Newer Versions of Recipes
I’ve redirected a few of my older recipes to this page where you can find the newer versions of some of these DIY ideas.
I’ve been trying and sharing recipes here at The Make Your Own Zone for 15+ years now. Some of the recipes that I was using during those early years however, are things I no longer use, or have changed and tweaked them to work better. I hope you enjoy these new and improved versions!
Powdered Laundry Soap
I used to grate a lot of bar soap for my powdered laundry soap recipes. I no longer use them though because I feel bar soap does not rinse away well. My original recipe used an entire box of borax, an entire box of washing soda, and two bars of grated soap. I then had a second version where I also added a 3 lb box of Oxi-Clean, a container of Purex crystals, and one more bar of grated soap.
I now use my Updated DIY Laundry Powder that has no borax and no bar soap. It works fine in my HE washing machine too!
Liquid Laundry Soap
Back in the early days I was making a liquid laundry soap using 1 bar of grated Ivory soap dissolved in 4 cups of water, 1 cup of washing soda, 1/2 cup of borax, and then an additional 3 gallons of water. I stopped using this recipe because I felt the grated bar soap in the DIY laundry recipes were not rinsing from my clothing well. This mixture also had a slimy consistency.
If I want to make a liquid version now, I use this homemade laundry liquid made with Dawn dish soap. This is a frugal mixture and rinses away much better than the grated bar soap.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
My early version of a toilet bowl cleaner was a liquid recipe made with 1-3/4 cups water, 2 tablespoons baking soda, 1/4 cup liquid castile soap, and 20 drops of tea tree essential oil. This mixture did not stay mixed for me and would separate upon sitting.
When I use a homemade toilet cleaner now, I use this homemade toilet cleaning powder, or sometimes I make these homemade toilet cleaning fizzies. The toilet powder may clump at first, but I’ve found that if I then press the clumps through a fine mesh sieve, it doesn’t clump up again.
Sink Scrub
When I first started making my own sink scrub scouring powders, I did nothing more than empty a one pound box of baking soda into an old parmesan container, and maybe add a few drops of essential oil too. But now I use my updated 2 ingredient sink scrub that uses some salt with the baking soda for extra scrubbing power. But I’m still putting my sink scrub in recycled containers!
