Make your own cream surface cleaner

This cleaner is liquid enough to pour from a squeeze bottle and works well when you need something a bit stronger than soap and water.

Ingredients

• 6g castile bar soap, unscented
• 1 cup (250ml) water
• 30g (2TB) washing soda
• Essential oils (optional)

Equipment required

• Pot
• Grater
• Stick blender

To make

• Finely grate the bar soap or chop it into small pieces. If you don’t have a scale 6g is about 1.5TB when grated (a baking not eating tablespoon measure) or a 15mm x 15mm x 20mm piece
• Add 1 cup of water to a small pot, add the grated soap and bring to the boil.
• Simmer until the soap has melted and take off the heat.
• Stir in the washing soda and mix to dissolve.
• Put back on the heat (at a gentle simmer) and stir for a few minutes to completely heat the washing soda and let it thicken a little.
• Tip into the container you use for your stick blender. A bucket also works well.
• If you want to use essential oils, add these now. Remember – this is a cleaner, it’s not anti-bacterial so any you add will just be for scent.
• Leave to cool. The soap will float to the surface of the water and set hard-ish. This may take overnight.

• Once cool, use your stick blender to whizz the mixture up (carefully – you may need to cover the top). You can also use a blender or food processor. I don’t find this works as well to blend the soap but your equipment may work differently.
• Funnel into a suitable container. A plastic squeeze bottle is ideal.
• The mixture will thicken over the next day but can be used straight away.

Notes

• When adding the washing soda to the hot liquid it’s good practice to do this in a ventilated area and use a dust mask or just a tea towel over your nose and mouth so you don’t inhale fumes.
• The water and other ingredients will separate in between uses – shake before using.
• Not all castile soap is created equal. You might find yours makes a harder or thinner cleaner so you might need to adjust the ratios. Regular soap can also be used but check the ingredients first – the purpose of this cleaner is to avoid harmful ones!