Homemade Cleaners

Homemade Cleaners have become a necessity in today’s market due to the arrival of Wuhan COVID-19 virus. With all the craziness at the stores, you usually can not find or buy any commercial products right now.

So, what do you do?

Well, you make your own! Here, I have found several recipes for all kinds of cleaning products. But, fair warning, ALWAYS try these in a small area you are cleaning to see if there are any negative reactions. Obviously, if it makes your eyes water, skin burn, or smells atrocious, you many not want to use it! So, proceed with caution! Additionally, ALWAYS make sure you label your new product with the ingredients and portions, in case of accidental ingestion! As a precaution, I would also recommend that you get a set of measuring cups and spoons specifically to use for mixing these chemicals AND washing them after each use!

The most common Homemade Cleaner is one that contains chlorine bleach. You can find a variety of recipes on the internet, but here’s a good start. Two solutions and one for wipes.

Chlorine Clean Up

  1. 1/4 cup of Bleach.
  2. 1 Teaspoon of Laundry Detergent.
  3. 1 Empty Plastic Spray Bottle, rinsed (24 oz) – You can reuse a commercial product spray bottle, but you must wash it thoroughly!
  4. fill the rest of the way with Water.
  5. Shake to mix.

General bleach cleaning solution

Mix 1 cup (240 mL) of bleach in 1 gallon of water.

To use: Wash all surfaces with the bleach mixture. If surfaces are rough, scrub them with a stiff brush. Make sure you rinse those surfaces with clean water.

If you want a scented product, just use the scented bleach you can buy at the store. Also, the laundry detergent scent will come through the mix, if you use it.

Chlorine Wipes

1 cup water
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
1 tsp. Dawn dish soap (only use Dawn)
2 Tbsp. ammonia (optional)
24 rags – cut into squares. (cut them to about 4×6 inches but whatever size you have available or whichever size you need will work. You can also use old washrags that have seen better days.)

Mix the ingredients and pour over the rags.( After you make this recipe, you will need to adjust how much of the mixture you pour over your rags. I didn’t have that many rags and they were pretty wet so I just used less of the cleaner. ) Then, when you need to clean your bathroom, use them as you would the disposable Clorox wipes.

Of course, the best thing about these homemade wipes is that you just throw them in the washing machine and use them again!

CAUTION:

When using bleach-based cleaner, be aware that, it will discolor many fabrics and some other surfaces if you accidentally spray it on something that’s not color-safe. So, always do a test area.

Other Homemade Cleaners

With all the talk of this Covid-19 virus, we want to disinfect everything we can. These Homemade Cleaners are one step in helping combat these germs.

All natural disinfectant spray

  1. 1/2 Cup White Vinegar.
  2. 1/2 Cup 70% Rubbing Alcohol (or 60% proof Vodka)
  3. 1 Cup Distilled Water or Reverse Osmosis Water.
  4. 5 Drops Lemon Essential Oil (price varies) -optional
  5. 5 Drops Lavender Essential Oil (price varies) – optional
  6. spray bottle – you MUST use GLASS if using the essential oils (An apple cider vinegar bottle works well and will accept the sprayer from most any spray bottle.)

Antibacterial Spray

Hand sanitizer spray:

  • 2 Tablespoons Distilled or Reverse Osmosis Water
  • 1 & 1/2 Tablespoons Aloe Vera 100% Gel (1 Tablespoonful is about the size of your thumb. To eyeball it, just squeeze from the tube if your tube does not have a pump. If it does, 1 & 1/2 Tablespoons is 15-20 pumps.)
  • Small glass or plastic spray bottle

Now let’s add the disinfecting part of the hand sanitizing spray. You can use one or both of these ingredients:

  • Vinegar Or Malt Vinegar (Vinegar is a natural antibacterial and antifungal so it is a safe & natural way to clean away germs; Malt Vinegar has a higher acidic rate so, it has proven to kill more germs)
  • OR: 70% Rubbing Alchohol or 60% proof Vodka (must be at least 60%)
  • 10 Drops Essential Oil (price varies) – optional

Liquid foaming natural soap

  • 1 Tablespoon Liquid Castile soap (see recipe below)
  • 1/2 teaspoon Fractionated Coconut Oil or 2 squirts from the pump
  • 15 Drops Essential Oils of each Lavender & Peppermint, or Wintergreen & Lemon, or Grapefruit & Thieves Oils (price varies) – OPTIONAL for scent
  • 1 Drop (NOT TWO) Food Coloring if you want it colored- OPTIONAL
  • Distilled or reverse osmosis water
  • 1 Foaming soap container ( reuse an old one after you clean it well) (or use canning jars and add foaming soap dispenser pumps available on Amazon.)

Directions

  • add a little bit of the water into your bottle which helps to buffer the natural soap going in
  • add the liquid Castile soap, fractionated coconut oil, and the essential oils to your foaming hand soap bottle.
  • one recipe uses 10 drops Thieves and 30 drops of Lemon Essential Oils. (Citrus essential oils in plastic are not recommended for long periods of time. So, if you don’t use it quickly, you will need glass.)
  • Fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water or reverse osmosis water so that the soap never gets slimy. This foaming hand soap with castile soap really is so easy!

To make this Soap Disinfecting

  • Use the liquid foaming natural soap recipe above
  • add 1 Tablespoon Vinegar OR 1 Tablespoon Rubbing Alcohol

Essential oils: Lavender and Thieves Oils have antiseptic cleaning properties so those make a good choice to help make your natural soap antibacterial and to smell good!

You can use green, blue, red or red/blue (for purple) food coloring and they look nice, and it does NOT stain your hands! Two drops did not seem to mix well and you can end up with some streaks on your hands. Since the natural soap mixture is so cheap, you can experiment with various scents and colors to find your favorites.

Castile Liquid Soap

  • 1 bar – from the Kirk’s Original Coco Castile Natural Bar Soap 4 oz (3-pack)
  • 8 Cups HOT (almost boiling) Distilled or Reverse Osmosis Water
  • Glass mixing bowl
  • Food Processor
  • Metal or Plastic spoon
  • Glass or plastic container (or old Castile Soap Bottle) to store the soap once made
  • A funnel for transferring the liquid to your container.
Directions:
  • Grate the bar soap. You can use a food processor or a cheese grater. The more “flaky” it is, the quicker it will melt.
  • Add the grated soap to your glass bowl or container
  • add the almost boiling water into your bowl
  • Stir until the flakes are dissolved with your metal or plastic spoon. (Do not to a wood spoon as the wood would absorb the DIY homemade liquid soap and then you would not want to use the spoon for cooking.)
  • Let the soap mixture cool for about 4-6 hours.
  • Once it has cooled, transfer your liquid castile soap recipe to your glass or plastic container.
  • Make sure to label the container to prevent accidental consumption.

Stainless Steel Cleaning

Stainless steel is surprisingly easy to clean: just wipe away any streaks or smudges with a specialty cleaner like Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaning Wipes. Avoid scouring powders, steel wool, bleach, and ammonia to prevent damage to the appliance’s finish. Or Make your own, Homemade Cleaner:

  • Dish Soap: Mix 1 teaspoon of dish detergent and 1 quart hot tap water. Use a microfiber cloth to rub the detergent solution onto the marks in small sections, going with the grain. Rinse with clean hot water only, and dry immediately with a clean cloth.
  • Mineral Oil: Apply a light coating and buff well to avoid any tacky buildup. Stay away from food-based oil, including vegetable and olive oil, because they can turn rancid.
  • Windex type product: Spray a dry cloth with ammonia and vinegar-free window cleaner. Then wipe the surface clean.

It’s okay to scrub stainless steel sinks and pots in a circular motion. In fact, it can help hide scratches and gives them a patina. This will help remove the streaks, too. But always, always, to minimize streaks, wipe appliances in the direction of the metal’s grain. Stainless steel sinks and cookware can withstand a bit more scrubbing muscle from the mildly abrasive cleansers they need to scour away food particles and buff out scratches. Buff appliances with a clean microfiber cloth.

You can use dish soap or mineral oil to remove pesky marks and smudges, but the only way to bring back your appliance’s natural shine is by using cleaners formulated specifically for stainless steel. Additionally, look for a cleaner with a protectant ingredient to repel soil and fingerprints.

Window Cleaner

  1. Mix one part hot water to one part distilled vinegar – 1 cup of each, for example.
  2. For Sponge cleaning: Moisten the window, using the solution, then clean.
  3. For Squeegee cleaning: Always dampen the squeegee first and clean from the top down, wiping the edge of the squeegee after every stroke.
  4. DO not clean when the windows are in full sun.
  5. Finally, Rinse and dry the window frames immediately to avoid any damage from the chemicals.
  6. For extremely grimy, dirty glass, prewash with very soapy water, then go to the vinegar spray.
  7. For highly resistant spots, try rubbing hard with a cloth dipped in undiluted vinegar first.

Cleaning Streaked Windows

Step1: First Vinegar Wash

  • 2 c. water
  • 1/4 c. white vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp. dishwashing detergent or liquid
  • Combine these ingredients in a spray bottle, then just spray and clean.

Step 2: Forever After Vinegar Wash

  • 1 c. water
  • 1 c. white vinegar
  • Combine these ingredients in a spray bottle, spray and clean. This is for normal windows.

Step 3: Vinegar Wash For Horribly Grimy Windows

  • 1 c. full strength white vinegar
  • Warm up the solution and use directly on glass to clean.

There is an entire world of creating Homemade Cleaners out there. Checkout this one!

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Author: Lisa

Posted On: March 22, 2020 @ 4:53 pm