Miss Pam's Green Cleaner

One of my goals for this year is to try one new, homemade project each month.  I love finding and undertaking new craft projects, but this goal is meant to be geared more toward projects I wouldn't normally be drawn to actually complete.

This month??  Miss Pam's Green Cleaning Spray

My sister-in-law is an avid cleaner, and when I walked in her house and smelled a refreshing but unique aroma, I asked her about it.  She said she had gotten the recipe for a new cleaner from Miss Pam.  It took me over a year to remember to ask her for the formula, but now I have it!

With the recipe in hand, I went to our local Greenlife grocery store, picked up the ingredients, and came home to create this concoction.

Here is the recipe I used:

• 32 oz spray bottle (with the name of the cleaner and recipe written on the side)

• 2 cups of water

• half a cup of white vinegar

• 1 teaspoon of pure castile soap (this comes in a variety of scents - I used almond, but citrus would probably be better)

• three quarters of a cup of peroxide

• one quarter of a teaspoon of tea tree oil

• one quarter of a teaspoon of each of your favorite essential oils to get the scent you like best (funny story below!)

Mix all these lovely ingredients together, and voila!, you have Miss Pam's Green Cleaning Spray.  I've been using the spray for a couple of weeks now, and I just love it!  It cleans well and smells great (to me!), so what could be better!?

Funny story about the essential oils: I LOVE spearmint.  I will say that again.  I LOVE spearmint.  So, I decided to go with just spearmint oil for this first batch instead of mixing in a more citrus smelling oil.  So, I mixed up the cleaner and started using it right away.  On everything.  Everything is going great, right?

Side note: my husband HATES gum.  I will say that again as well.  My husband HATES gum.  So, a couple of hours after my husband came home from work the day I first made Miss Pam's Green Cleaning Spray, he said, "Honey, I think it is great you are using this homemade spray, but it smells like GUM!"  He continued to walk around the house, and every time he walked into a room where it had been used, he would turn around and walk out while holding his nose.

Well, I was slightly annoyed with his overexaggeration of how the cleaner smelled.  That is until my daughter entered the picture.  She is three years old, and LOVES gum.  So, later that evening, she walks into the kitchen where I had recently been cleaning after dinner.  The moment she stepped foot into the room, a huge grin appeared on her face, and she said, "Mommy, where is the gum that you and me LOVE?"  At this point, all I could do was laugh, tell my husband I was sorry for the smell, and go buy some orange and lime essential oils to add to my cleaner!  Now everyone is happy (except for my daughter, who never really understood there was no gum in the house!).