Cleaner for Shower Scum and everything else

This cleaner – or a version of it made with Blue Dawn dish washing detergent – has been getting a lot of coverage on P’interest and various web sites. It has been made out to be brilliant at cleaning almost everything so I decided to try to make something similar using what I thought would be close. I don’t know why or if Blue Dawn is important but I found Tandil at Aldi and it is in a blue bottle and concentrated so I decided to give it a go.

The only other ingredient is vinegar. I used home brand cheap vinegar that is used for cleaning. I would never use it for pickling.

I have been using this to clean almost everything

I have been using this collection of items to make a mix that cleans almost everything

Concentrated Cleaner

  1. Uses equal quantities of white vinegar and blue dish washing detergent
  2. Put 1 cup of detergent into a cup measure
  3. Heat 1 cup of vinegar in the microwave in a large glass jug
  4. Add the detergent to the hot vinegar and stir to mix. It changes from a green colour to blue.

Dispensing

The more things I find to do with this mix the more ways I need to be able to dispense it. This is what I have tried already:

  • Put concentrated mix into a plastic bottle – the vinegar bottle or a fairly solid soft drink bottle. A 1 litre bottle is far better than a 2 litre bottle which is far too thin.
  • Put the concentrate into a plastic dish washing brush
  • Mix the concentrate down 5 parts water to 1 part detergent/vinegar mix and put into a spray bottle – this mix is in every wet area in the house. Great for a quick clean.
  • Put the concentrate into a plastic bottle and burn a hole in the top to use as a squeeze bottle
  • Put the concentrate into an old shampoo bottle that already has a hole and a locking top

Ideas for Using the Cleaner

  • Shower cleaner: Use the dish washing brush to scrub the scum off the tiles and screen. Rinse with water and squeegee dry
  • Shower cleaner – my way: Use the concentrate in the plastic squeeze bottle. Squirt on to the shower recess walls and scrub / rub over with a large scourer/sponge on a long stick (available from Woolworths or Bunnings)
  • Quick wash up for large items: salad bowls, food processor bowls, anything that won’t go in a dish washer – Spray with diluted mix, leave sit if particularly dirty, wipe over with a dish cloth, rinse and leave to dry
  • Bench tops, stoves and kitchen cupboards: spray and wipe. Rinsing out the cloth also keeps it pretty clean
  • Hair brushes: spray, brush together, leave for a while then rinse and leave to dry
  • Wine glasses: fantastic – spray, rub around with dishwashing sponge, rinse and leave to dry – no scum, no marks!!

I keep finding more things to do with this. It seems to be able to clean anything and is probably a lot less toxic than normal all purpose cleaners.
(read October 2013 Choice for more on this)