I love using natural homemade cleaners around the house. Now don’t get me wrong. Scrubbing bubbles is my favorite when nesting takes over my brain. Anything that doesn’t run away gets cleaned. But, I have children and I like working with them cleaning so I need safe cleaners they can use. Not only does making my own natural cleaners help keep them safe they save me a LOT of money. Between kids, pets, and a messy husband I go through a lot of cleaning supplies. Making my own cleaners doesn’t take much. Just a few simple ingredients.

Almost anything can be cleaned with vinegar.

Vinegar is my go to for quick and easy cleaning. Using vinegar in a shower cleaner is amazing. I eats away at the soap scum better than bleach and I don’t have to scrub a thing. This is a big deal because well when you have kids that love mud the shower can get really bad at the end of the day.

Vinegar can kill nearly any odor running around the house. Sure it doesn’t smell the best right way but when it dries you don’t smell a thing. I even keep a bowl on the stove while making salmon patties so the smell does not take over the house. Soak fresh citrus peels and herbs in vinegar for a couple weeks to give it a better fragrance. You can even make your own vinegar to cut the cost even more.

• Mix with essential oils or soak herbs and citrus peels in vinegar for an all-porous cleaner.
• Mix half vinegar half water for a handy window cleaner.
• Fill the coffee pot with vinegar and let it run for a great cleaner that removes gunk and kills any mold build up.
• Mix half vinegar and half water. Pop in the microwave and turn it on until steam forms. Wipe out for an easy to clean microwave.
• Remove tarnish from copper, brass, and pewter by mixing salt, vinegar, and flour into a paste.
• Unclog your sinks with vinegar and baking soda.
• Spray on all soft surfaces, walls, and floor in your bathroom to get rid of the smell of urine.

Uses rubbing alcohol to make your home shine

Rubbing alcohol is my go too for making things shine without leaving water marks. Class, chrome, nd the stainless steel in the kitchen all shine after a wipe down from good old fashioned rubbing alcohol . Mix in some essential oils and I have a great room and linen spray that kills odors and the germs that cause them. Perfect for the bathroom and furniture.

• Use a microfiber cloth and a bit of rubbing alcohol to make your stainless steel shine.
• Mix 1 part rubbing alcohol to 5 parts water to make a great deicer for your car windows. Wipe with a cloth when finished for a sparkling clean car window.
• Rubbing alcohol is great for cleaning chrome because it leaves no water marks.
• Remove old marks from your dry erase board.
• Pull ink from fabrics.
• Remove sharpie marks your toddler left around the house (I’m not the only one that happens to right?)
• Clean and disinfect electronics that are touched often by adding rubbing alcohol to a microfiber cloth and giving everything a good wipe down.

Baking soda makes a handy cleaner

Baking soda is my favorite scoring powder. I remember the first time I had used it to clean up my husband’s cool aid off my counter top. Nothing worked to get the red stain off the counter. Not a good thing in military housing. It got deep into the pores of the counter and pulled the red dye right up. I miss in some essential oils for a great carpet refresher. The best part? Baking soda is gentle and while it is a cleaning powerhouse it does not leave scratches all over.

• Mix with water for an abrasive scrubbing cleaner.
• Store a container in the fridge to soak up food odors.
• Dump down the drain followed by vinegar to clean and unclog drains.
• Add a few drop of essential oils for a carpet refresher.

Cleaning with hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide makes the perfect cleaner for breaking down mold and getting a bubbling action when needed. Tile grout cleans so easy with peroxide. I also pull it out to attack things the caps of sippy cups and the fridge seal that seem to attract mold fairly easy. When I want something like Scrubbing Bubbles without the chemicals I mix half peroxide, half water, and a squirt of soap.

• Get rid of blood stains.
• Make grout look like new.
• Clean mold from shower caulking.
• Make your shower curtain clean and mold free.
• Kill germs on your tooth brush.

Using essential oils to clean your home

Essential oils a powerful resource in your home. For cleaning the kill germs, mold, and leave your home smelling great. They can be added to nearly any home cleaner by mixing with alcohol or witch hazel before adding. Citrus oils have been used to clean since long before essential oils became popular.

• Kill germs and viruses.
• Kill mold.
• Make your house smell great.
• Add a boost to homemade cleaners.
• Get rid of and prevent pests.

Make soaps and detergents with castile soap.

Sometimes when cleaning you need a good soap. Castile soap makes a great all natural base for your home cleaners from hand washes to dish detergent. I mix it into any cleaner I need to suds up.

• Use liquid castile soap to make dish detergent
• Liquid castile soap makes a great base for hand wash
• A bar of castile soap can be used in homemade laundry detergent.

Use course salt for cleaning

Course salt makes a great abrasive scrubbing agent. Like baking soda, it gets in and does the scrubbing work for you only this is better for tough jobs on surfaces that do not run the risk of scratching. This is great for cleaning out your cast iron.

• Scrub thick messes.
• Make cleaning up a broken egg a breeze by pouring salt on it and letting it dry before sweeping up.
• Clean your cast iron skillet.
• Clean the bottom of a vase.
• Clean the stains out of your coffee pot.

Other great things to have on hand for homemade cleaners

Olive or coconut oil is great for breaking down sticky messes left from removing labels and for making metal in the house shine. Add a couple drops of your favorite citrus oil for an all-natural furniture polish.

Fresh citrus is great for breaking down stains, and hard water deposits. To get rid of laundry stains without bleach spirits or rub a bit of lemon juice into the stain and hang out in the sun. A fresh lemon cut in half can be used to clean the gunk around your shower head and other places hard water deposits build up.

If you want to add fragrance to your home cleaners without the use of essential oils you can use fresh herbs. Growing Lavender, mint, and lemongrass in your garden gives you the power to use these herbs to make your home smell great. Clove, ginger, and cinnamon boiling on the stove makes a great air freshener.