Linking With:

11 comments:

  1. I like Lysol wipes too. They are so handy, but they get expensive. I may have to give your alternative a try!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have learned to love them! Let me know how it works out for you.
      :)

      Delete
  2. Neat idea - I'm bookmarking this. Thanks! Jenn

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing this at Domestic Randomness' linky party. I'm pinning this one to make because, like you, I want a clean house but without those scary chemicals.

    bonny @ thedomesticatedprincess.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks stopping by! :) I really like how versatile these are. :)

      Delete
  4. Good morning Gretchen! I wanted to let you know that you are the featured blogger this week over at The Welcoming House and would like to give you the direct link. Congratulations--I totally loved the post you submitted!!!! :)
    ~Heather @ The Welcoming House

    http://thewelcominghouse.blogspot.com/2013/02/welcoming-wednesday-7-its-linky-party.html#

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome, thank you! I wonder how they'd do with my yucky ol' eczema? I can't use Lysol wipes, etc. because they eat up my poor lil' hands! :( Thanks for linking up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well my Prince Ray and Sir Bean have eczema and Princess Peony does as well, on her hands and arms especially. Ever since we have gone to vinegar and essential oils for most of our cleaning they have not had as many problems. It is not as harsh. In fact Prince Ray's asthma nebulizer has been cleaned with vinegar since he got it. The doc had told me that there was nothing safer to clean with wayyy back then. Took me another 8 years to transition the house, but we are getting there!

      Delete
  6. This is a great article. I’ve read in many other places before that but
    I did not get this type of effective and more useful text. It is really important now to
    vary your anchors as this seems more natural to user.
    This article helped me a lot to understand information.

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear your feedback, thoughts, ideas, and comments. Let's just keep it respectful, ok?