Make Your Own Household Products

Hand sanitizers protect you against germs, but some commercial hand sanitizers contain toxic chemicals that you may wish to avoid. It’s extremely easy to make an effective and safe hand sanitizer yourself.

DEET is a highly effective mosquito repellent, but it’s also toxic. If you’d like to avoid DEET-containing mosquito repellents, try making your own repellent using natural home chemicals.

Why spend the money on bubble solution when it’s one of the simplest things to make yourself? You can involve kids in the project and explain how bubbles work.

You can create a signature scent to give to someone special or to keep for yourself. Making your own perfume is another way to save cash since you can approximate some name-brand scents at fraction of the price.

Save money by making your own drain cleaner to unclog stubborn drains.

There may be situations in which you may wish to avoid fluoride in your toothpaste. You can make a natural toothpaste easily and inexpensively.

Make bath salts any colour and fragrance you choose to give as a gift or to use for a relaxing soak in the tub.

It’s probably cheaper and definitely easier to buy soap than to make it yourself, but if you’re interested in chemistry this is a good way to get acquainted with the saponification reaction.

Unfortunately, mosquitoes aren’t the only insect pests out there so you may need to broaden your defences a bit. Learn about the effectiveness of different natural chemicals against a variety of insects.

Keep your cut flowers fresh and beautiful. There are multiple recipes for flower food, but they are all effective and much less expensive than buying the product at the store or from a florist.

The best part about this silver polish is that it removes tarnish from your silver without any scrubbing or rubbing. Simply mix together common household ingredients and let an electrochemical reaction remove the nasty discolouration from your valuables.

The advantage of making shampoo yourself is that you can avoid undesirable chemicals. Make the shampoo without any dyes or fragrances or customize them to create a signature product.

Baking powder is one of those cooking chemicals that you can make yourself. Once you understand the chemistry, it’s also possible to substitute between baking powder and baking soda.

Got cooking oil? If so, you can make a clean-burning fuel for your vehicle. It’s not complicated and it doesn’t take long, so give it a try!

This isn’t something you’re print your resume on (unless you are an artist), but recycled paper is fun to make and absolutely wonderful for home-made cards and other crafts. Each piece of paper you make will be unique.

Christmas tree food will help keep the needles on the tree and will keep it hydrated so that it’s not a fire hazard. It costs so much to buy Christmas tree food that you’ll likely be surprised it only takes pennies to make it yourself.