My 7 Favorite DIY Natural Cleaner Recipes (Toxin-Free!)
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I am NOT Mrs. Clean. Cleaning supplies or cleaning day don’t really get my motor running. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t like grime, scunge and gross bathroom smells–cleaning chores are simply not my favorite item on my list. However, all this aside, it IS important to me that my cleaning supplies work well and are safe and natural.
As with most of my wellness journey, before I started, I would buy whatever was cheapest at the store or purchase something I grew up using. Little did I know about the endless number of toxins, chemicals, fragrances, etc. involved in anything within the cleaning industry. When I was introduced to the glaring problems with these ingredients, I knew I had to make some changes.
Switching my cleaning agents was a process and over the years, I have tried many brands and many recipes. I’m still that penny-pinching-queen at heart, so I do prefer to make my own cleaning products. There are some brands out there I am now discovering have the same mindset when it come to the nasties in cleaning products, so I look forward to trying them in the future.
But for now, DIY cleaning is king!
The Problem: Toxins and Chemicals in Conventional Cleaners
While it may not be obvious that some products contain harmful ingredients (like makeup or skincare), conventional cleaner brands and products raise so many red flags it’s almost too obvious they are bad news!
Only part of the list of harmful ingredients in cleaning agents are things like parabens, phthalates/fragrance, chlorine, sodium hydroxide and fragrance. You only have to do a few minutes of research to find that ingredients like these can contribute to cancer, asthma, neurotoxicity, are hormone and endocrine disrupters, and are most often eye/skin irritants. I would definitely check our Dr. Amy Meyer’s post about some of these ingredients (and more) as she goes into detail about each ingredient and how they specially can harm us.
Are you ready for the real kicker? The companies producing these cleaners are allowed, by the FDA, to use almost any ingredients they want, can test all their products in house (i.e they do their own testing or not at all), AND they don’t have disclose what ingredients they use on their packaging. Since making money is the goal here and they are “following the rules”, there is absolutely no incentive for them to make their products safer for their consumers.
Blood boiling yet? I hope it is at least at a simmer, but even if it isn’t, at least you are now aware of some reasons to not use conventional cleaning products. Luckily, we have so many amazing natural options!
How will Homemade Cleaners Help Me?
Guess what? You don’t have to use chemicals for something to be clean! I think we have associated “clean smells” like certain fragrances or products (Clorox or Pinesol anyone?) with things being clean. While these items may clean surfaces in your house, they are wreaking havoc on you, your family and even your pets!
Let’s change that mindset right now–it is ABSOLUTELY possible to clean your home with natural, safe ingredients.
For me, knowing what ingredients are in products I regularly use like cleaners is super important (this includes non toxic ingredients and no hormone-disrupting fragrances). This is the beauty of natural cleaners (especially DIY ones)! They are usually made with a handful of ingredients that you can pronounce AND know what they are/what their purpose is. Remember knowledge is power–it’s the only way you can truly make any informed decision.
Homemade cleaners are also super economical because most of the ingredients like vinegar and baking soda are items you already have at home. There may be a small investment you need to make for some of the more uncommon ingredients like castile soap or essential oils, but the amounts you need will last for sooooo long. The other thing we often forget about is elbow grease. These cleaners will help you, but friction from a good scrub goes a long way for a clean house!
Let’s get to the recipes already!!!
My 7 Favorite DIY Natural Cleaner Recipes (Toxin-Free!)
One last thing to note about making these recipes. I would highly recommend using glass spray bottles because they are easy to sterilize if needed and you don’t have to worry about the chemicals in the plastic leaching into your precious cleaners. That is a bit counterproductive!
There are beautiful amber bottles online as well as adorable labels (thanks Etsy!). If these bottles aren’t in your budget, I have had great success reusing the spray nozzles/straws from old cleaning bottles and certain glass bottles from my kitchen. My favorite bottle to upcycle is the 23oz Frank’s Red Hot bottle because it has a skinny neck which acts as a great handle!
Thieves All-Purpose Spray
Young Living’s Thieves Cleaner may not be one of those ingredients you have laying around your house, but it is so worth the investment. Concentrates are a favorite cleaning ingredient of mine because they really do last for so long. The 14.4oz bottle of Thieves Cleaner could make about 200 16oz bottles of all-purpose spray. Wow!
For an basic all-purpose cleaner, you would combine 1 capful (about 1/2 tablespoon) of the Thieves Cleaner to 2-3 cups of distilled water into a glass spray bottle. Shake gently before each use. The brilliant thing about Thieve Cleaner is that it is already infused with essential oils, but you can always add in some more essential oils for extra smelling and cleaning power.
Castile Soap All-Purpose Spray
I’ve been using castile soap for years for various cleaning practices and for making foaming hand soap. You can definitely use castile soap for this particular recipe, but soap ingredient it calls for is something slightly different called Sal Suds. The biggest difference is that Sal Suds is a biodegradable cleaning concentrate while castile soap is a pure mineral soap. Both will work in the this recipe, but the Sal Suds has more of an “umph”.
Instructions:
1 cup of distilled water
1 cup of distilled white vinegar
½ teaspoon of Sal Suds
Pour and mix ingredients in a spray bottle (glass if you can) and gently shake before using.
Original recipe by Mom 4 Real.
Vinegar Window Cleaner
I have young children with consistently gross hands and what do they love to touch? The mirrors. The windows. The sliding glass door. I should clean these things more often, but if you are a parent, you know sometimes that is futile because it will almost get immediately marked up!
I learned along time ago that vinegar is really the only thing you need to clean mirrors. In fact, when I had cleaning duty at school, the supplies I was given for windows was a bottle full of vinegar and newspaper to wipe them down. This prevents any little fuzzies or fibers from getting left behind on the window.
Instructions:
3 cups distilled water
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
1/4 cup white vinegar
20 drops Peppermint essential oil
Pour and mix ingredients in a spray bottle (glass if you can, especially when using essential oils), gently shake to combine and before each use. This spray can be used to clean mirrors, windows, or stainless steel. I tend to wipe my windows or glass with and old t-shirt I have made into rags because they leave behind less fibers or you can use a paper towel or try out the newspaper!
Original recipe by Young Living.
Furniture Polish/Duster
This is probably my least favorite chore, and I really should up my dusting game because dust tends to bother my nose. Vinegar comes in again for the win with this recipes as it really cleans and disinfects just about everything. The key to this recipe is actually the almond or olive oil. It really helps with the “polishing” effect we all want on the wood in our home. I think that it helps pick up any remaining dust the rag may miss because it is a bit sticky too.
And of course, when I think furniture polish, the smell that registers is citrus! I hear my essential oil shelf calling–not only will the oils help with your cleaning, they also help purify the air!
Instructions:
1 cup distilled water
1/3-1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup almond or olive oil
30 drops of orange, lemon or grapefruit essential oil (you can also combine)
Pour and mix ingredients in a spray bottle (glass if you can, especially when using essential oils), gently shake to combine and before each use.
Original recipe by Back Road Bloom.
Air Freshener
Unless you have found an amazing air freshener brand that utilizes ONLY essentials oils for their fragrance, STAY AWAY. Throw them out right now! The Febreze bottles, wall flowers, scented candles, etc. must go.
My go to for any fragrance these days is essential oils and these doubly work because they clean the air too. I would also recommend opening some windows in your house for 30-60 minute a day too (yes, even in the winter) as this also helps with smells and air quality.
My favorite way to get essential oils in the air is to use a diffuser or many all over the house. There are literally hundreds of “recipes” or combinations of oils out there for diffusers and they, of course, smell amazing!
Instructions:
Fill your diffuser with filtered or distilled water
Add 10 drops of the essential oil of your choice or a combo
Run the diffuser until it is empty, then refill and run it again
Favorite Essential Oil Recipes:
5-10 drops pine + 5-10 drops stress away
5-10 drops cedarwood + 5-10 drops lavender
5-10 drops clove + 5-10 drops orange + 5-10 drops cedarwood
10-20 drops thieves
3-5 drops pine + 3-5 drops lemon + 3-5 drops eucalyptus
3-5 lemongrass + 3-5 peppermint + 2-4 lavender
3-5 grapefruit + 3-5 lavender + 2-3 lemon + 2-3 sweet orange
Quick Tip:
If you have a stinky bathroom (for the obvious reason), open the window or turn on the fan (or both) and shut the door for 5-10 minutes. This usually eliminates those undesirable smells pretty quick!
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
It’s time to tackle the porcelain throne. Oh goody! Vinegar strikes again with its amazing ability to disinfect surfaces and its partner, baking soda, is the best deodorizer. Throw some essential oils in there for extra cleanliness and a smell-good finish!
Instructions:
1/2 cup baking soda
10-15 drops of lemon essential oil
10-15 drops of rosemary essential oil
1 cup of distilled white vinegar
Measure out baking soda and essentials oil in a glass bowl, using a fork to break up clumps from the oils and mix with the baking soda. If not using right away, store in a mason jar. When the toilet needs a clean, measure out 2 tablespoon of baking soda into the toilet bowl and scrub well with a toilet brush. Next, add in 1 cup of vinegar and scrub well again. Flush away!
Original recipe by Raising Whasians.
Bathroom Cleaner
1 1/2 cups warm distilled water
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons unscented castile soap or Sal Suds
20 drops essential oils
Start by warming the distilled water slightly in a small pot, then add the baking soda and stir until dissolved. Next, mix in the vinegar, castile soap, and essential oils and then pour into your spray bottle. Gently shake the bottle to mix more if needed and do this before every use.
Original recipe by Root + Revel.
Conclusion
I hope you feel well stocked now to tackle most of your household cleaning chores. This way of cleaning doesn’t have to be complicated–you are simply tweaking your regiment. Your also obtaining the peace of mind that comes with utilizing natural, harmless ingredients while making your home sparkling clean!
What are your favorite natural DIY cleaners? Is there one I didn’t list that you swear by for your household cleaning? Let me know in the comments!
