Cheap and Clean Home Cleaning Products: Vinegar, Baking Soda, Veg Oil, Salt, and Castile Soap

Frazzled cleaning?

When I lived in the city, I had a whole pantry full of smelly cleaning products. Now that I live remotely, I use only four, exceptionally versatile products. Imagine the cost and space savings as well as the lack of chemical smells! Whether your interest is in downsizing or escaping smelly fumes or questionable additives, consider the following prices, uses, and links to additional information and recipes.

Today, my cleaning supplies consist of:

(Prices at Walmart today):

Vinegar (1 gallon costs a bit over $2)

Baking soda (1 lb $0.56)

Generic vegetable oil (48 oz $2.50)

Castile soap (32 oz $8 – 22, depending on brand)

Salt (104 oz $5.20)

By contrast, I used to buy products like:

(prices at Walmart today)

Windex (26 oz $3.12)

Tide laundry detergent (138 oz $9)

Palmolive, (52 oz, $3)

Lysol multi-purpose cleaner (28 oz, $2.87)

Copper, brass cleaner (10 oz  $2..60)

silver cleaner, Shine Bright (8 oz, $6)

rug and carpet cleaner, Arm and Hammer (30 oz $?)

shampoo: Suave, (28 oz $2.88)

soap: Dial, (4 oz $3)

Suave hair conditioner (28 oz $2.88)

Rutland brick and stone cleaner  (16 oz $7.98)

Murphy's Wood Floor Cleaner (32 oz $3.48)

Lysol toilet bowl cleaner (24 oz $4.97)

Below is a partial list of household uses for these versatile products.  For more details, including recipes and proportions, see the embedded links.

Entrepreneurial Liars and Cheats

Many entrepreneurs are dismayed by the slow pace of due diligence checks by potential investors. How many interviews, how many financial documents and resumes and business plans must they submit before getting a thumbs up or down?

This process might be more understandable if entrepreneurs realize that THERE ARE SO MANY LIARS OUT THERE.

Liars will be outed

1. Consider the process of home sales. Just as in real estate, investing in a company is proceeded by a period of judicious inquiry and inspection, recognized by both parties, ending in a legally binding closing, scheduled weeks in advance. (This is why I never believe an entrepreneur who blithely reports, “I'll be funded by then” without even having a letter of interest (LOI) in hand.
2. The reason for protracted due diligence is because, sadly PEOPLE LIE. As Catholics understand, there are lies of omission and lies of commission. The former is when a home seller neglects to mention a material fact, like a rotted roof. A lie of commission is actually writing or verbalizing a falsehood, like checking the word “no” on a form that lists “do you know about this or that.” Just as a home seller may obfuscate termite or water damage, companies seeking investment may similarly “put lipstick on a pig.” Repeat investors know this, so they endeavor to separate the wheat from the chaff through careful scrutiny. As any on-line dater knows, anyone can sound good, but how do they appear up close?

A sincere and honest entrepreneur may be aided by the following short list of several entrepreneurs who have approached us recently, each with constructed stories which omitted or fabricated information. If you can appreciate how many such people approach investors (and service providers) you can understand the logic behind due diligence of your company.

Following the list are recommendations to help honest entrepreneurs make a strong, initial impression. For additional anecdotes about other bad guys (both entrepreneurs and service providers), see prior articles on this website.