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Since I’ve mentioned in a couple of posts how much I adore this homemade, non-toxic cleaner, I figured it’s time to tell you how to make it. This recipe is based on several other ones that I’ve seen on-line, so I am not claiming it as my own. This is just my variation…
- 1 quart warm water
- 1 ½ T. liquid castile soap (I use Sal Suds Liquid Cleanser 32 Ounces
)
- 15 drops each lemon and orange essential oils
- Optional, for extra disinfecting power: 5 drops each tea tree and eucalyptus essential oil
Fill a 1 quart (32 ounce) spray bottle (I found this heavy-duty one in the cleaning aisle at Target) half way up with warm water. Add the liquid castile soap (eyeball it) and slowly fill the bottle to within 1 ½ inches of the top. You might need to wait a few minutes for the bubbles to subside, but if you fill the bottle very slowly it shouldn’t be much of a problem. Add the essential oils, put on the spray lid and gently shake until well combined. That’s all there is to it. It takes less than five minutes and is super-cheap after the initial investment. The liquid castile soap and essential oils are extremely concentrated, so there is very little compared to the water. My half-gallon bottle of cleaner cost me less than a dollar (compare that to nearly $5 for half that much of the store-bought non-toxic cleaners!) and I have enough of the ingredients on hand to make dozens more! Each ingredient also has several other uses, so they are all multi-taskers.
So, apart from being non-toxic and cheap, why do I love this stuff so much? I think I’d better show you…
Last night we had some friends over and we toasted marshmallows. I left the sticky, charcoaled forks on the table overnight and woke up to the miserable prospect of scrubbing them. Ugh. I HATE to scrub things! I decided to spray them with my nifty cleaner and let them sit for a few minutes, first. Once I remembered them, about ten minutes later, I rinsed them under some hot water for about 30 seconds. Here’s what I have now. NO SCRUBBING! I didn’t even wipe them off!
Since I didn’t take a “before” picture, I thought I’d do a “before and after” on one of the grilling forks we use for camping. Now, this one was scrubbed and soaked and scrubbed again when we got home from our camping trip…
I sprayed it and ignored it for ten minutes. Instead of just rinsing this one, I sprinkled on some baking soda and wiped it off with a dish rag. I didn’t scrub, just wiped and then rinsed.
Yes, there are a few small spots left, but WOW! If I wanted it spotless, I would repeat the process, but I’m just not that concerned about how our camping gear looks.
My other favorite uses are cleaning the kitchen and bathroom with it. I use it as an all-purpose cleaner on any hard surface and have had no problems at all. Usually, spraying it on and letting it work on the grime for a couple of minutes means no scrubbing, just easily wiping it up. If something doesn’t come off, I either repeat the process, or I’ll add a sprinkle of baking soda. Either way, it is so easy! In fact, here is my three-year-old cleaning up some dirty spots on the floors yesterday. She didn’t need any help at all and our floors look great. Alternatively, you could spray the cleaner on the floors and use a regular mop. No need to rinse!
Yep, easy enough that a three-year-old can do it! And she loves being able to do “big girl” chores with Mommy!
Do you have a favorite homemade cleaner?
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Update: I just tried this cleaner out on the bottom shelf of my fridge. Spray, let work 5 minutes, wipe clean. It worked beautifully and was super-easy!
Do you use this same cleaner on windows and mirrors? Is it streak free?
Hi Rachel!
I used a paper towel and it did a great job of cleaning the mirror and I can’t see any streaks at all.
I hadn’t ever tried it since I usually just use a microfiber and hot water, so I just ran into the bathroom to test it out for you (My hubby laughed at me)!
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Im confused by your measurements. I have a spray bottle the same size as yours. At first you said a half gallon o f water which is too much for the spray bottle and then in the directions you said fill a half gallon spray bottle half way. So how much water should I use? I used 24oz of warm water and 2 tabl spoons soap plus the same amount of essential oil you suggested. Is that going to be a good potency?
So sorry, Rachel! You’re completely right, I messed up the measurements. I have several spray bottles that I fill at once, and when I did the math to break it down per bottle, I must not have been paying attention. The bottle is 32 ounces, which is 1 quart, not 1 gallon. You have exactly the right measurements, just finish filling the bottle with water. That will take you from the top measurement line of 24 ounces to the full 32 ounces. I’ll fix the instructions above. Thanks so much for pointing this out!
[...] The BEST Homemade Cleaner How to Clean a REALLY Dirty Kitchen [...]