August 24, 2016

3 DIY Cleaners You Should be Making

I love making my own cleaners for a number of reasons – it’s cheaper, I know exactly what I’m cleaning with (no unknown chemicals to worry about), and surprisingly, natural ingredients just work as well or better than conventional cleaning products. If you’re on the fence about making your own cleaners, or afraid to start, or maybe you think it’ll take too long, start with one or all three of these cleaners. I always use glass spray bottles to put my cleaners in because it keeps the ingredients stable longer, they look cute, and they just give a nicer feel to the cleaning process.

Window + Mirror Cleaning Spray – this one is a favorite of mine – truly, it works better than the blue stuff and it costs pennies to make. The rubbing alcohol helps the water evaporate a little more quickly and

WINDOW + MIRROR CLEANING SPRAY

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons rubbing alcohol
• 3 drops peppermint essential oil

Marble + Granite Cleaning Spray – if you have quartz, marble, or granite counters you CANNOT use vinegar on them. And if you’ve been purchasing marble or granite cleaner it can be as expensive as $6-7 a bottle. Here’s another one that costs pennies and works better than anything I’ve used.

Marble + Granite Cleaning Spray

• 3 tablespoons rubbing alcohol
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon castile or dish soap (if you want your spray to smell like your dish soap, use that)

All-Purpose Cleaning + Disinfecting Spray – You know you need to clean and disinfect the bathrooms but HOW can you do it and be confident that a DIY recipe is actually working? This recipe combines vodka (or feel free to use rubbing alcohol) and vinegar with essential oils to do a one-two punch on germs. It’s effective, kills germs, and you don’t have to wear a mask in the process. Simply spray, let sit for 10 minutes and wipe clean.

All-Purpose Cleaning + Disinfecting Spray

• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup vodka (excellent germ-killing properties)
• 15 drops of your favorite essential oils (lavender + lemon and peppermint + lemon are my favorite combos)
• 1 1/4 cups water

Vinegar is not safe on natural stone – marble, granite, etc. If you have that in your bathroom(s), use the marble + granite cleaning spray.

Grab the spray bottle and labels in my Clean Mama Home shop if you’re interested!