Here’s some some recipes for some all natural cleaning agents:
All Purpose Cleaner
2 cups of water
1 cup vinegar
about 15 drops of essential oils
Mix together in spray bottle. Voila. It’s that easy….and safe enough to spray on your baby’s high chair with them sitting in it. Did you know vinegar is a natural disinfectant? AND it can be used in your dishwasher in place of rinse aid!
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
1/4 cup of Baking Soda (I have to admit, I never measure anything….I just sprinkle it in!)
1/4 cup of vinegar
Scrub with toilet brush.
Seriously. My boys fight over who gets to clean the toilet. They think it’s cool making it fizz up! And my mind’s at ease because it’s all non-toxic ingredients.
Window Cleaner
Vinegar and newspaper. Yup. That’s it.
Using paper towels leaves little fuzzies on your glass. Turns out your glass cleaner doesn’t have to be blue.
Refrigerator Cleaner
Lemon, cut in half
Baking Soda
and a little elbow grease
Next time you clean out your fridge try this. I promise you’ll never use toxic cleaners in your refrigerator again. Sprinkle baking soda directly on pulp side of lemon. Use lemon as scouring pad. Wipe up the “juice” with a paper towel or cloth. The lemon acts as a disinfectant and the baking soda gets stuck on junk off…like BBQ sauce!
Essential Oils
I tried years ago to clean with vinegar, but couldn’t stand my home to smell like Easter Eggs. Essential oils work wonders. They leave your home smelling so lovely. You can find them at Whole Foods or any other health food store. Here are a few of my favorite essential oils and their properties.
- Tea Tree Oil -destroys bacteria and prevents growth of fungus.
- Eucalyptus oil -antiseptic and disinfectant; repels insects.
- Pine oil -anti-viral and antiseptic.
- Cedar wood oil -great for dealing with mold and mildew, and acts as an antiseptic.
- Frankincense oil -an antiseptic with a purifying nature.
- Lavender oil -antiseptic, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial.
- Lemon oil, as well as all citrus oils -act to emulsify and disperse grease, while also inhibiting bacteria and fungus
by Deirde Imus
by Karyn Siegel-Maier are two of my favorites.
I love this post! I have started switching to vinegar and baking soda for some things, and love the effects. Thanks for adding in the bit about the essential oils, I will definitely be doing that to get rid of “easter egg smell” 🙂
I would love for you to share more recipes. I have been trying to switch to green cleaning but just havent quite gotten there yet.
My husband uses a water/vinegar mix to clean his boat after a long day on the water. He swears that nothing works better!
Thanks for another wonderful post!
I always buy “natural” cleaning products at the store, but I’m sure these recipes are even better!
I loved this and would love you to share more recipes!! Any good laundry stain remover ideas? Especially for oily stains? I even tried one from Naturally Clean Home and it didn’t work – have you found any that work? Thanks!
My latest favorite is baking soda. It is so much nicer to use than Comet, etc…
funny, I was just looking for info about this a couple of weeks ago. My question for you is about mold. We live on the coast, and we get mold a lot. I generally use bleach because I know it works, but I also have to clear the area for quite awhile after I use it. Any tips you could share? Thanks! Kristi
earlkristib at gmail dot com
For mold, you can use grapefruit seed extract (GSE) or a borax solution with borax and water. 🙂