Cleaning Essentials (2) How to Make 3 Basic Natural Household Cleaners
You can make your own natural household cleaners with simple non-toxic but effective ingredients that you probably already own.
If you are eating healthy foods and trying to eliminate toxins from your home, you are probably also interested in how to make natural household cleaners.
In this post, I am showing you how simple it is to make natural cleaners with ingredients that you most likely already have. All these ingredients are non-toxic and very inexpensive.
This is part 2 of my 2-part cleaning series. Here is the link to my first part. You might also like to download my FREE Spring Cleaning Guide here.
Advertisements want us to believe that we need a special cleaner for every area of the house. Unfortunately, most of them are laden with toxic chemicals. They are very bad for our health and for the environment!
Luckily, we can use everyday ingredients to make our own all-natural household cleaners. If you’re just getting started with making your own cleaners, you only need a few ingredients. Once you’re comfortable with making these basic cleaners you can always add some more.
So what are my favorite ingredients?
Sal Suds
I love Sal Suds! It is a non-toxic, concentrated hard-surface all-purpose cleaner. It is made with plant-based surfactants and natural fir needle and spruce essential oils (no cheap, harsh pine stump oil), without any synthetic dyes, fragrances, or preservatives (from Dr. Bronner’s website).
Best of all, it is very effective but gentle to your skin. What’s not to love! Since it is concentrated you won’t need much and one bottle will last you a long time.
You can find it here.
White Vinegar
It doesn’t get more natural than that! Vinegar is a cheap, effective cleaner. It removes stains and odors, cuts through grease, and removes mildew. You can use it alone or mixed with other natural cleaners (see recipes below). You can either find it here or in your grocery store.
Bon Ami
Bon Ami has been around since 1886. It is made from limestone, feldspar, biodegradable detergent, soda ash, and baking soda. In other words, ingredients you can pronounce.
I love using Bon Ami on my white porcelain farmhouse sink. It’s also excellent for bathroom sinks, bathtubs, and anywhere you need a bit more scrubbing.
Lemons/Lemon Juice
Lemons and lemon juice are also naturally bleaching and antibacterial. Rubbing it on your wooden cutting board is a great way to clean and disinfect it. Just let it sit and then rinse it off with water.
Rubbing Alcohol/Vodka
Alcohol is also a disinfectant. You can either use rubbing alcohol that you can find in drug stores. Alternatively, you can buy vodka – just get something cheap.
There is a good chance you already own some essential oils. They are a great addition to your cleaning routine.
Now here are 3 basic cleaner recipes:
Natural All-Purpose Cleaner:
- 1 ¾ cup distilled water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- ¼ c cup sal suds
- optional: add a few drops of essential oils (such as lemon, tea tree, rosemary etc).
- Measure the ingredients and pour them into a glass bottle.
Homemade Dish Soap:
- ¼ cup sal suds
- 2 cups distilled water
- 2 -5 drops of essentials oils ( such as lemon, grapefruit, rosemary, etc)
- Measure ingredients and pour them into a glass bottle
Natural Glass Cleaner:
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup rubbing alcohol or cheap vodka
- 2 – 5 drops of lemon essential oil
- Measure ingredients and fill into a glass spray bottle
As for bottles, you can certainly reuse any empty cleaner bottle. However, you can rinse any 16 oz or 32 oz glass bottle (from apple cider vinegar for example), peel off the label, and put a spray nozzle on top. You can find them here. If you’d like to buy some spray bottles, you can get them here.
If you’re interested in making your own natural laundry detergent, check out this post!
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources
back to your website? My website is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my users
would really benefit from a lot of the information you provide here.
Please let me know if this alright with you. Thanks!
Yes, that would be fine as long as you provide credit and link it back to my blog.
Great recipes. I make a granite counter top cleaner with vodka, water and essential oils. It works really well!
Thank you for sharing and for commenting!! Your cleaner sounds perfect and I’ll mention it to my friends with granite counter tops!!
I’ve used other Dr Bronners products but hadn’t heard of sal suds. I’m excited to try it and these recipes!