Homemade Lemon Pine Sol ® Cleaner

Photo Credit

Last year, I confessed that I have a love affair with the "smell of clean".  Do you know what I mean?  Sometimes things just don't seem clean because the smell that I'm used to accompanying it isn't there.  That has been the biggest challenge for me using homemade cleaners.  They do work nicely in many cases, but where's the "clean smell"?

I love Lemon Pine Sol but cannot be anywhere near the regular stuff.  Just makes me wanna gag.  So if you are like me and like the lemon stuff, give this recipe a try and tell me what you think. 

Homemade Lemon Pine Sol ®

• 1/2 C bar soap, grated (cheap soap is just fine, like Pure and Natural.  The less fragrance the better.)
• 2-1/2 C water
• 1/4 C washing soda (not baking soda - found in the laundry isle)
• 1/2 C salt
• 1 t pine essential oil
• 1/2 t lemon essential oil

1. Using a box grater, grate the soap.
2. In a kettle, pour in water, grated soap, washing soda, and salt.  Heat water to dissolve ingredients, being careful not to allow mixture to boil too rapidly.  (It will create a big mess...trust me.)
3. When soaps and salt are completely dissolved, take off heat.  Cool.  
4. Add essential oils to cooled mixture and bottle in a re-purposed plastic bottle.

Note:  I have found that I can use this just like my store-bought Pine Sol ®.  A little bit goes a long way.