Lemon Basil Natural Cleaning Spray (Borax Free)

Is the Branch Basics something you would consider using on your own hair?

Thanks

Cynthia

i’m afraid I haven’t yet read the comments so I’m sorry if someone else already brought this up but I had to keep the math straight in my head while I had still had it (I didn’t write it down, silly me, and then read the comments! – DUH!)

Anyway I looked at the prices for the non gmo white vinegar and the branch basics and they are off-the-charts high. Much higher, when you make it your way, than any commercial cleaning spray – even when you are only using 1/3 of the ingredient in your cleanser – that still equals let’s see 576 oz cleaning spray for the branch basics – boil that down to 24 oz you actually get 24 bottles for $82
Now compare that to 128 x3 = 384 for $12

So broken down it looks like this:

192oz for $82. Branch basics makes 576 oz of your cleanser. 24 oz bottles x 24 =$3.41/bottle – I can get the same bottle of the commercial stuff at the dollar store for $1
128 oz for $72 non gmo vinegar. 384 your stuff 24 oz x 5.3 = $13.58/bottle!!!!!
128 oz for $12 white vinegar 384 regular stuff – still homemade = $2.26/bottle (this is if you use Katie’s recipe using regular white vinegar when buying it at $12/128 oz at Amazon – I’m psure a generic bottle can be found somewhere cheaper but not many places sell 128 oz bottles generic white vinegar, which is why you’d get the lower cost – idk cuz i haven’t found this, hmm well actually 24 oz white vinegar at the dollar store would equal $5 for 128 oz so I guess I should stop buying the Amazon Heinz bottle!! Let’s see that would bring it down to $1.60 per bottle so almost as cheap as commercial brand if you use dollar store white vinegar which really shouldn’t vary much from Heinz! Hmmmm now rethinking buying from Amazon!!)

Funny all this time I HAD thought I was making cleanser that was less pricy than commercial but in fact it’s twice as much – well actually I started to only use about 1/3 cup of vinegar in a 24 oz bottle not 1 cup cuz I make my own kind of concentrate by taking the vinegar and adding a BUNCH of citrus rinds and cloves and cinnamon to it and putting it in the window sill for 6 weeks or so – makes a rather thick mix of REALLY strong stuff, all natural of course, so mine actually goes 3 times further equaling $0.96/bottle so actually slightly cheaper than commercial which makes me happy!! Now that I got it all worked out. Whew!! (Course that’s not including the cost of the cloves and cinnamon – not not gmo cuz I get at the dollar store – actually it would be cheaper to buy the organic stuff – which may or may not be gmo – probably not- from mountainroseherbs.com – but I don’t purchase everything from them cuz I can’t afford to constantly be making large purchases from them – in order to justify the shipping costs – but I do plan on finally making the switch when I get down to where I can actually do it and actually store soooooo many 4oz bags of like omg sooo many of the herbs and spices I use!!! These bags are huge! And so storage, living in a mobile home, without an attic or basement, is a real issue!! Plus buying the tins or bottles to store the spices in my cabinet of the stuff I take out of the bags!!! It will eventually work out to cheaper but we’re talking a couple years from now to where I can pull this all off!!)

Ok so bottom line – unless you follow my recipe instead of Katie’s (not recommending you do cuz for all I know hers is better!!) – OH AND that’s not including the costs of the EOs!! – which if you buy them, you know are NOT cheap!! – OH and the glass bottles, again not cheap, but reuse-able, still first-time cost of making this us going to set you back!! – anyway it is NOT cheaper than buying commercially from the dollar store!! BUT you ARE making SAFE for your family, much better smelling, environmentally responsible stuff which if you buy that from someplace else will be more expensive than what you make – well the $13 one is arguably more expensive, which is what Katie is using here in this recipe.

Ok so while I’m STILL all for making homemade all natural, safe to drink, cleansers!!!, I am not going to switch to non gmo white vinegar – there’s no way I could afford to do so!! I’d LOVE, be thrilled!, to be able to and I think it’s extremely unfair and basically cruel to humans that we should have to shell out $72 for the stuff!! What a world we live in!!

And so my point here is that while you ARE doing the right thing, it is NOT cheaper! (unless you do it my way, 🙂 ).

Don’t get me wrong here. I am most grateful to Katie as she got me started down this road and I am soooo much happier now that I’m using the natural stuff. Now when I smell the commercial stuff it almost makes me ill. I feel safer in my own home and using my counters to put food on. And just even cleaning the bathroom just feel more idk mmmm more responsible doing this!! And I am sooo grateful for all her recipes AND OMG allll her research!!!! And love the cookbook (although haven’t made the switch to the “real food” diet). I love my kombucha!! I’m just so pleased I ran across Katie’s site – it has made a HUGE impact in my life!! So please don’t think that I’m being at all flip or disrespectful, just pointing out the facts as I see them. And since I DO make these products (have almost completely switched over, make my own dish soap, dish-washer soap, laundry soap, cold process soap – thenerdyfarmwife.com, counter/window/all-purpose cleansers, facial cleansers, lotion, lip balm, ……) it is important to me and of real concern!! I was excited to look up the non gmo vinegar and just so disappointed when I saw the price!!

Your neighborly devil’s advocate,

Cynthia

I love making my own cleaning products. I just started using Norwex. All you need is their cloths and water! They are woven with silver and trap bacteria in the cloth. I don’t know how I ever lived without them!

I also have been wondering about the plastic insert attached to the sprayers in glass bottles. If essential oils leech plastic, how is that safe? Or is it just safER? I’m replacing all my household and personal products with safe organics and am wondering if I might just eliminate spray bottles altogether. Thanks!

Another natural cleaner that I recently found and love uses warm water, baking soda, white vinegar and lemon juice/oil. Smells fantastic and cleans well!

Thank you Katie! I love your page. I was just wondering if we could use different essential oils instead of lemon and basil. I have lavender and tea tree oil at hand and wanted to know if the cleaner would be still effective if I used those. Thanks much!

I’d like to comment on Borax. Borax is extremely safe and it is mind naturally and has good levels of boron. On a toxicity chart borax is LESS toxic than table salt. Yes, you can consume borax. I’ve done so for quite some time. It helps de-flouridate the body and helps with arthritis. There’s actually a conspiracy behind it(surprise surprise, right). Here’s the link:
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/boraxconspiracy03jul12.shtml