Homemade Cleaning Products

Like the idea of making homemade cleaning products that are green and friendly for your home but find it seems like quite a lot of work or has lots of “special” hard to find ingredients?  We have been researching around and have come up with a few basic recipes for those cleaning jobs around the house.  So next time your old favorite cleaning product runs out, clean the bottle and save it, and try replacing it with one of the below recipes.

Furniture polish

2 cups warm water

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp white vinegar (or lemon juice)

Pour into clean empty spray bottle. Shake well, spray, rub, and polish. Since wood finishes vary, always do a test patch

Glass cleaner

½ cup white vinegar

½ cup water

Pour into spray bottle.  Tip Before switching to this green cleaner, clean up the

waxy residue traditional brands leave behindrag.

Stainless steel cleaner

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp white vinegar

Drip olive oil onto rag. Rub surface to get rid of smudges.  Drip white vinegar on the other side of rag. Wipe and let dry.

All Purpose cleaner

3 cups water

1/8 to ¼ cup liquid castile soap

2 tbsp white vinegar

Essential oils

Fill your spray bottle with water. Add the tablespoons of vinegar and the castile soap. (Make sure you add the soap AFTER the water, or it will get very sudsy and exciting.)
Now you’ll add the essential oils. I like adding 10 drops of lemon and 10 of tea tree

Febreeze Alternative

½ cup rubbing alcohol or vodka

1 cup water

Essential oil

Fill the spray bottle with  water and  rubbing alcohol or vodka. You’ll now add the essential oils – I typically start with 30 drops and then work my way up. You can also mix oils to create custom scents. I also like using The Body Shop home fragrance oils in this mix and I’ve had no problems with them.

Draino Alternative

This is very simple – just baking soda and white vinegar. This works best on drains that are running very slow, but not those with standing water. If your problem is soap scum or other build up, this will break it up and get things moving again. It also works as a good deodorizer for kitchen drains.

Shake a bit of baking soda over the drain – I’d say a 1/4 of a cup or so. Push it into and around the drain, and then pour a bit of vinegar over it until you get a good bit of bubbling and the vinegar begins to pool in the sink.

Let this drain and set for 15-20 minutes and then flush with hot water.