I've been wanting to make my own all purpose cleaner for a while now.  I had all the ingredients, but hadn't gotten around to making it.  Well, Sunday Michael gave me a reason to make it.  We woke up to Michael naked and poop all over the his room and on everything.  It was so nasty!  This was not the first time that he's done this, but the first time to this extreme.  It was so bad that Michael got a bath before heading down to the main floor while Jon cleaned his room.  While Jon was giving Michael a bath, I grabbed everything that could go into the washing machine and started a load.  If you don't follow my posts, we are in the process of potty training our almost 3 year old.  Michael had been waking up in the morning, taking his diaper off, pulling a pair of underwear out of the hamper, and then putting them on.  This time he decided that he would "paint" his bedroom and furniture with the poop that was in the diaper.

The last time he did this, I just cleaned it up with wipes and this time Jon got a good majority of it cleaned off with wipes.  I decided that this was a great chance to make the cleaner.  Here's the recipe that I used:

• the juice of one fresh lemon
• 1 C white vinegar
• 1/2 C baking soda
• 3 C water

I mixed all the liquid together in the spray bottle and then started pouring the baking soda in the spray bottle.  Big mistake!  Good thing I was doing this over the sink.  Had a little explosion!  The baking soda that was still in the bottle never dissolved.

Jon took the spray bottle and sprayed it over the furniture and walls.  He wiped it all down, but a few hours later everything had a while film over it.  I went onto Facebook and asked all my friends that make their own cleaner about this.  They told me that it was because of the baking soda and to rinse the areas with warm water.  They also told me that I could leave out the baking soda.

I wanted to make a new batch, but have not been able to.  I've been doing some research and it looks like almost every recipe I've ran across uses baking soda.  One thing that they all talk about is to mix all the items in a bowl and then pour into the spray bottle.  I hope to be able to make up a new batch next week once I get a new spray bottle.  FYI: the cheap $1 spray bottles at Walmart are not the best.  So once I get a new bottle and make a new batch, I'll write about that and let you know if it works better.

There are many different versions of this cleaner, but the end product is basically the same.  What you'll need is the normal blue Dawn dish soap, distilled white vinegar, and a spray bottle.  Yep, the only thing I had to go out and buy for this was the spray bottle.  It only cost me a little less than $1.00 at Walmart.  Here's how I made this:

I put 1/2 C of the vinegar in the microwave for 1 minute.  I believe this is to help it mix with the Dawn.  Pour into the spray bottle.  Then add to the spray bottle 1/2 C of the Dawn dish soap.  Put the lid on and gently mix the solution together.  I evidently was not gentle enough because bubbles started coming out of the lid.  You can make more if you would like.  Just remember it's a 1:1 ratio.

This is the before shot of my shower.  I can never seem to get the glass to ever look clean and have no idea how to get the bottom of the shower looking clean.
I might have spread a little too much.  I ended up making the solution 3 times to make sure I covered the shower.  After wiping it off, I realized that a little goes a long way with this cleaner.  The smell was not too over powering like most bathroom cleaners.  It smelled more like Dawn than vinegar.  Some people suggest to let it sit for a while.  I don't think it makes too much of a difference.  You'll want to take a clean rag or clean sponge, wet with warm water, and just start scrubbing.  Since I put so much on, it took me a long time to clean the solution off.  I ended up taking my shower head and hosing it down that way.
Here's what it looked like afterwards.  All the soap scum was off of the glass and all the chrome was nice and shiny.  I still need to figure out something to make the floor look better.  I'm thinking maybe taking some bleach to it.  Thoughts?  I'm pretty sure I will be using this for Michael's bathtub.  Very happy with getting all the soap scum off and not using harsh chemicals.  When Jon walked into the bathroom, he about fell over.  He was very surprised at how clean the glass was.  Try it out for yourself.