Homemade Natural Cleaning Recipes You Will Adore

Homemade all-purpose cleaner

  • 1/2 c white vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp baking soda
  • 10 drops tea tree, lavender, or lemon essential oil (for their disinfectant properties)

Mix the vinegar, essential oils and a little water before adding baking soda in a clean spray bottle (glass is best). Then fill to top with water. You can use about a 12 oz bottle. Gently shake to mix ingredients, and then spray, wipe with a cloth, and allow it to dry.

Homemade “soft-scrub” cleaner

  • 1 ½ cups baking soda
  • ½ cup environmentally safe liquid laundry soap (ECOS, for example)
  • 10 drops tea tree, lavender, or lemon essential oil

Mix baking soda and laundry soap in a mixing bowl, stirring vigorously to combine into a paste.  Add essential oil and mix well.  Store in an airtight food container. If the mixture begins to dry out, add a small amount of water and mix well.

Homemade disinfectant wipes

  • 1 cup water
  • ¼ cup with vinegar
  • 8 drops tea tree oil
  • 8 drops eucalyptus essential oil
  • 8 drops lemon essential oil
  • Empty “wipe” container (baby wipe, for example)
  • 15 – 20 squares of cloth (old t-shirts work well, as do old dish towels or similar material)

Fold and place the cloth squares into the empty wipe container and set aside. Combine in a mixing bowl the water, vinegar, and 3 essential oils, stirring until well mixed.

Pour this mixture over the cloths in the container where they will soak in and be ready for you to pull out and use! Launder and repeat as often as the cloths hold up!

Homemade liquid dish soap

  • ½ cup warm distilled water
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • ½ cup white vinegar
  • ½ cup Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • Lemon essential oil (optional)

Combine distilled water with salt, stirring until the salt is dissolved.  In a separate bowl, combine the vinegar, Sal Suds, and lemon juice.  Stir this mixture into the salt water mixture, and stir until thickened.

You may wish to add 10 – 15 drops of lemon essential oil both for scent and for disinfectant properties.  Pour mixture into a recycled dish soap container for storage.

Homemade mirror and glass cleaner

  • ¼ cup white vinegar
  • ¼ cup isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 cups water
  • 8 – 10 drops essential oil of choice, optional

Combine everything in a spray bottle.  Shake to mix well.  Spray onto glass surface and wipe clean. Be sure you shake well to fully integrate the cornstarch, which is the ingredient that reduces streaking.  You’ll want to shake before each use.

Homemade air freshener

  • 12 – 15 drops of pure essential oil (grapefruit, lemon, orange, lavender are favorites)
  • ½ cup white vinegar
  • 1/12 cups water

Combine in a spray bottle, shake, and spray to freshen the room! (Shake before each use). You can experiment with higher ratios of vinegar to water and upping the essential oil if this is not strong enough for your preference.

Homemade carpet freshener (with added benefits)

This combination of ingredients can disinfect, kill fleas and their eggs, and act as a rodent deterrent.

  • 2 cups Borax
  • 1 cup baking soda
  • 10 drops essential oil

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well.  Store in an air-tight container.  When you’re ready to use, just sprinkle around the carpet and let sit for about half an hour.  Vacuum up, and you’re good to go!

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