How To Clean Just About Anything For Next To Nothing

Wilkinson Publishing (Published 2011)

Written By Cynthia and Alisa Mayne

Australia

Review 4 stars— Excellent Book

How the blurb describes the book:
Bestselling authors of How To Feed Your Family for $75 a Week and How To Feed Yourself for $35 a Week are back with their new book of handy hints and tips guaranteed to save you big $$$!

Welcome to the wonderful world of cleaning and the joy of working with ingredients that bubble and clean, glide and gleam, as you work your way around the house during the weekly clean.

Cleaning is a fascinating study of chemical action and reaction – from active to inactive, from dirty to clean. It's also a great way to study nature's amazing ability to effect change from the simplest of ingredients.

Don't waste money buying expensive cleaning products from the supermarket, Cynthia and Alisa tell you how to get better results for less money, and it's good for the environment too!

From the kitchen to the bathroom, from carpets to drains, How to Clean Just About Anything for Next to Nothing is your must have handy guide to money saving cleaning!

Mr Home Budget's Review:
Forgive me somewhat, as I was a little bit sceptical prior to reading this book. Being born in 1980, my whole life I have watched Mum purchase whatever cleaning products she needed as they were required. And the thought we would make cleaning products from scratch never entered my mind. Nor did I think it would even be possible.

But as you can see, the authors of this book have very different ideas. Especially Cynthia, who shares stories of how they used to clean after World War II, which seemed to be extremely different to popping down to the local shops for some cleaning liquid.

I think page 3 in the book sums it up the best: "The secrets the big companies don't want you to know. Although cleaning products aren't a major part of the household budget, they are expensive and the cost crèmes, powders, and spray cleaners can be replaced with simple homemade products that work just as well for a fraction of the cost.

The aisle for cleaning products is interesting to say the least – the variety is enormous and the scents overwhelming. There are so many things to do 'this' and 'that' around the house, it's hard to imagine that all we need to clean our homes is a few simple ingredients that can be bought in bulk for very little outlay.

Companies use the same base formula for many products. We know because we used to supply a major supermarket with a range of cleaners, including a computer cleaner specially formulated with a perfume that smelled just like a new computer; a car cleaner that smelled like a new car... the list was endless.

Don't be fooled by the array of products in the cleaning aisle. Most have the same active ingredient and often all that changes is the perfume, colouring and the ratio of active ingredient to water.

A base formula for a kitchen bench spray is often the same as an engine degreaser, they are just mixed in different ratios then presented in eye catching packaging, giving us the message that we need to buy different products for each job. There's nothing wrong with these marketing games, after all 'that's business'. Funny business it may be but it's business nevertheless." Good on both of these guys for bring this to so many people's attention.

The book gives you the core ingredients to all their cleaning recipes. And what's great is most can be purchased in bulk as they don't have use by dates. These include:

Pure Soap

Bicarbonate of Soda (Bicarb)

White Vinegar

Borax

Washing Soda

Cloudy Ammonia

Salt

Tea Tree or eucalyptus oil

Lemon Juice

The book then proceeds to give you a rundown of each ingredient's history, including some general knowledge of how to use and store it. Once you have the core ingredients, think of the rest of the book as being similar to a cookbook. But instead of recipes for food, you get a vast amount of cleaning ideas.

Not everything is 100% about cleaning. You will be given some handy hints around the home. These include such obscure things as how to pick up an egg off the ground, how to make your own toothpaste, and how to make mosquito repellent.

Here is an idea from page 37 in the book on how to clean your sink: "Nothing beats bicarb soda to give a mirror shine to your sink. Make a paste of bicarb and water and apply with a cloth then wipe over and rinse. Try sprinkling bicarb soda directly onto a damp cloth, wipe over, and rinse off. Either method works well – it's just a matter of what suits you."

This book should come highly recommended to all Australian households. If you can just implement even 3 or 4 tips in your cleaning, then you could save big money over the next 10 years. It really taught me there are other ways than to just try and buy our products at a cheaper price. You can really make just about anything for yourself and save money.

Pros:

Who knew you could make your own toothpaste.

It is broken down into sections including Kitchen, Laundry, and Personal Care.

Cons:

Some things, most families would never use or even try.