Safety of homemade cleaning products

Factual Questions
1

How safe and effective are homemade cleaning products such as:
1.Antibacterial spray for surfaces like would alcohol properly kill all bacteria
2.Soaps
3.Laundry detergent
4.Fabric Softner
and so on
Are they as effective and safe as their mass produced counterparts?

2

nm

3

That depends on just what you’re making at home, and how. Give us some specifics, here. You could probably (with varying degrees of difficulty) make all of the same chemicals found in store-bought cleaners, in which case they would be exactly as effective as the store-bought ones.

4

Duplicate thread. Closed Other thread is

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18694492#post18694492

5

Since it’s been pointed out that the other thread is not actually a duplicate, I’m reopening this one.

6
  1. Spray alcohol might be a fire hazard in the kitchen.
  2. Soaps, like lye + fat? Manufacturing is a little dangerous.
  3. Laundry detergent, like the mixes of borax and washing soda, etc? I’d probably wear safety goggles and gloves to make it.
  4. Fabric softener. I’ve never seen a recipe, and I don’t use it, so I have no opinion.

Generally, I don’t think any are unsafe as long as you don’t go mixing ammonia with bleach. Vinegar is quite good at descaling humidifiers and the like. Baking soda is pretty good for cleaning sinks and tubs. Vinegar as a disinfectant? Not too effective. I’d use alcohol for that unless I was leaving the house–then I’d use bleach at whatever concentration seems appropriate. Sometimes I use peroxide to disinfect sinks or that crud around the toilet seat connections.

Unless you have asthma or delicate pets, the commercial concoctions are generally safe, and more effective.

My opinion is to use about 1/2 of what the recommended volume of laundry detergent is, if saving money is your goal.

7

I do that for laundry detergent - it’s a mix of a bar of soap, washing soda, borax, and water.
I’ve never worn goggles or gloves when I make it. I make a batch once or twice a year, and keep it in a 5 gallon paint bucket in the garage.

My clothes seem clean, and neither they nor I seem injured by the process. I suppose I could go back to store bought stuff for a few weeks to see if there is a noticeable difference. But that seems like effort.

I use vinegar in the bleach compartment as a fabric softener. No more wasted dryer sheets for me.