Thursday, January 3, 2013

DIY Household Cleanser Essentials: Your Natural Home Cleaning Kit.

I've been experimenting with making my own natural household cleansers. It's cheaper and more importantly, it saves you big time on the expensive natural store-bought varieties. You can use these to clean your home and filthy thrifted finds. Here's a few of my favorites and favorite combinations:


Vinegar: Window and counter cleaner for a streak-free shine. Good cleanser recipe base.
Essential Oils: A few drops make your cleanser & home smell heavenly!
Baking Soda: Deodorizer and cleanser. Mix with water to make an abrasive cleanser.
Hydrogen Peroxide: Cleans fresh blood from cloth well! Gentle electronics disinfector.
Rubbing Alcohol: Erases permanent marker stains from certain surfaces. Test first!
Black Tea: The tanins inside may help remove rust from thrifted finds or garden tools.
Club Soda: Clean stainless steal sinks and counters with ease, good general cleanser.
Lemon Juice: Fresh lemon juice cleans & deodorizes. Smells delicious!
Dr. Bronners: Shampoo, body wash laundry soup, dishes, counters, cleans everything!
Borax: Another good all-purpose soap. Often used for laundry.
Olive Oil: Great to polishing wood.
Corn Starch: Clean grease spills, especially on carpet. Pour it on, vacuum it up.

Vinegar + Water + Essential Oil: Smells delicious, cleans everything!
Baking Soda + Water: Make into a paste to scrub stubborn grease or stains.
Essential Oil + Hot Water: I use this to mop the house, smells amazing!
Lemon Juice + Hot Water: Delicious little all-purpose cleanser.
Olive Oil + Lemon Juice: Makes a fresh furniture polish.

I'll be experimenting and making more combinations all year. I love cleaning up with things I already have around the house. Let's see how much we can save this year!

What are your favorite home cleansers? Any "recipes" to share? I always get on a cleaning kick with a new year!
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19 comments:

  1. NatJanuary 3, 2013 at 10:03 AM

    Bob-omb is especially good for removing extremely tough stains!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJanuary 3, 2013 at 10:20 AM

    You can also use cucumbers (unpeeled) to clean certain surfaces gently. you can use it to take marks off of walls.
    And banana peels polish leather!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VanessaJanuary 3, 2013 at 10:33 AM

      That's right, I have heard of those too. I should try all of the common food ones and report on how effective they are.

      Delete
  3. Heather@Tatter and FrayJanuary 3, 2013 at 11:48 AM

    I am all about vinegar for...pretty much everything. I've never successfully masked the smell with essential oils, though. Maybe I need to pick stronger scents. Any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VanessaJanuary 3, 2013 at 12:08 PM

      I've always masked it completely with peppermint oil. My favorite oils are peppermint, rosemary, lemon, and lime.

      Delete
    2. Heather@Tatter and FrayJanuary 3, 2013 at 1:26 PM

      I love peppermint...I'll try it. In the past I tried orange and lavendar, and it still just smelled like vinegar water. :)

      Delete
    3. VanessaJanuary 4, 2013 at 8:05 AM

      Let me know if that works for you! I use a LOT of essential oil to mask the scent too. I don't even count the drops. I should do that next time...

      Delete
  4. Blue Eyed Night OwlJanuary 3, 2013 at 12:57 PM

    These are great tips! And they'll come in really handy when I move out soon.

    P.S. A very happy new year to you! May you find a lot of great vintage things in 2013;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VanessaJanuary 3, 2013 at 3:39 PM

      You will definitely be using them in your new place! Happy New Year to you, too!

      Delete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 4, 2013 at 7:43 AM

    Thanks for sharing this, super helpful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jennifer FJanuary 4, 2013 at 10:50 AM

    It's not exactly "natural" but Dawn Dish Washing soap (Blue Only) is great for a ton of things. My favorite is heating up vinegar and pouring it into a spray bottle with blue Dawn. It melts away any soap scum in your shower, tub and sinks. It works so well, you can just wipe it up with a towel. No scrubbing at all.

    Here's more uses for it.

    http://www.debtproofliving.com/Blog/tabid/437/EntryId/399/Blue-Like-Magic.aspx

    I also like that it can keep ants away without any harmful chemicals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VanessaJanuary 4, 2013 at 10:59 AM

      That's good to know! Thanks for sharing Jennifer.

      Delete
  7. LynnMay 12, 2013 at 6:59 PM

    For a daily shower spray, I do 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 1 part rubbing alcohol. Then I add some tea tree oil for the antibiotic properties and lavender oil because it smells good.

    Nothing quite gets rid of the alcohol smell, but it fades quickly. :)

    ReplyDelete
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