Making your own cleaning products isn't as difficult as it might seem. If you look at a bottle of cleaner, you might see a long list of chemicals it uses to do the job. But the thing is, items in your kitchen can often do just as good of a job! Let's go over the different products you can make out of just a few ingredients.
The basic components of these cleaners are just four things: white vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and essential oils like tea tree oil, lavender oil, and eucalyptus oil. These are commonly cited as effective house cleaners, but we'll be mixing them in different ways than you might have seen before. Also, what kind of cleaning do each of these do? White vinegar is good at dissolving grease and soap scum. Baking soda is good ad deodorizing, as you might know from using it in the refrigerator. Lemons kill mold and mildew as well as freshens up the scent of a room, while essential oils have anti-fungal and antibacterial properties.
Let's look at at some places we can combine these. In the laundry room, we'll need shaved coconut-oil based soap bars, soda crystals, and lemon essential oil to make our laundry detergent. For fabric softener, we'll combine white vinegar with some essential oils of your choosing. No more weird clothes, and they'll come out fresh and smelling great!
Another place that commonly needs cleaning is the kitchen. If you spill a lot on the stovetops when cooking, you'll need this stovetop cleaner, which is just olive oil and baking soda combined. Apply the paste and let it sit overnight to properly clean bad spills. For those pans with food burnt on, use baking soda and water and boil it in there for 15 minutes, then scrub it out.
Some cleaners ca be used all around the house. For carpet stains, you need to combine water, vinegar, baking soda, and a bit of dish soap, and let it soak on the spot. Wood polish can be made with olive oil, lemon juice, and water. All purpose cleaner is simply white vinegar, water, and a little bit of essential oil. Just apply it with a spray bottle. An alternative all purpose cleaner is a citrus vinegar kind, just in case your cleaner wasn't all purpose. This one is composed of white vinegar, water, and citrus peels. Last, maybe you need an air freshener but don't want chemicals sprayed in the air. Just combine essential oil with water and baking soda and you've got what you need.
Don't worry about Windex anymore - just try these cleaners and see if they don't do it for you! Check out the attached infographic for more DIY cleaners or more information on the ones we went over.
