From Drab to Fab! Frugal DIY Shower Cleaner

I saw this recipe for homemade shower cleaner pinned on Pinterest awhile back, but had my doubts that it could make much of a difference in my seriously gross shower. I bought a $.99 spray bottle and figured, "What have I got to lose...other than a nasty shower?" We have no windows and poor ventilation in our bathroom, so toxic cleaners are problematic for my asthma. Not to mention my kids sit in the tub with the residue of all those harsh chemicals--bleck! This easy cleaner had no nauseating smell and I even (purposefully!) sprayed down the kids' bath toys with it. The other perk is that while making it, you get a shiny clean microwave as a bonus!


Here's what you need to take your shower from drab to FAB! 
A spray bottle with ounce markings (mine is 32 oz.)
A bottle of vinegar
Original blue Dawn or other grease-fighting dish soap
 

Put some vinegar in a glass bowl or measuring cup and heat it in the microwave until very hot, or boiling. I used slightly over 2 cups of vinegar (some will evaporate as it boils) or half the volume of my spray bottle. I left mine in about 5 minutes or so. The dirt and grime in your microwave wipes clean easily with the steam from the vinegar. A clean shower AND microwave--who doesn't love that?! It doesn't need heated with every use...just when you make your shower cleaner to help the vinegar and dish soap blend well.

See? Totally clean with just a couple paper towels! One time I read a tip on cleaning your microwave by boiling a bowl of vinegar water to create steam. I have used that tip ever since and it always works great. Now I can be even more frugal by doing both of these jobs using the same vinegar! 

I went ahead and cleaned my microwave while the vinegar was cooling slightly (you want it warm/hot but not hot enough to hurt your plastic bottle). You could add an equal amount of the dish soap to the vinegar, stir it up and then use a funnel to pour it into the spray bottle OR you could do the vinegar and dish soap separately (which is what I did in the pictures below). I poured the vinegar in the bottle first and then squeezed the dish soap in until I had a total of four cups or 32 oz. (The recipe is a 1:1 ratio, so you could use 6 oz. of each or 100 oz. of each!) I suppose you could pour them into the bottle without the funnel, if you like a challenge! 

And there you have it--homemade shower cleaner! Do you like my little model? Ha ha! And now for the fun part (the actual cleaning)....

I sprayed down the whole shower, tub and tub toys on Saturday morning and allowed it to sit on there for a couple hours. Then I climbed into the tub with an old toothbrush and scrubbed all the grout. I honestly didn't have to use as much elbow-grease as I expected and I admit, as much as I hate to clean anything, it was kind of fun. The night-and-day difference made it totally rewarding! Notice how it's so thick it clings to the walls on the way down? Super cool!

On a side note, my son came in while I was scrubbing and said, "Eww...gross!" To which I replied, "Yeah, I know! Our shower is really yucky--but look at how great this new cleaner is working. Jackson just looked at me with a confused expression and said, "But now when you brush your teeth, they are going to taste like SOAP!" Kids are so funny! I told him it wasn't *my* toothbrush--just an old one. If I had been thinking on my feet a little faster I would have told him it wasn't *my* toothbrush, but *his* I was using!! Hee hee!

AFTER

What is your least favorite item in the house to clean? The stove? The toilet? The shower? I'd love to hear your feedback on this homemade shower cleaner. This stuff made the the thing I dread cleaning the most (the shower) completely tolerable. That's high praise for a homemade cleaner!