All-Natural Powdered Cleanser

Just when I think my Cleaning Cabinet Makeover is complete, someone asks for a recipe I didn’t cover like All-Natural Cleaning Wipes. Well, it happened again the other day when a friend asked if I had a recipe for a powdered cleanser to replace that old nemesis, Comet. I pointed out that I had already replaced Comet with my All-Natural Soft Scrub, but she wondered if it was possible to make a powdered version to have as a back-up. How could I refuse a challenge like that?

After a lot of research and testing, I’m surprisingly happy with the recipe I came up with. Some of the ingredients may not be your go-to products when you think of cleaning your house but maybe they should be. Here’s why:

Baking Soda: Not only is it a great scouring agent, it’s alkaline. Food residues are organic substances and many of them are acids. When baking soda reacts with acids in the residues, bubbles of carbon dioxide form inside the residues, which help to lift them.
Washing Soda: renowned for its ability to cut grease, it also keeps drains fresh and blockage-free.
Citric Acid: kills bacteria, mold and mildew and is great for general disinfecting and cleaning. It’s also effective at removing soap scum, hard water stains, calcium deposits, lime, and rust.
Salt: works as an effective yet gentle scouring agent, salt also absorbs odors and cuts grease while preventing more grease build-up.
Cream of Tartar: a great stain remover for porcelain and stainless steel, it is also effective against the dreaded bathtub ring.
Lemon Essential Oil: a well-known cleaning agent great for cleansing and purifying the air and surfaces, promotes a positive mood and cognitive abilty.
White Fir Essential Oil: supports clear breathing and respiratory function, energizes the body and the mind.

Your kitchen sink is the dirtiest spot in your house, hands down. Germs and bacteria need need three things to live and multiply: water, food and warmth. Kinda like people, only way nastier. Your kitchen sink offers an endless supply of those three things.

Just sprinkle the Powdered Cleanser generously in your sink (or tub or toilet) and scrub with a scrub brush. Scrub the whole sink and don’t forget the corners and drain hole. The cleanser won’t foam but you can add a squirt of dish-washing detergent if that makes you feel better.

A few minutes latter you’ll have a sparkling clean sink that no germ or bacteria would be caught dead in. They have standards, ya know, and your disinfected sink just won’t cut it. Well, at least not until your kids get home.

I’m surprised to admit it, but I like this All-Natural Powdered Cleanser a lot more than I though I would. I still prefer my All-Natural Soft Cleanser, but I have, on occasion, run out of it and didn’t have time to make more right then. I’m happy I now have a back-up that I can use instead of the can of Ajax I had hidden under the sink. (Shhh, don’t tell. The Ajax was only my emergency back-up and I just threw it away). Cleaning Cabinet Makeover complete…I think.

Powdered Cleanser 
2 cups baking soda (find large boxes in the laundry aisle)
1/2 cup washing soda (find in the laundry aisle)
1/2 cup citric acid (find in the canning aisle or online)
1/2 cup salt
3 tbsp. Cream of Tartar (find in the spice aisle)
8 drops lemon essential oil
8 drops white fir essential oil
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. Pour into a mason jar or a container with a lid.

Yield: 3 1/2 cups.

Note— I like to use a shaker top on my mason jar. You can now purchase plastic shaker tops for mason jars at stores like Walmart or online but they cost about 4 bucks apiece (see Another Note). Or you can add one of those darling punch-cut lids (see top picture) that you can get on Amazon, eBay or Etsy and sprinkle away in true farm girl style.

Another Note—the green lid from the Kraft Parmesan cheese container actually fits a standard (not wide-mouth) mason jar. Seriously? Yes, seriously. Genius!