DIY Soaps & Cleaners - put to the test!

Several months ago, I decided I wanted to make some trial homemade soaps and cleaners. Why?  To save money, the environment, and to decrease the icky chemicals that might be in the stuff we were using.  I decided to give it a try and if it was worth the time/effort I'd do it again, if not I wouldn't bother.  I found a ton of recipes online and had to take time wading through them to find ones I thought would work that didn't contain ingredients that were expensive or unusual.  I gave each recipe a "grade".  The A's and B's I would make again and the rest just weren't worth it, in my opinion.

Laundry Soap - this is a powder recipe that should work in HE/front loading machines and dissolves in cold water settings.
Ease of making - A
Money savings - A
Cleaning power - B (not as "flowery" smelling as store bought)
Ease of storing - A (although it does make A LOT...I gave some away)
Environmentally friendly/less toxins - B (saves a lot of packaging, not "all natural" or anything)
Overall - A - it's great and saves A LOT of money. Love it!

Hand Soap - this is a liquid soap recipe that can refill standard soap pumps 

Ease of making - D (somewhat time consuming and I made a big mess)
Money savings - C (compared to bulk hand soap from Costco)
Cleaning power - B (although I read somewhere that without the preservatives it can grow  mold...uhh gross?!?, but I haven't seen that happen yet)
Ease of storing - C (I store in big Softsoap bottles, but it was tough to bottle and needs to be shaken up or it coagulates *see photo below*)
Environmentally friendly/less toxins - A (uses less packaging and I made mine with organic bar soap from Whole Foods)
Overall - C - too much time, too messy, doesn't save much money, looks and feels like snot.
Alternative - large bottles of Softsoap from Costco.  Not organic or natural, like this recipe, but saves money.

Dishwasher Detergent - this is a powdered recipe.  We have HARD water, so clean dishes is a constant battle, even with commercial products
Ease of making - A
Money savings - B (still have to use Lemi Shine)
Cleaning power - C
Ease of storing - B (citric acid in the lemonade clumps and has to be broken apart, next time I'll omit the citric acid/lemonade and just use Lemi Shine or bulk citric acid separately)
Environmentally friendly/less toxins - B (simple ingredients, and I really think Borax is fine to use but there are Borax free recipes available if you don't)
Overall - C - fairly easy to make but didn't work as well as store bought and I still had to use Lemi Shine
Alternative: continue to buy bulk dishwasher detergent from Costco.  Revisit if we ever get soft water.

Dish Soap 
Ease of making - C (messy, somewhat time consuming)
Money savings - B (regular dish soap isn't super expensive when on sale and purchased with coupons)
Cleaning power - B
Ease of storing - B (used empty Dawn bottles, but it is clumpy and has a weird texture)
Environmentally friendly/less toxins - A (used organic soap)
Overall - C - same issues as the hand soap.  The cost and environmental savings do not out way the hassle/mess/time to make, in my opinion.
Alternative - continue to use traditional dish soap and buy when on sale with coupons.  Consider more natural brands if willing to pay the extra cash.

Window Cleaner
Ease of making - A
Money savings - B (window cleaner isn't that costly in the first place)
Cleaning power - C
Ease of storing - A
Environmentally friendly/less toxins - A
Overall - B - works alright and is chemical free

Daily Shower Spray - Our shower gets so scummy and gross, I wanted a spray to use everyday after we shower.
Ease of making - A
Money savings - A
Cleaning power - B (noticeable improvement, but I have not compared it to store bought)
Ease of Storing - A (used a big spray bottle from Lowe's for $.98)
Environmentally friendly/less toxins - A
Overall - B - having to spray down the shower everyday is a little bit of a pain, but does cut down on the nasty buildup

Surface Cleaner - often I just use a vinegar/water mixture.  The recipe in this link also includes borax and tea tree oil which may increase the cleaning power, but I stick to the plain vinegar/water mixture around kid stuff.
Ease of making - A
Money savings - A
Cleaning power - B
Ease of storing - A
Environmentally friendly/less toxins - A
Overall - B - vinegar diluted with water seems to work pretty well at general cleaning and I feel much better using it around baby stuff.  However, there are times when something more powerful is needed.

Commercial cleaning products that I still use:
- toilet bowl cleaner - maybe try a reasonably priced eco version?
- Magic Erasers (they may actually have magic in them)
- Windex - the home stager we hired when we were showing our last house said Windex brand works the best for cleaning stainless steel appliances, and I have to agree
- disinfecting wipes from Costco - this is a homemade recipe I haven't tried
- Pledge - works well for dusting wood and other surfaces without ruining them, lasts a long time
- carpet spot cleaner - if you are in a situation where you need to clean poop vomit something off of your carpets STAT (especially if you have kids and/or pets), you don't want to go cheap.

Overall impression - Most of the homemade soaps were just too weird, messy, and time consuming to make on a regular basis.  For general cleaning, the homemade recipes work pretty well but sometimes I still have to bust out the commercial chemicals.  The laundry detergent is great and by far the best of the products I made.

The bi-product of washing out a bunch of former hand soap containers was a lot of bubbles.  Camden got to have some fun stirring them.

my hand soap after sitting overnight but before I mixed it with an electric beater...very thick!