My Favorite Homemade Cleaning Products

One of the first major lifestyle changes of zero waste living is making your own cleaning products.  Commercial cleaning products contain many harmful chemicals.   Since I have a lot of allergies, it was often difficult to find cleaning products that did not cause me to feel ill.  I did try some commercial,  “natural” cleaners but some of these also made me unwell.  In fact, one product that I purchased in bulk gave me serious headaches and I had to stop using it.  As a result, I am a bit skittish on “natural” commercially produced cleaning products.  Making my own cleaning products has been my preferred route. In addition, since many cleaning products are made of more than half water, you are paying a lot of money for water.

After a few years using DIY cleaning products, there are definitely a few recipes that I have kept and others that I have stopped using.  I wanted to share the “keepers” that I have found.  One thing that I want to point out is that any recipe that you find on line that consists of baking soda (base) and vinegar (acid) should probably not be used as the two ingredients together neutralize each other to produce water and a weak salt of sodium acetate.  You are better off using each ingredient separately.  A 1:1 ratio of vinegar and water is a great disinfecting cleaner and I have used it to clean floors.   Unfortunately, my husband despises the smell of vinegar. You can add leftover lemon and orange peels to create a scented vinegar but even this does not work for husband’s sensitive nose. 

I try to use it when he is not around.  Vinegar is great for cleaning the toilet.  I usually start with baking soda to scrub, rinse and then add vinegar.

One of my favourite recipes is my DIY granite cleaner.  I have been using it since the start of my zero waste journey and it is definitely my favourite.  The recipe consists of:

2 cups filtered, boiled and then cooled water

1/2 cup alcohol

6 drops dish soap

10 drops essential oil (optional, I use lavender oil)

You simply mix these four ingredients and put it in a spray bottle.  I filter and boil the water to get rid of as many microorganisms as possible (distilled water is better if you have the patience to make it – see recipe here).   This simple cleaning recipe works wonderfully on my granite  and quartz countertops.  Because of the alcohol, it is also disinfecting.  Note that for granite and quartz counters, you should not use citrus based oils (lemon, orange, etc) as they can etch the surface of your stone surfaces.   I also use this solution for general cleaning.  

It took me awhile but I finally found a great glass cleaner.  My original recipe in one of my earlier blogs left small particles on the mirror.  Two years ago, my husband bought me the “Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home” by Becky Rapinchuk (aka Clean Mama). 

She has a great mirror cleaner recipe consisting of water, alcohol and vinegar.  The recipe consists of:

1 1/2 cups water

3 tbsp vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp alcohol

10 drops of your favourite essential oil (I use geranium)

The small amount of alcohol helps improve the surface tension of the spray so that it does not drip down after spraying.  It works well and I am finally no longer using the blue commercial window spray (Windex type glass cleaner with ammonia).

For the kitchen, shower and bathroom sinks, I use a simple scrub consisting of a paste of baking soda and castile soap.  It works well to clean sinks. 

For any mold or mildew, Clean Mama recommends hydrogen peroxide.  I haven’t found it to work that well and I still occasionally use Vim or a bleach based cleanser for those particularly tough spots in the shower.  Ultimately, regular cleaning and a little elbow grease are what is needed to keep your bathrooms clean.

At the bulk store, they have a new product from OLA Bamboo made of a tab that you dissolve in water.  It has a fresh scent and works quite well for general purpose cleaning. 

I tried it out and like it, but I realize that I don’t have a need for this kind of product.  I will stick with the cleaning products that I am already using.

In the end, I have simplified my cleaning routine by using fewer products and it has made life a lot easier, not to mention allowing me to save money.  Do you have any favourite cleaning recipes to share?