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Friday, May 29, 2009

Make Your Own Oxi-Clean Solution

Oxi-Clean is sodium percarbonate. What is that? It's hydrogen peroxide and washing soda. (See this post on finding washing soda in your local area)

I mixed up half a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and about 1 T of washing soda. I put some blueing in the first mix and not the second and I don't see any difference.

Check for color fastness though, my girl's purple carpet has a slight bleach spot now with the blueing mixed one. :(

Works quite well on the micro suede chair that gets yucky almost everyday.

Got an orange shirt stained with cherry juice. I immediately took it off and washed it with laundry soap by hand and it only made it dark purple blue. I thought I had ruined the shirt, I squirted my homemade oxiclean on it and left it to attend to the toddler and forgot about it. An hour later I went back in to scrub it, and the stain was gone! Woohoo! Didn't even have to scrub!

11 comments:

Myrnie said...

OK, WOW. I think that's the coolest frugal tip I've heard in a long time! My MIL uses an oxy clean spray as a pre-wash, I think I'll make my own! Thanks!

Annchan said...

Awesome! Thanks. I already use washing soda in my home made laundry soap and always love to find more uses for it.

teresajoy said...

This may be a stupid question, but do you put it all in a bottle together? It seems like it might explode?

Melissa Jagears said...

teresajoy,

Nope, doesn't explode. I actually waited around one day at a Walmart for the Oxiclean demonstrator to finish to take his oxi clean bottle since they just throw it away. (I wanted the nozzle cap mainly) So I put it in the bottle, shake it up and even cap it. Hasn't blown up on me yet.

Darlene said...

Ok, this was just too cool!
I already make my own laundry soap and use white bleach for a rinse. Never knew about the oxi-clean stuff!
Thank you SO much for this post.

Karen McLaughlin said...

I've used hydrogen peroxide on its own to get out a variety of stains with good success. I'm definitely going to give it a try with the washing soda, though! Thanks for the great tip.

H & I vI said...

What size bottle of hydrogen peroxide did you use? Do you think it would work with baking soda instead of washing soda?

Melissa Jagears said...

Just the normal size bottle you pick up from walmart or the dollar store. Baking soda might work, it won't be as strong as the washing soda though.

Jeana Rock said...

You need to keep it in a dark spray bottle because hydrogen peroxide loses strength exposed to light. That's why you buy it in a brown plastic bottle.

Kelli P. said...

YOu mention adding "blueing" to the homemade oxy-cleaner - what is blueing? Thanks

Melissa Jagears said...

Kelli, it's something your grandma used to use on her whites, bleach is more prevalent now because it actually takes the stain out (rather than just change the color cast), but you can find blueing still in some stores.

This is the brand my local grocery store carries: http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Stewarts-Bluing-8oz/dp/B001NEMV3Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357593548&sr=8-1&keywords=Mrs+Stewart%27s+Bluing

It's really only helpful for white objects, I think, so if you're using it for green carpet or brown couch cushions, I wouldn't bother, but white carpet or cream couches, I'd try it.