I have been trying to figure out ways to clean our house with more natural cleansers. I have been using a spray of 50/50 white vinegar and water and it works pretty well, but it has no scrubbing power. While looking around the other day I found a recipe for homemade soft scrub and tried it last night. It was super easy to make and worked great.

Homemade Soft Scrub for Bath and Tile

This recipe is adapted from the recipe for Earth Paste in Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan (page243). It is quick and easy to put together and effectively cleans the bath (hooray). Make this in small batches because it can dry out and harden when stored. This recipe makes enough for two to four uses. Keep any remaining mixture in an air tight container.

Ingredients
3/4 cup baking soda (slightly heaped)
1/4 cup castile soap (I use Dr. Bronners Peppermint)
1 Tablespoon water
1 Tablespoon vinegar

Method
In a bowl, combine the baking soda and castile soap. Add the water and stir with a fork.

Lastly, stir in the vinegar. The mixture will fizz a little. Stir to make a nice soft, paste-like, consistency. (This is important – the vinegar must go in last or else the scrub will be like sludge instead of a creamy paste.)

Scoop out the scrub with a sponge and start cleaning.

This scrub can also be used to clean the toilet.

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I love that there’s nothing scary in this.  I realized that I left a little on the sink this morning and didn’t care because if Lil touches it, it won’t hurt her.

I love the smell of the Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap, but it was a little overwhelming when my head was in the bathtub that was covered it in.  The smell dissipated pretty quickly.  And it doesn’t take much to clean effectively, I used all of the above recipe to clean my sink and bathtub and I used WAY too much.