Make It Yourself: Copper Cleaner • Everyday Cheapskate

There are so many good reasons to make your own household cleaners. It’s cheaper, healthier and greener, too. The homemade household cleaners I share with you from time to time do not contain chemicals. That means you can always count on them to be non-toxic.

DEAR MARY: The copper post caps on my deck are becoming tarnished. Do you know of a natural (cheap) way that I can clean them without causing any damage to the copper? I’m enclosing a picture of this problem. Patti

Dear Patti: I really like this beautiful treatment on your deck. Thanks for including a photo . I do have a solution for you using ordinary items from your pantry. It is cheap to make, easy to use on any copper items that have not been coated with varnish or shellac, and works great. Best of all it contains no toxic chemicals.

All that being said, I caution you and all my readers again to always test in an inconspicuous place, any kind of cleaner or other treatment like this that you have not used in the past. This is the only way to know before go exactly how your product or item is going to react. This is a good way to make sure you never make a bad situation even worse!.

Copper Cleaner

You’ll need:

✅ 6 tablespoons table salt

✅ 6 tablespoons flour

✅ white vinegar

Make a paste of equal parts salt and flour with a few tablespoons of white vinegar. Apply to copper item with a soft cloth and rub gently to remove tarnish. Rinse with water and buff dry with another clean soft cloth.

Ketchup Option

Another option, believe it or not, is good old ketchup. How? Well, check the ingredients and you’ll see a major presence of vinegar and salt. Tomatoes are acidic so that throws in an added punch.

Want to see how this works? Find an old copper penny that has darkened s compared to a bright new shiny copper penny. Pour ketchup into a small bowl. Dip that penny in just halfway and hold it there for a few seconds. Remove, rinse and inspect. Yeah! It does work.

So, there you go. Two options to clean your beautiful post caps, copper cookware, decorator pieces, and your ennies, too!

Personally, I’d go with the first option as we run out of ketchup around out house more often than we do salt, flour, or vinegar. I am also of the opinion that the salt/flour/vinegar option is better for clean all the accumulated dirt, bird droppings, as well as tarnish. I’m not sure ketchup is up to that.