[[home_hacks]]

This page is a list of home hacks to save on household items, and also have better control of the substances you're introducing into your house.

Instead of buying dishwashing tablets, gel or powder, that cost $0.15 to $1.50 per wash, and generally include phosphates, chlorine, fragrances, dyes and petrochemical surfactants, you can easily make your own dishwashing powder with washing soda (sodium carbonate), citric acid and table salt. Just mix:

• 1 parts kitchen salt
• 2 parts citric acid
• 4 parts washing soda

… and use a tbsp per wash, and it'll cost 10–15c/load. And for rinse aid, use white vinegar, which is cheaper and safer.

You can pay for Omo if you want, or you can simply mix:

• 100–120g grated unscented bar soap (castile, coconut)
• 1 cup washing soda (sodium carbonate)
• 1 cup borax (optional, boosts cleaning & whitening)
• ½ cup baking soda (odor neutralizer, softener)

And add ½ cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle for fabric softening + scale prevention.

Getting rid of ants in the house is as simple as mixing sugar and borax:

• 3 tbsp of sugar (refined preferred)
• 1 tsp of borax

That's just enough borax to not put them off the sugar, and they can still make it home, die in peace, be eaten by their brethren, and poison them too. Mix these two in this ratio, with just enough water to make a syrup, and put it on their path, in a shallow lid (milk, etc).