My Cleaning Recipes: The COMPLETE List!
Today I thought I would share the recipes for all my cleaning solutions! I receive so many questions about my homemade cleaners that I thought having them all in one location on the blog would be the most helpful to everyone. This post is long, and detailed. No apologies.
I have experimented with homemade natural cleaners for almost two years now. I have developed my cleaning solutions, tweaking and adjusting as I go, and am now extremely happy with all of my recipes. I hope you find some that work for you!
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My Tools and Ingredient List
Below is a list of ALL the ingredients I use to clean every part of my home. And car. Basically everything.
Glass spray bottles (16oz)
Rags (old cloth napkins and dish towels)
Rubber gloves (I use one set to hand wash dishes and another for deep cleaning)
Steel Wool (to be used so very gently on steel surfaces) (don’t angry clean.)
Sweet Orange Essential Oil
Lemon Essential Oil
Need some labels for your spray bottles? Find them here! (always free)
Disclaimers:
If you are hesitant to use any cleaner, please spot test first and wait a day to see if anything damages your surfaces.
I am not an expert, I’m just sharing what works for us and our home. I wish I could say I’m some kind of super smart scientist but I’m not. I’ve just done a lot of experimentation to see what I can clean with. Again, I can’t stress this enough. I AM NOT AN EXPERT.
There are many natural cleaning recipes out there! Research and discover more of what you can use to clean your home. Live Simply has some amazing recipes and techniques that I encourage you to check out as well!
Please don’t spray any of these cleaners on like… an open flame, in your eye… face… don’t eat them, and please NEVER combine the following products together.
No matter what you’re cleaning with, always ensure the area you’re working on is well ventilated.
My Sprays
All Purpose Cleaner
How I Use It: I keep this spray in our kitchen cabinet and use it to:
Wipe down countertops
Clean stove top
Quick wipe down of oven and doors
Quick wipe down of sink
Cleaning our kitchen table
Wiping down cupboards
General all purpose cleaning
Ingredients and Directions
In a spray bottle combine:
3-4 squirts dish detergent
30 drops Lemon essential Oil
Fill with water and gently shake to combine
Shake before using to combine the oil with water mixture, spray on any surface and wipe away. The tea tree oil is an antimicrobial agent, which is good for fighting germs.
Power Cleaner
How I Use It: I use this cleaner primarily in the bathroom to clean:
Shower floors
Glass shower door and tile
Bathtubs
Sinks
Ingredients and Directions
In a spray bottle combine:
1/4 Cup of Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds
2 Cups Distilled White Vinegar
Gently swirl together to combine, spray on whatever you’re cleaning and scrub with a stiff brush. Rinse with clean water.
Glass and Mirror Spray
How I Use It: I use this spray to clean mirrors and glass both inside and outside our home including:
Bathrooms mirrors
Bathroom countertops (Note that our countertops are sealed in the bathrooms. If you have unsealed bathroom countertops, marble or granite, I suggest using my all purpose spray to ensure the acid in this mixture doesn’t scar) .
Toilets and toilet base
Windows (both house and car)
Ingredients and Directions
In a spray bottle combine:
1 Cup Distilled White Vinegar
1 Cup Isopropyl Alcohol
Top with water
Gently swirl together combination, spray on whatever you’re cleaning and wipe. I love to use my cotton dish towels, they do an amazing job and leave no trace of fluff or streaks.
Vinegar Spray
How I Use It: Vinegar has so many uses around the home! Currently I use Vinegar for:
Cleaning the toilet (not bowl, as I use the Power Cleaner there).
In replace of my Glass and Mirror spray
Wiping down bathtub rims if necessary
Spot cleaning carpets (see bellow!)
Ingredients and Directions
In a spray bottle fill with distilled white vinegar.
Spray on pretty much anything. Vinegar is usually 5% acidity, which is still strong enough to possibly scar any natural, porus, unsealed surface. Again, if you’re nervous about using straight vinegar on a surface or your not sure what material you’re spraying on to, I recommend spot testing in a concealed corner to see how the surface reacts to it.
Additional Cleaners
Floor Cleaner
How I Use It: I use this cleaner on my laminate floors in the kitchen, office, landings, as well as bathroom floors.
Note: I have a laminate floor, however this recipe should also work for any sealed flooring. Be sure that you don’t soak floors, you don’t want to turn your kitchen into a mini pool. Ring your mop thoroughly, and if you notice there is too much water on the floor use a dry mop to ‘mop’ it up.
Ingredients and Directions
In your mop bucket:
Fill bucket half way with hot water and add:
1 TSP of Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds
1 Cup distilled white vinegar
5 drops lemon essential oil
Soak your mop, ring thoroughly and mop away! Let dry and you’re good to go. If you’re mopping both the kitchen floors AND bathrooms the same day, be sure to mop bathroom floors AFTER kitchen floors to prevent cross contamination.
Super Stubborn Grout Cleaner
How I Use It: So, despite your best efforts you find yourself with super dirty grout. The culprit is usually mold (ew) that’s infiltrated your shower tile. Fun. Here’s how I get rid of it!
Ingredients and Directions
In a small mason jar combine:
1/2 cup baking soda
2-3 TBSP of hydrogen peroxide
Mix these two ingredients gently together to form a thick paste. Spoon onto grout, let sit for at least 1 hour and then rinse away. Your grout (should) be restored to its natural beauty. IF it needs more attention, spoon the mixture on again, scrub with a toothbrush or stiff round brush and wash away.
Carpet Spot Cleaner
How I Use It: This miracle spray has removed the following stains from my carpet:
Coffee
Blood
Red Wine
Dirt
Totally unknown stains that I don’t wish to think about?
Ingredients and Directions
I would love to make this recipe complicated, but it’s sadly not.
Hydrogen Peroxide
That’s it. Dab on the stain, let sit for a minute or two and then wipe with a cloth. You may need to lightly scrub if the stain is ground in there.
Kitchen Sink Cleaner
How I Use It: I use this method to deep clean our sink and garbage disposal. I do this kind of clean once a week.
Ingredients and Directions
Baking soda
Lemon
Starting with a clean sink, remove the rubber garbage disposal plug (if you’re dealing with one) and rinse with water and dish soap to remove gunk. Set aside. Slice a lemon in half and sprinkle with baking soda. Scrub the sink with the baking soda side down. This does an amazing job.
To clean the garbage disposal:
Pour 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar into the disposal. Add 1/2 cup of crushed ice chips. Replace the rubber sive. Run a trickle of water into the garbage disposal to start melting the ice, and turn garbage disposal on. The vinegar will deodorize and clean, while the ice chips will sharpen blades. When there are no more ice crushing sounds, run a full stream of clean water in the disposal to finish it off.
Photo by Sarah Dorweiler, Evano Community (https://evano.community)
How to Deep Clean your Tools
I receive this question a lot, so bellow find how to clean your tools.
To deep clean stiff round brushes:
Designate a pot for this purpose only.
FIll said pot with water and bring to a boil.
Drop in round brushes and boil for 15-20 minutes.
Drain water and let brushes air dry in the sun.
I truly hope you found this post helpful. There are some deeper cleaning items that I have omitted, just because this post was incredibly long to begin with. Stay tuned in the future for more information on deep cleaning!
Happy cleaning!
