This could be messy

Updates below.

People!  Best Friday night EVER!

I totally cleaned my glass shower doors, that's why.  Eric came in to make fun of me, because apparently it's "sad" to spend your Friday night "cleaning the shower."  Well, whatever, Eric.  We'll see who's laughing tomorrow.

(Probably Eric, because I've totally ODed on chocolate, and I'm dizzy as heck, and I'm afeared.  Why, why, why can't I behave?)

So here's what happened, because clearly you need the full story: I was on Pinterest, looking at Everything.  And there was this pin for a homemade shower cleaner.  One part white vinegar, one part dish soap.   Supposedly it's magic.  Zillions of people said so, because zillions of people are on Pinterest commenting on this sort of thing.  Well, you can only be on Facebook for so long before you've read it all and need something else to do to avoid your children.  Um, so I hear.

Click here for page link because
I'm awesome that way.

I've been making my own cleaners since the beginning of January, I guess, and I tell you what, I am ALL about homemade cleaners.  No harsh smell, no chemicals to wash off your hands, no plastic to recycle when it's all gone.  I could come up with more reasons, but whatever, either you're with me or you're not.

I feel a list coming on:

1. Search the house for a spray bottle I could reuse.
2. Get the big huge jug o' white vinegar out of the laundry room.  
3. Get the container of unscented castile soap because that's what I use for everything now that I'm all homemade cleaner poser awesome.  
4. Heat 12 ounces of white vinegar in the microwave.  
5. Add two ounces of castile soap even though I supposedly should have added up to six, except castile soap is highly concentrated so I didn't think I'd need that much, and it turns out I was right, which ruled.  
6. Discover that castile soap clumps like a son of a gun when mixed directly into vinegar.
7. Add a little warm water just for kicks to see if it helps, then pat myself on the back because I'm a genius and the clumping action?  Totally gone. 
8. Hop in the shower and go to town spraying everything in sight.

Since this is the best Friday night EVER, you've probably already deduced that it worked.  IT WORKED!  I was generous with the spray, that is true, but I just wiped it off with a damp cloth and that was that.

Then, since that was so incredibly great, I started in on the rest of the shower.  It cleaned just fine, but I've got some stubborn soap scummy junk on the floor and walls and whatever, and it wasn't really working as well as I'd hoped it would.  So I got out and sprayed the heck out of the whole thing and thought maybe I'd leave it on overnight except now I'm thinking I don't want to wait that long*, so I'll probably do it after I'm done here.  Because there's still some Friday night left.

Warning: Unscented castile soap and white vinegar?  SMELL TERRIBLE.  It's funny because the smell hasn't bothered me before--I make an all purpose cleaner out of water, a dash of castile and a dash of vinegar, and about ten drops of tea tree oil--but when I sprayed this on the shower door, it about knocked my socks off.  I got used to it pretty quickly, and it definitely wasn't as horrible as the chemical smell of some of the cleaners I have tried.  But wow.  Turn a fan on, truly.

*And THAT is why I don't want to wait overnight.

Oh, and since I had such great success with the shower doors, I immediately whipped up another batch, only this time I didn't warm up the vinegar.  And it failed!  Lots and lots and LOTS of clumping, even when I added water.  So I poured it out and nuked it and put it back and it was fine.  So yeah, you do have to warm up your vinegar to get this to work.  Good to know.

Oh, and the castile has risen to the top of the vinegar, so it'll need a good shake before I use it again, not that THAT is the end of the world or anything.

I just checked my shower doors and I've got some water spots on the glass now, but I suppose that's less offensive than soap scum.  I cannot believe the soap scum just disappeared like that.  I've tried countless store-bought cleaners trying to get that stuff off the doors, and nothing has worked, no matter how chemically potent.  Even a magic eraser and an SOS pad get all junked up and make it hard to get much accomplished.  Even if this only works as a shower door cleaner?  TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Thank you, Pinterest.

Alanis Morissette, Hands Clean.  Get it?  Ah, the wit.

UPDATE 2/21: I played with this cleaner all weekend, since obviously just Friday night wasn't pathetic enough.  I learned a couple of things, which I feel compelled to pass along.

The mixture works the best when the vinegar is warm--makes the soap scum melt, as it were.  The smell really is gross.  Not sure if it would be any better if I were to use the prescribed dishwashing liquid.  I added some tea tree oil to my second batch in an attempt to scent it up, but to no avail.  It does work on the entire shower, although it helps to have something nice and scrubby around.  This works the same or better than the store cleaners I've tried, so I feel like it was worth it.   And I will be using it again, smell be damned.

UPDATE 2/27: Well, this weekend I broke down and bought a bottle of Dawn, feeling like an environmental loser, if you want to know the truth, but also intrigued enough by the whole clean-shower concept to want to give it a whirl.  Conclusion: Stays on the shower door better, not even remotely as smelly, works like a charm.  I didn't have to scrub like I did with the Castile soap.  But!  I still have watermarks on the door.  Maybe I just have to live with that.  I was sort of hoping that would come off with the soap scum.