Make your own awesome DIY cleaning slime! This easy cleaning slime recipe is useful to clean out the nastiest of hard to reach areas including keyboards (between the keys), car vents, and more!
Clean those hard to reach places with this fabulous homemade cleaning slime recipe! This simple recipe catches dirt and grime from hard to reach areas such as keyboards, mobile phones, printers, and vents. It dries out quickly, so be sure to store it in a sealed container.
A quick note about the ingredients- Borax is a laundry booster and can be found in the detergent aisle of most major grocery stores.
MYO Cleaning Slime
You’ll Need:
2 tablespoons of white School glue (such as Elmer’s)
1 Tbs water
4 Tbs Borax
4 Tbs Water
In a small dish, combine the school glue and 1 Tbs of water, mixing well. In another small bowl, combine 4 Tbs Borax and 4 Tbs Water, mixing well until the borax dissolves.
Combine the ingredients from both bowls and immediately stir well, creating awesome cleaning slime. If you want colored slime, add a drop or two of food coloring to the water in the “glue” dish prior to mixing.
Play with the slime until it’s no longer wet, You don’t want it to be dripping, you want it just to feel “damp.” This process is excellent for the kids, let them handle it with clean, dry hands until it no longer feels gritty and is nice and smooth and very lightly damp. At this point, if you place it on a piece of paper for about 10 seconds, it won’t leave a spot or residue.
To use, apply it to your keyboard or vents, then gently pull off.
Cleaning Slime Texture
The texture of cleaning slime is slightly tacky, but not sticky. The slime can be formed into a ball in the palms of your hand and doesn’t “melt” like kids playing slime.
What to Clean with Homemade Cleaning Slime
Aside from being excellent for cleaning the hard to reach areas between the keys of your computer keyboards, this slime is handy for lots of nooks and crannies. Use it to remove the gunk that accumulates on the underside of your computer mouse. If you have an older mouse, use the cleaning slime to clean the ball of the mouse as well.
The slime works amazingly well at pulling grime from surfaces. You can see from the photo above that the keyboard doesn’t look all that dirty. However, when we pull back the slime you can see the nasty debris that has made its way between the keys. Crumbs, pet hair, people hair, dust, you name it!
DIY Cleaning slime is perfect for hard to reach areas such as the corners of vehicles console, as well as the air vents.
We’ve used it to clean the junk out of the charging ports of various electronics, including my phone. In my experience, the slime is particularly handy if you accidentally drop your phone in the sand or dirt. It pulls the debris gently from the ports.
Remove dust and dirt that has accumulated on your Blu-ray players, DVR, and stereo systems where you wouldn’t necessarily want to vacuum. These items can overheat when dust accumulates and reduces the airflow needed for keeping the unit running smoothly.
The Science behind the Cleaning Slime
Adding Elmers School glue (or generic brand School Glue) to a water/borax solution causes a chemical reaction between the glue molecules (polyvinyl acetate) and the borax molecules (Na2B4O7 •10H2O) to produce a highly flexible, cross-linked polymer.
This DIY recipe was featured in Woman’s World Magazine, April 13, 2020 Issue.
can’t wait to try this.
i have everything i need to make this. will let you know how it works for me. four keyboards and lots of hard to get to spaces.
thanks.
i can’t wait to try this one. my keyboard is in need of it bad.
i cant wait to try this for the keyboard
i did try this and it works great. got my son doing it now. thanks.
this sounds like a form of silly putty and seems like it will do an amazing job for cleaning the nasty little corners in the non removable section of the console in my car! thank you for sharing it!
can”t wait to try it
how long does it last and can you keep it a jar till the next time you need it. there is only me so i don’t have that many cracks and crevices to clean or keyboards.
I’m so trying this!!
i can’t wait to try this recipe.
i want to try this it sounds like a great way to get the kids cleaning too
Really need to try this.
my car center box needs it bad. i cant get those corners clean for nothing….will try this today.
this sounds like a very interesting recipe and one i need to try. after reading the reply’s in this thread, i will try it and use it in my car. thanks!
great idea! i am looking forward to making this!:celebrate1:
couldn’t sleep tonight and kn reading e-mails i discovered budget 101. Now I am so involved I think it will be some time before I’ll be able to get off, Have really enjoyed the post I’ve read so far. I can’t wait to try several of them tomorrow.
i was so wanting to make this for my husband for christmas! guess what he’s getting for valentine’s day! (he’s a computer guy so he’ll love it!)
i am wondering how long it will stay good in a sealed jar. i would love to make and take to work to clean the vents on my semi.
wow what a great idea. can’t wait to try this. bet it would work great on the tv remote as well.
gotta try this. my keyboard is a mess!
i’m going to try this! thanks for sharing:purr:
dengit, i don’t have any gluuuuuuuue around.
< adds it to my list:
[ ] white vinegar
[ ] big box of baking soda
[ ] huuge bottle of hydrogen peroxide
i love this idea. will have to try it for sure. thank you for the info.
:cloud9:
a must try i love homemade cleaners etc…
this is the coolest idea!! i think kids would love helping with the mixing and the cleaning!:beaverhug:
what is the shelf life of this putty? say i keep it in an airlock bag, how long will it be useful?
:cloud9:I can’t wait to try this!! My keyboard and center console will love it!
used to make this for daycare kids-called it flubber.
make sure to pour liquid mixture into glue slowly and keep stirring!
definitely going to try this…thanks 🙂
looking forward to trying this – i can think of so many places to use it, and i actually already have the ingredients on hand. thanks so much for sharing this!
b
Thank you. I have purchased this kind of thing before and it is expensive. I am looking forward to replacing it for a lot less.
this looks like fun, cant wait to try it my vents and keyboard are quite nasty at this moment!
is it reusable? can you throw it in a ziploc bag and store it?
i’m reading all the comments, but there are none from people who have already tried this. anybody??
this a very cool idea….can you reuse?
can the slime be re-used or do you have to make a new one every time?
this sounds great. i will make some soon. i have also tried using used post-it notes to stick between keys on my keyboard.
picks up more things than a vacuum.
This would be great for a gift basket as well. Just wish someone knew if it was reusable!
I’ve made this before and love it…it’s a hit at work too! Does anyone have any suggestions for fully diluting the borax….mine stays a bit chunky and I don’t think it should…. I’ve even put the powder in my bullet before adding water….no good…still crunchy.
🙁 it eventually mixes is…but it’s frustrating till then.
Sorry – not an answer, but I’m having the same problem. Curious to see if anyone has any solutions…
I haven’t tried it yet, but has anyone tried dissolving the borax in hot water and letting it cool before mixing with the glue and water?
Sounds like a great science project.
I’ve been wanting this to be a homeschool thing the kids and I make. I might do this this week and see if I can trick them into cleaning. *insert maniacal laugh*
I made this but it was gritty no matter how much you kneaded it. What did I do wrong?
After using this putty, and cleans; how do I clean the putty?