5 Best Homemade Cleaner Recipes and Their Uses
With a house full of active children, there is never a shortage of spills, messes, accidents and "creative decorating" that needs to be cleaned up. Like most moms, I could spend my whole day cleaning if I really wanted to (and sometimes it feels like I do), so it is important to me that my cleaners are safe to be around and use multiple times per day.
I like to stock a supply of basic ingredients that can be used on their own, or combined to make simple, yet effective cleaners. My must-haves include Azure Market bulk baking soda, distilled white vinegar, rubbing alcohol (if you have children and keep permanent markers in your home, you have to have rubbing alcohol on hand!), castile soap, washing soda, borax and a few antibacterial essential oils.
In addition to being safe for me to use multiple times per day, non-toxic household cleaners have many other benefits, especially if you make them yourself.
Why Homemade Nontoxic Cleaners are Beneficial
1. Turn cleaning into a fun family affair. Homemade cleaners are safe for children to use as well. When a mess happens, you can safely hand them a spray bottle of All Purpose cleaner and a rag and let them joyfully help! My kids also love taking part in the making of the cleaners. We act a little like "mad scientists" concocting strange potions and seeing how things react when mixed together. For safety with younger children, consider using gloves and eye protection (plus, it adds to the "mad scientist" feel of it). Adding vinegar to baking soda makes everything fizzy, as does adding water to citric acid. My kids couldn't wait to clean the toilet when they saw all the fizz! Now that's a Mom Win!
2. Homemade cleaners do not cause toxic fumes and keep the air inside your home healthy and safe to breathe. In fact, you can use your favorite essential oils to scent your cleaners, which can be uplifting and enhance your mood. However, essential oils have more benefits than just adding wonderful scents. Many of them have additional medicinal properties that can really enhance the effectiveness of your cleaners. Some of my favorite scents are lemon, lavender, peppermint and tea tree oil.
Lemon essential oil and other citrus oils are uplifting mood enhancers, but they are also natural degreasers that can cut through cooking grime on your stove top and in your oven.
Tea tree essential oil has a clean, antiseptic scent because it is a naturally antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal oil. It is also a natural insecticide. Peppermint is also naturally antimicrobial and adds a fresh, clean scent to your home. Lavender has a sweet floral scent that is well known for its calming and relaxing effects on the body and mind, and it is also a gentle antimicrobial oil that can be used to cleanse cuts and prevent infections. (Most essential oils should not be used undiluted on skin, so take precautions and drop the oils straight from the bottles into your cleaning mixes without letting them touch your skin.)
3. They are much less expensive than store-bought cleaners, so you save money by making your own. Baking soda is an effective and versatile cleaner known for its deodorizing, brightening, whitening and gentle scrubbing abilities. It is also very affordable, especially when bought in a bulk 50 lb. sack. (I literally laugh at those tiny packs sold at the grocery store in the baking aisle.) We keep our baking soda in a five-gallon pail (NF092) and use it for so many things around the house. It can be used as is; just sprinkle it on your surfaces and scrub with a wet sponge. Sprinkle on carpets and rugs in the evening and vacuum the next morning to deodorize. Place a small bowl of baking soda in your fridge to absorb odors. Clean your coffee maker and washing machine by running a cycle with baking soda. Deodorize diaper pails, kitty litter boxes, pet beds, and garbage cans with it. Boil water with baking soda in pots to remove burnt food messes. The uses are endless!
4. Making your own cleaners lets you reuse your own bottles and jars many times over without having to worry about dangerous chemical reactions. Reusing bottles is not safe to do with industrially manufactured chemical cleaners. Chemical cleaners often contain either bleach or ammonia, which create toxic vapors when mixed together. Even small amounts of residual chemicals in a reused bottle can react to create dangerous vapors that attack your eyes and mucous membranes and lungs, if inhaled. Thankfully, reusing the bottles of your homemade cleaners is safe and it allows you to divert trash from landfills. It can be a big step toward creating and maintaining a zero waste home.
5. Homemade non-toxic cleaners are eco-friendly and safe for the environment. The ingredients are naturally occurring and most of them are also used in food preparation. Baking soda is mined from a naturally occurring ore called trona and frequently used in baked goods. Distilled white vinegar is made from grains and used in salad dressings and condiments. Citric acid is a weak organic acid that comes from citrus fruit and can be used as a preservative by adjusting the acidity in canned foods, for example. Rubbing alcohol is not safe to ingest, but it is designed for skin contact, and evaporates fast in a well-ventilated room. Just open your windows for a few minutes if the smell of rubbing alcohol is unpleasant, or use vodka in your cleaners instead.
When you use naturally occurring, food-safe ingredients to clean your home, you can feel good knowing that you are not sending harsh chemicals down the drain, to potentially end up in our streams and rivers poisoning wildlife and fish.
6. The peace of mind that comes from knowing exactly what went into your cleaners is worth a lot. You don't have to worry about childproofing your under-the-sink cabinets to keep curious children away from caustic chemicals that can irritate skin, eyes, mucous membranes and lungs.
FIVE OF OUR FAVORITE HOMEMADE CLEANER RECIPES:
All-Purpose Cleaner Recipe
½ C white vinegar (NOTE: If you have marble, granite or stone counter tops, use rubbing alcohol or vodka instead of vinegar.)
2 TBS baking soda (BP009)
10 drops tea tree essential oil (EO024)
Empty 32-oz spray bottle
♦ Mix all the ingredients together in a measuring pitcher, and transfer into an empty 32-oz spray bottle. Top off with clean warm water. Use on all your messes!
Disinfectant Scrub Recipe
½ C baking soda (BP009)
1 tsp castile soap (HB026)
1 tsp hydrogen peroxide
10 drops peppermint essential oil (EO018)
♦ Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and use immediately by applying to a wet surface. Scrub and rinse thoroughly with plain water or a vinegar-water mix.
Tub Scrub Recipe
½ C baking soda (BP009)
½ C washing soda
1 C liquid castle soap (HB026)
25 drops tea tree essential oil (EO024)
10 drops lemon essential oil (EO012)
10 drops peppermint essential oil (EO018)
♦ Mix the baking soda and washing soda together in a large bowl. Add your essential oils, then the castile soap and mix together really well. It will be the texture of coarse wet sand. You can add a bit of warm water if you want to make it smoother.
♦ Transfer to a wide-mouth jar with a tight fitting lid, packing the paste down as you go. To use, scoop out a small amount, apply to wet sponge and scrub your tub or shower enclosure.
Tile & Sink Cleaner Recipe
1 part white vinegar
2 parts warm water
Several drops lavender essential oil (EO010)
♦ Mix the vinegar and warm water together in a bucket or big bowl. Use to scrub down tile floors, back splashes, sinks and shower enclosures. No need to rinse off!
Toilet Bowl Cleaner Recipe
1 C baking soda (BP009)
1 C food-grade citric acid (BP314)
1 C borax
50 drops lemon essential oil (EO012)
♦ Mix the baking soda, borax and citric acid together in a big bowl. You may want to use gloves and eye protection (especially if making this with the kids) to not come into contact with the citric acid, which can sting. Gently mix while adding the lemon essential oil. Carefully transfer to an empty shaker bottle.
♦ To clean your toilet bowl, simply shake some powder into it and let it sit until done fizzing. Give it a good whirl with your toilet brush, and flush. (Do not flush while it is still fizzing.)
Safe and Healthy Cleaners
Azure sells several brands of nontoxic, chemical-free cleaners, including Seventh Generation, e-Cloth and GreenShield. Learn about the best nontoxic cleaners that are safe to use around the house.