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Been meaning to look at this for a while now. As probably like a lot of people, we just buy a plastic bottles of cleaning stuff at the supermarket and repeat every time. Tend to buy a mixture of method stuff and own brand stuff.
see there’s quite a few options on Amazon and found the two below, but before I go into one of these systems to avoid buying any more plastic bottles full of what is probably 90% water, anyone taken the plunge and can recommend anything ?
my concern is you buy the kit and then as it’s not that popular, they go bust, as every supermarket in the land still has racks of plastic bottles for cleaning products. So the refillable approach doesn’t look it’s making any inroads into changing purchasing habits.
https://entirepro.co.uk/pod-pro
Do you have a refill shop nearby? There's quite a few round here (but we are in a lefty, middle class area 🙂 ). Just take one of your existing empty bottles in and fill it up
We just reuse the bottles and buy 5l refills. Friend on a farm has the space so buys the 25l ones.
The washing liquid one has a pump on it and the only one we have to buy a new bottle for every few years is the toilet cleaner one as it eventually splits from use.
We’ve been using Smol products for a couple of years. Quite happy with the effectiveness and price. You get a bunch of bottles to start and then refill tablets. Also buy 5L bottles of toilet cleaner and shower gel and refill the old bottles or dispensers (careful not to mix them up 😂)
Also, think about what cleaning products you buy and whether you actually need them. There's so many specific products these days that are basically the same thing, and so many of them you don't need anyway.
'Kitchen cleaner' - just use hot soapy water from the washing up bowl (before you've washed up, so it's clean water)
Shower gel - just isn't needed. I've not used it for five years now, hot water and a scrubby brush is all you need to wash skin (plus Google about your biome and all that shizzle, there's health benefits too)
Toilet cleaner - bleach
Bathroom cleaner - Probably need something as they generally have some kind of anti-limescale property
Floor cleaner - hot soapy water
'Shower spray' - get in the sea
Window cleaner - hot very slightly soapy water and a microfibre cloth
Furniture polish - get in the sea. A dry duster is fine.
Tesco do a sachet of concentrated bathroom cleaner that you drop into your existing spray bottle and fill with water*.
*This is probably the dullest thing that I have written**
** ever.
A year or so ago, Mrs Lawman bought into a dispenser for handsoap which was refillable (bear with me on that one) whereby you could refill using a tiny glass bottle of concentrated liquid, then top up with 250ml of water. It then dispensed soapy froth for about 10-12 days before running empty and needing refilled again. At £3.50 a shot. We've kicked that into the sea as per shower spray above.
Now we just buy a 1 litre refill pack of Palmolive and top up the 'normal' pump action dispensers in bathroom, kitchen and downstairs loo as necessary. All that said, she does have something of a predilection for very specific cleaning products in other areas of the household, so there's bathroom cleaner, kitchen cleaner, floor wipes, baby wipes for the dog, leather wipes for car and sofa, descaler, bio washing liquid (which comes in Tetrapak refills, to be fair) non bio washing liquid, 2 types of hand-wash, 2 types of fabric conditioner, carpet cleaner, toilet cleaner, bleach (3 flavours), wood polish, steel sink cleaner. Shit, I shouldn't have started looking, should I?
Am probably proportionately cross now
Am probably proportionately cross now
What do you use to clean your bike? I was just looking in the garage and I don't think I'm on the moral high ground on this one 🙂
What do you use to clean your bike?
Water. Sometimes water with a bit of washing up liquid in it from a spray bottle. Very occasionally a bucket of hot water with a squirt of washing up liquid in it.
Whenever I've looked these sorts of solutions, the refills are often either more expensive, inferior quality, or both. The instant coffee I buy (I know, I'm a monster) costs more per gram for a refill pouch than for a new glass jar.
There's a hippy artisan bring-your-own-container affair like someone mentioned earlier popped up in town semi-recently, I bought some loose-leaf tea for little other reason to buy "something" and support a local cottage industry, which they measured into a little paper bag. It was garbage, not just taste-wise but in terms of the actual quality of the leaves (I know my way around tea) and cost about three times what I'd pay for something from a supermarket.
Window cleaner - hot very slightly soapy water and a microfibre cloth
I'm told that a mild dilute vinegar solution is what's needed here.
she does have something of a predilection for very specific cleaning products
I feel your pain on this one.
She's an absolute obsessive with these sodding "anti-bac wipes." I can tell when she's cleaned because every surface which previously had a thumbprint or three specs of dust is now a big smeary mess. Glass coffee table, kitchen worktops, stainless steel kettle, microwaves... I've told her if she ever anti-bacs the TV screen we're getting married just so that I can divorce her. (Which is something of an empty threat as I'd have to divorce my existing estranged wife first.)
Water. Sometimes water with a bit of washing up liquid in it from a spray bottle. Very occasionally a bucket of hot water with a squirt of washing up liquid in it.
I don't know if modern bike paint is different, but I did this once with my car rather than paying for "expensive" car shampoo and it stripped off the top layer of (paint? wax? something) leaving me with a dull matt finish. It looked like red undercoat.
Thanks all.
Agree with some of @Cougar s thoughts, tablets for refills etc could be rubbish, more expensive etc. though he invalidated his opinion with his instant coffee abomination.
think I’ll give the smol stuff a go, doesn’t look too bad.
yes it is super boring, just got a bit over aware of how many bottles we have, as a whole raft of cleaning plastic bottles got thrown out in one week.
and re the 5l containers to fill up another plastic bottle, I don’t fancy having 10-20+ litres of cleaning products around the house (or shed), that’s just more plastic bottles, I’m looking at getting away from more plastic containers.
the refill centre approach sounds ideal, not got one near me.
though he invalidated his opinion with his instant coffee abomination.
To be fair, it's mostly my partner who drinks it. I only drink instant when I'm pushed for time or (more often) just feeling bone idle.
You can reduce the clutter in your cupboard by, for example, buying one product that can be used for a number of cleaning tasks.
Take soda crystals, can be used for soaking tea pots and mugs. Use also in the washing machine for a periodic deep clean. Sinks and bathroom plug holes can be kept draining smoothly by using soda crystals. Cheap as chips, some supermarkets sell it and B&Q definitely does.
White vinegar can be used for making fabric conditioner, it will clean the glass of a shower enclosure, descale shower head, descale iron, use in washing machine for deep clean. Again, cheap as chips.
Citric acid will get rid of limescale in the bath, shower tray, basin, loo. Use infrequently, no more than every 3 months. Again, cheap.
Warning: use gloves, cover your eyes, ventilate room. Don't mix.
What do you use to clean your bike
In my case, pretty much only warm water and car shampoo most of the time, although occasionally a squirt of MucOff on the really greasy bits. And I'll set about the sprockets and chain with white spirit when necessary.
and re the 5l containers to fill up another plastic bottle, I don’t fancy having 10-20+ litres of cleaning products around the house (or shed
It's not ideal but you do cut plastic that way. Carex hand soap is easily available and cheap in 5l. There is less plastic in that than the 20 hand pumps it replaces. Bars of soap is the obvious low plastic option here.
For clothes washing liquid we get the large ecover refills, 15l I think, expensive up front but they are a cardboard box with thin plastic bag. Ecover also do really good deals at times which brings the big boxes under supermarket ecover price so I stock up 1 years worth at a time. These are the refill boxes that the refill shops stock.
Concentrated all purpose cleaner in a 5l container is another good one. This will refill a spray bottle loads and loads (100+ times) and gives a significant saving.
Shower gel and washing up liquid we've used splosh for years. That comes as a gel in pouches that you mix with water. Unfortunately they are having major supply issues at present which is a shame. Also not cheaper than bottles from the supermarket.
We’ve been using smoke for a while now. Refills for washing up liquid come in a cardboard carton and go in the pump bottle initially provided. Foaming handwashing refill is tablet form and goes in the pump bottle(s) initially provided. Dishwasher tabs come in a cardboard carton. ‘Anti bacterial spray’ in tablet form again. The only thing we didn’t like was the bathroom cleaner, it didn’t seem to clear up some odours. On the shower front I’ve been using soap bars for a few years now, much better than shower gel.
We've a stash of 5 ecover washing up bottles that I get refilled at a store when we run out, soap bars for hand washing & showering, cardboard box for washing powders, try to only buy drinks in cans or glass bottles. Would do shampoo refills but for the amount of hair I have.....