17 household products you can easily make at home with ingredients you already have

Let’s face it, those household products you buy at the store can get very expensive.

Fortunately, you can make a lot of them at home with products you most likely have sitting around your house – and they an be just as effective.  In addition to being cheaper they can be a lot more environmental friendly.

1. DIY Laundry Detergent

Laundry detergent can get pretty expensive. Here’s a great recipe that you can make with just a few ingredients.

2. DIY Febreze

Sometimes your clothes or furniture need a little freshening up. Here’s an inexpensive way to make your own Febreze.

3. DIY  Dishwashing Detergent

It’s really easy to create an all natural dishwashing soap that does just as good of a job. Here are the instructions.

4. DIY  Glass Cleaner (Windex)

Who needs that expensive Windex when you can just do it yourself? Try this easy recipe.   It just takes water, vinegar, and lemon.

5. DIY Drano

It’s a fact of life that drains get clogged.  But you don’t need to put all those harsh chemicals down your sink or toilet. Here’s a recipe that will only cost a fraction and is much better for the environment. It’s just baking soda, vinegar, and hot water.

6. DIY Liquid Hand Soap

You can take cheap bar soap (e.g. that stockpile of free hotel soaps you have sitting around), water, and glycerine to make a great moisturizing liquid soap. Here are the details.

7. DIY  Foaming Hand Soap

I love my foaming soap. However, the key to making foaming soap is the dispenser not the soap.  So never throw out those dispensers. Refill it with 1 teaspoon of liquid soap or dishwashing liquid and fill the rest with water.

8.  DIY Salad Dressing

Who doesn’t love a good salad?   Unfortunately, a lot of those salad dressings can be full of sugar and can also get quite expensive. Here’s an amazing vinaigrette recipe you can easily whip up.

9. DIY Stain Remover

Just add soap and hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle and you are good to go. Here’s the complete recipe and instructions.

10. DIY Shaving Cream

No need to spend $3-4 on a bottle of shaving cream. With just 4 ingredients, you can have a really cheap alternative to expensive brands. Here’s the recipe.

11. DIY Bug Spray

Unfortunately, so many of the retail bug repellants contain a lot of chemicals. Luckily, you can easily make an all natural bug repellent with just a few ingredients including a scented oil, witch hazel, and water.   Here’s the details.

12. DIY Swiffer Wet Jet Solution

Who doesn’t love a Swiffer?  It’s a convenient way to clean the floors. However, those refill cartridges can get really expensive.   Here’s how to make the solution yourself.

13. DIY Makeup Remover Pads

A great (and much cheaper) way to make your own supply of makeup remover pads. Here are the details.

14. DIY Chalkboard Paint

I have a few chalk boards in our house I and love them. The good news is that you don’t need expensive chalkboard paint to achieve the same result. You can do it yourself with paint (any color you want!) and if you have any tile grout lying around.

15 . DIY Body Wash

Here is a super easy way to make your own supply of body wash that is 50% cheaper that the basic stuff you find at the store.

16. DIY Dog Shampoo

We love our dogs.  However, that doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money of simple products.  Here’s a basic recipe on how to make your own dog shampoo.

17. DIY Wood Polish

We go through a lot of Pledge at our house. Check out this recipe for making your own version. Just combine a little oil, water, lemon juice and vinegar together and you’ve got your polish.