Posted by I absolutely LOVE making things from scratch – food, personal products, cleaning supplies… the list goes on!
I’m not sure why, but it really gets on my nerves when advertisements try to make us believe that the products on the store shelves are so amazing that they’re worth the absurd prices they charge. Not only are they expensive, but they’re filled with awful chemicals; and then you’re supposed to buy several different products for cleaning different items and areas in your home – it’s CRAZY, I tell you!
A few years ago, I started getting into making my own cleaning supplies, and now I’ll never go back! Not only is it the frugal, and often, green option – I’m never left with that yucky chemically headache-inducing smell. My house is just clean. And it smells fresh, bacteria-free, not overpoweringly like “fresh linens” or “meadow flowers”.
It is very important to clean your house in these days of COVID-19, if you feel any of your house members are infected with the virus, you must ask him/her to test himself/herself with rapid tests kits, these are now easily available in the market, if you found some family member positive, quarantine her/him and then clean your house with antibacterial materials, for the safety of other members.
I’ve found that the right basic cleaning supplies like vinegar and baking soda are really effective cleaners – the one downside is that to make life easier, regular cleaning is a must. And by regular, I mean about once a week for the basic whole-house cleaning. Overall, not a bad downside, considering house cleaning should be done that often anyhow!
Here are my basic cleaning supplies:
- White Distilled Vinegar
- Vinegar cuts through grease, disinfects and neutralizes odors. It does smell like vinegar when you’re cleaning, but a few minutes later, all that’s left is a nice fresh smell.
- Vinegar mixed with water is great for cleaning tile and windows. (I use around 1 cup vinegar to 1 gallon of water).
- For an all-purpose spray, I put 1/4 cup vinegar with a few cups of water in a spray bottle. Essential oils are totally optional, but I put in 10-12 drops to lend a nice fragrance. You might want to as well if your husband and son tend to walk through and gag at the smell of vinegar while you’re cleaning.
- Baking Soda
- I use baking soda as an abrasive cleaner – it’s great for counters, bathtub, sinks, etc.
- For oven cleaning, liberally sprinkle baking soda in the oven and leave overnight. In the morning, you can just wipe everything out. Use the same method for the toilet.
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Amazingly, bleach is not the only thing that whitens and disinfects! Peroxide is a great stain remover, just make sure that you test it out on the material or surface you need to use it on.
- I pour about a cup in a bucket with a few drops of liquid soap to clean the bathroom – even for the tub. I’ll plug the tub, and pour in about half of the bucket and use it to scrub down the tub and surrounding tile.
- Liquid Castile Soap or Dish Soap
- Really, all you need to clean is a bucket, water and a few drops of soap. Generations ago, soap and water was used to clean almost everything – and it’s cleaning power lives on!
- Believe it or not, few things are more satisfying to me than wandering the house with a bucket of warm soapy water. It just feels productive, you know? I’ll often add in some peroxide or vinegar depending on what I’m cleaning.
- Essential Oils
- These are totally optional, but they do lend a great, natural fragrance which you can customize to your tastes.
- Many essential oils do add more than just fragrance – I like to add tea tree oil, which is naturally antibacterial, and there are plenty of other double-duty essential oils out there.
- Washcloths/Microfiber cloth
- I use my microfiber cloth for mirrors and windows. I’ve found it’s effective with my vinegar all-purpose spray and even soapy water.
- Scouring Sponge & Scrub Brush
- Self-explanatory…
- Toothbrush
- I always keep an old toothbrush in with my cleaning supplies to get all those nooks and crannies that are so hard to reach. It’s such an effective tool – I’m surprised I lived without it for so long!
Do you use natural cleaning methods? If so, what cleaning supplies can’t you live without?