Make Your Own DIY Spray Cleaners
With the arrival of Spring comes a natural instinct to clean and reorganize our nests. Our windows are opened after months of being shut and fresh air inspires the need to give our homes a good deep clean. Instead of reaching for chemicals that can do more harm than good, consider making some natural + simple cleaners with basic ingredients that really do the work. In this post we share our favorite essential oils and our favorite tools for green cleaning as well as recipes for making DIY cleaners.
Why use a glass spray bottle?
Replace countless plastic bottles with this refillable glass spray bottle for your household cleaning needs. When using undiluted essential oils in homemade cleaning products, it's advised to store solutions in a glass spray bottle instead of plastic, which can destroy the oil and degrade the plastic bottle often causing leakage.
9 Essential Oils for Cleaning: No scary fumes needed! Essential oils naturally smell amazing and are the best option for making homemade cleaning recipes. Add oils to green your laundry routine, sanitize kitchen counters and deep clean the bathroom. Here are 9 of our favorites:
- Lemon: Antiviral and Antibacterial + refreshing, energizing and uplifting scent. A powerhouse in homemade cleaning solutions.
- Sweet Orange: Great against cutting through grease
- Tea Tree: Fights germs, bacteria, and viruses. Use this in homemade wipes or a daily shower spray.
- Lavender: Naturally antibacterial + a perfect addition to laundry routine.
- Eucalyptus: Natural Germicide and great for cleaning cupboards (deters bugs).
- Peppermint: Antibacterial and terrific to add to spray cleaners. Also, repels ants effectively!
- Thyme: Powerful against germs - terrific to add to homemade dish soap and for cleaning cutting boards.
- Rosemary: Antibacterial and Antiseptic - add this to dish soap or laundry detergent. Also great in combination with peppermint as a room spray.
- Cinnamon: Naturally antibacterial and antiseptic so it's great to use against mold in a mold + mildew spray.
- Vinegar: 50-50 combination of water + vinegar makes a terrific all-purpose spray. Plus add this mixture to washing machine and protect from mildew-y towels.
- Baking Soda: Scrub porcelain, deodorize and shine stainless steel.
- Lemons: Clean wooden cutting boards with a half of lemon + some salt or soda.
- Glass Spray Bottle: reusable bottle saves hundreds of plastic versions.
- Castile Soap: 1 soap for 18 different uses.
- Coconut Oil: great for seasoning cast iron pans and removing sticky goo.
- Tidy Dish Cloths: textured for extra cleaning power and reusable for years.
- Reusable Cleaning e-Cloths: just add water, no cleaners needed!
- Scrub Brush: for extra elbow grease power, this is the brush.
- Green Cleaning Starter Kit: Get started with these plant-derived cleaners.
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup distilled vinegar
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 15-20 drops orange essential oil
- Store in a glass spray bottle
DIY stain remover spray (from Cassie Johnston at Back to Her Roots)
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup unscented liquid castile soap (we use Dr. Bronner’s Baby Soap)
- 1/4 cup liquid vegetable glycerin
- 10 drops lemon essential oil
- Glass spray bottle (this makes enough to fill up an 8-ounce bottle)
Directions: Mix together the water, castile soap, vegetable glycerin and essential oil. Pour into a glass spray bottle. The lemon essential oil tends to eat away at plastic, so try to store in glass if possible. To use, spray liberally on the stain, rub in a bit with your fingers and let sit or soak before washing. If it’s a really tough stain, try letting it soak overnight (and maybe applying the spray a few times).
DIY Glass Cleaner
- 2 cups filtered water
- 2 TBLS vinegar
- 10 drops of lemon essential oil
Wood Cleaner
- 2 TBLS olive oil
- 1 TBLS white vinegar
- 1 quart of warm water
Combine in a spray bottle. Spray onto wood and then dry with a soft cloth.
Do you make natural DIY cleaning recipes? Please share with us in the comments below.
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