5 Awesome Homemade Cleaners!
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You likely have all these items in your house as it stands; so this should be relatively simple to put together.
Remember, it is wise to use these as a compliment to products you buy in-store. Store bought products and homemade products both serve a purpose. I use about 50% store bought and 50% homemade cleaners in my house. If you want to print off these recipes and keep them handy, check out our free printable, here!
The 4 key ingredients you’ll require are:
- Vinegar – mild disinfectant, grease cutter, de-scaler, glass cleaner
- Dish soap – neutral pH – gentle and safe on essentially every surface and a mild soap that can lifts off dirt and grime
- Rubbing alcohol – at least 65% USP in order for it to qualify as a disinfectant, can be mixed with water
- Hydrogen peroxide – naturally occurring bleach, used in Oxy powders. Uses oxygen to break bonds between dirt and bacteria and the surface they are on. A great disinfectant, stain remover and natural whitener.
Baking soda – abrasion, deodorizing, great for replacing a scouring powder. It’s not actually used in any of the recipes but can be used to boost cleaning power by sprinkling on a sprayed surface.
If you wish to, select an essential oil that you like (and perhaps has some extra beneficial properties) and add 10 drops to the bottle.
Here are the recipes:
Glass Cleaner
1 part water, 1 part vinegar. Use to clean windows and mirrors with a glass cleaning cloth or newsprint. The smell dissipates quickly.
Disinfectant
1 part water, 1 part rubbing alcohol. Use to spray and leave after you’ve cleaned a surface, only use where required i.e. points of contact, cutting boards, bathrooms etc. Note that a disinfectant does not necessarily clean (i.e. lift dirt off) so this is the second part of a two-step cleaning process (first part is the actual cleaning with a cleaner).
All-Purpose Cleaner
1 tablespoon of dish soap per bottle of water. Great to use for cleaning kitchen, bathroom surfaces, hallways, most furniture. If you are finding residue, reduce the amount of dish liquid being used (they vary in recipes).
Tub and tile Cleaner / Degreaser
1 part vinegar, 1 part dish liquid. Use for soap scum on tiles and glass, greasy kitchens etc. Spray, let it sit for 5 minutes and start to clean.
Stain Remover
2 parts hydrogen peroxide, 1 part dish liquid. Amazing, simply spray on a stain, rub it in, rinse it out. It can also be used as a pre-treatment for stains. Test in an inconspicuous area first as the hydrogen peroxide may discolor.
Some general tips
- Label bottles using easel tape and a permanent marker (easel tape is much easier to remove than a sticker label and is more water-resistant). Label the ingredients, date and name of product.
- Use clean bottles and triggers only – don’t use a bottle from another product until the trigger and bottle have been thoroughly rinsed and do not spray out or smell like the old product.
- Use different shapes, colours and sizes of bottles if possible to further ensure you are using the correct product.
- Make enough for 1-2 months of use and that’s it. These don’t have the same stabilizers that store-bought products do. Less additives means lower shelf-life.
- Never mix a recipe that you make up yourself without checking to see if it is safe to do, some items you cannot mix together!
Remember, a cleaner does not disinfect and a disinfectant does not clean – clean first, disinfect second (many store-bought products can do both).
Do you have any great cleaning product recipes that you want to share? We would LOVE to hear them!
Remember to check out our free printable, here!
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I use diluted ammonia to clean and disinfect at the same time. The ammonia breaks down even dried food on counters and pots if it sits a short time. Then wipe down and respray and wipe. Isn’t ammonia a germ killer?
Years ago I heard to clean an oven, leaving a small bowl of ammonia in a cold oven overnight also breaks down food and makes it easier to wipe off.
For your tub/tile cleaner tip here is another little tip for that. I pour some into one of those nifty sponges with the handle and use it on my shower doors when I first get in the shower. When I am ready to get out I rinse the door and after living in my house for 12 years, my shower doors look better than the day I moved in!
HI Melissa, I love your videos! I just moved into my own place and want to start making my own cleaners to save money and I like how you have multiple cleaners for different uses. I was just wondering where you get the spray bottles you use in the video? They are cute and look like they hold a decent amount of cleaning product. Thank you!
tea tree oil is anti fungal, anti bacterial and anti viral I love using it in my homemade products, it awesome bit of a strong smell but I happen to like it
[...] The technique is simple and can be applied to all points of contact. Begin with a good quality cloth (I prefer microfiber), because you don’t want it to leave any residue behind. Then, take a disinfectant and spray the point of contact. Let the product sit, wet on the surface, for 5-10 minutes. Then, wipe away with the cloth ensuring no water marks are left behind (you want to take everything with you). This may not always be possible depending on the surface (i.e. light switch, keyboard). So if that is the case, your best line of defence is to spray your cloth with disinfectant and thoroughly clean the area. If you wish to make your own homemade disinfectant, check out this post which teaches you my favouri… [...]
[...] 5 Homemade Cleaners – Clean My Space [...]
a good all surface cleaner to try is 5oz vinegar 3oz rubbing alcohol and roughly 22 oz water leaves no streaks and is a great cleaner i use this on everything
Dear Melissa Thanks for all the cleaning tips they are absolutely wonderful and all natural no need to worry about them harming my kitties.
I make my own tofu and learned of a laundry tip Japanese housewives used back in the day. Rather than discarding the soy whey water from the tofu press I save it and add it to my wash when laundering whites . It helps remove the most stubborn stains. I had some chef coats that I was going to discard because the cuffs were stained. I added the whey water and voila they are back and ready for action.
Again the tips and videos give a fresh approach to cleaning. After all cleaning is one of the greatest cheap highs there is.
Happy Spring to All
Stanley
another tip for labeling your homemade cleaners if you can’t find different colored bottles is to add a drop of food coloring to each mixture. For my glass cleaner, I use blue food coloring, for multipurpose I use red, for disinfectant I use green, etc.
is rubbing alcohol the same as isopropyl alcohol?