Okay, when I say all-purpose, I mean all purpose. Hands, body, feet, counter-tops, laminate flooring, aluminum mailboxes….one time I ran out of toothpaste and used it instead. Probably not my smartest idea, and I wouldn’t advise it, but you know what? It got the job done. I probably could have made due with baking soda but that wouldn’t have been an interesting story.
Speaking of uninteresting stories; I did a lot of scrubbing this weekend. A lot. First it was the pot smeared with scorched polyester tar, then it was the grimy bits of crud along the kitchen baseboards, then it was the labels on a bunch of ceramic stuff from the thrift store. You get the idea. It’s a great way to ruin a manicure and pickle my fingers in the process. Fortunately, I started making my own all-purpose scrub a few months ago and it’s great stuff. Aggressive on dirt — soft on hands. Is that an ad slogan? I think that’s an ad slogan. Can you tell I watch too much TV? I watch too much TV.
Okay, you get the idea.
This recipes is a hybrid between my foot scrub and this one I found on Pinterest. The key here is to use a ‘soft soap’ (just a moisturizing dish soap) with some sort of oil in it. This one has cocoa butter built in and smells a bit like Malibu rum. So that’s fun. There is something magical about oil-based detergents. Don’t ask me what, but it cuts through stuff like no other soap. And yeah, it works on your hands too. Adding extra tea tree oil is optional but I use it with cleaning as often as possible — it cuts grease, prevents soap-scum (or any sort of mold/fungal-based build up), works as a pest-deterrent, and yeah, it smells amazing.
Are you a mosquito magnet? Meeeee toooooo! I used to have to spritz myself with bug repellant every morning in the summer until I started adding a few drops of tea tree oil to my shampoo. I don’t smell it in my hair but the bugs do and they leave me alone. I haven’t been bitten once this summer. This is also great for little kids who are prone to head lice. And hey, know what’s more fun than childhood head lice? Adult head lice. If you travel a lot or use public transportation, this is a legit concern. And don’t even get me started on the bed bug epidemic…
Tea tree is inexpensive (I’m still working on a $5 bottle I bought 3 years ago) and you don’t have to go to a pretentious health food store to buy it. You can usually find it in the pharmacy or grocery store in the first aid section (it’s a natural disinfectant and anti-inflammatory too). It’s also great for acne, thrush, athlete’s foot…and a bunch of other stuff.
I am going to stop talking now because I think you will assume the tea tree oil people are paying me to say this stuff. They’re not. It’s just good stuff and I feel like talking about it.
Okay…back to the mix! After it’s combined, I like to mix it in a covered sugar bowl and keep it by the sink at all times. It gets used a couple times a week, if not more. You can pick up a sugar bowl at a thrift store for a buck at any time, and for a scoop, just cut the handle off a plastic spoon. Or you fingers. Whatever. It’s your sugar bowl. Live it up!
judy
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judy
This is really cool! But not as cool as your lobster bowl!! 🙂
Deb
It repels bugs? Seriously? What about ants? I’m so over this year’s ant infestation. I tried appealing to their sense of intrusion in my life and the treat of extermination. When that didn’t work, bought Terro. I love Terro to death to get rid of ants but it’s way more expensive than what this would be.
It doesn’t dry out in a sugar bowl kept by the sink? How does it do in cleaning non-stick cookwear? I’ll bet it would scrub clean my tub in half the time and not trigger my allergies.
Vryka
Yeah. It repels all kinds of bugs. I wonder if this sugar scrub works as well as my salt/lemon juice/tea tree/olive oil scrub? No soap but then I can use it on my cast iron.
Vryka
Of course I’m going to have to make castile soap out of olive oil soon and add an abrasive, either sugar or salt.
I lived in the north bush up here in Canada. During bug season I switched to all unscented soap, and spritzed tea tree and lavender on myself and pets. It worked some. The bug shirts work better, especially against black flies. Mosquitos bite you. Black flies bring knife and fork.
GeekChicGrrl
Did the scrub take the melty-scarf off your pot? When I first moved into the house I live in now, I didn’t realize that all of the settings on my stove-top were actually a full step hotter than marked and carbonized some noodles to the bottom of my favorite pot. It took forever to get the residue off 🙁
PEACHES
No — didn’t work any better than the ten others things I tried. I have now switched from scrubbing to a fire-based approach. I’ll keep you posted!