Experimenting with Homemade Cleaning Products

As a wanna-be zero waster, I know that I have to make and use homemade cleaning products.   Unfortunately, my efforts to date have been limited and somewhat unsuccessful.  In researching the topic of homemade cleaning products, three ingredients appear:  vinegar, baking soda and castile soap.    I have tried a vinegar and water 50/50 blend for cleaning mirrors and glass in the house.  It works so-so.  There were streaks on the windows and mirrors.  Plus, it stinks.  All the blogs say “the smell dissipates quickly” but I did not find that to be true. I love vinegar chips but I don’t want my house smelling like them.

A zero waste blogger from “chez nous” that I like, Lauraki

Comment faire son ménage zéro déchet

suggests adding lemon or orange peels to vinegar and letting it soak for a few weeks.   I tried this and I am very pleased with the results:  lemon scented vinegar.  It also allows me to reuse lemon peels and avoid having the buy and add essential oils.   She suggests keeping an on-going rotation of vinegar and citrus to ensure a steady supply.

The non-vinegar mirror/glass cleaner recipe that I found contained alcohol, however, this is not a great zero waste choice because of the packaging.  For the most part, the other materials can be bought in bulk.

This past weekend was devoted to trying out homemade cleaning products, mostly for cleaning the bathroom and windows and mirrors.

For the mirror cleaner, I tried out:

• ¼ cup homemade lemon scented vinegar
• a few drops dish detergent
• 2 cups water

(or alternatively vinegar and 8-10 drops of essential oil like orange or lemon).

The spray on the mirror looked good:

And look, no streaks!

I also made a bathroom cleaner consisting of:

• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp castile soap
• 2 cups water

The sink and shower were cleaned using the baking soda blend described.  This is the bathroom before:

The sink and shower were cleaned using the baking soda blend described.  This is the shower before:

and after:

Again, I was generally pleased with the result.  The shower was still a little dirty in some spots.  I used a 50% vinegar  / 50% dish soap blend that I sprayed in the corners.   Many websites described this blend as the “miracle cleaner”.  Just spray it on and leave for 30 minutes.   This worked reasonably well to clean the shower but did require some scrubbing.

For the toilet, I simply used about half a cup of baking soda to scrub the bowl, followed by a vinegar rinse.  This cleaning method works very well and is extremely easy.   

I have been making my own granite and quartz cleaner for a while.  My favorite recipe is:

• ½ cup alcohol
• 20 drops essential oil (I like lavender oil)
• 6 drops dish detergent (I used to use Dawn but now I use the OH brand from the Papillon bulk store and it works just as well)
• 2 cups water

Observations on using homemade cleaners:

• These cleansers are very easy and economical to make.  I know that some people complain about the time needed but I got these all made in less than 30 minutes time.
• The cleaning power of these products is good, although perhaps not quite as good as the chemical alternatives.  They require a little extra elbow grease to get similar results.  This is a justifiable change to avoid chemicals and to reduce packaging waste.
• Filtered or distilled water is better but since I don’t make a large quantity of cleaning products and use it up quickly, this is not an issue for me.  Tap water contains some trace microbes that can pose an issue over the long term.
• Using the lemon marinated vinegar, the scent of vinegar was dramatically reduced.

Given these encouraging results, I intend to continue using these homemade cleaners and maybe try some new ones for the kitchen and rest of the house.  Stay tuned!

Challenge for the Week:  For this week, use one of the homemade cleaning products that I have described.  Your family and pets will appreciate not being exposed to chemicals and your wallet will also thank you!