Homemade Cleaners

There's seems to be a flux of bloggers writing about homemade cleaners (there's another--some of you know who--but I refuse to link to her). Not only is it great for the environment, but it's also quite frugal. While there are exceptions, homemade cleaners generally work just as well as the harsh, store-bought cleaners.

Confession: I use store-bought cleaners.

I have used the homemade cleaners, and for a while, was using those exclusively. They do work quite well and are far cheaper. But there's one thing that store-bought cleaners have that vinegar simply does not: a pretty smell .

Enter Method products:

I know, I know--they're not even cheap cleaning products! But oh, the smell. I don't know if you can tell (probably not, unless your bifocals work better than mine), but the spray pictured smells like grapefruit. And not in the way the Pledge smells like lemon. This really, truly, honest to goodness smells like they shoved a grapefruit in this bottle. I smile every time I use this stuff. (I'm also quite fond of their Eucalyptus Mint bathroom spray.)

So while part of me cringes every time I put a bottle of this in the grocery cart, I still think it's worth it. I hate to clean. If spending a little more on a nice-smelling cleaner makes cleaning a little more palatable for me, it's money well-spent.