My Favorite Homemade Cleaners

 Hi friends!  I hope you're having a nice weekend so far.

Since I have cleaning on my mind lately (trust me, most of the time more talk than action), I thought I'd share some of my favorite homemade cleaners with you.  I used to be the type that had a specific store-bought cleaner for each room, until the past couple years when I started realizing that I really only needed a few basic supplies for everything and I could make the majority of them too. 

I love using as natural products as I can in our home, but they do have to be effective.  I don't make every cleaning product in our house (I have yet to try making laundry detergent), but I enjoy putting together a few combinations that are effective and also very easy and quick. 

 Distilled white vinegar is like your best friend when it comes to homemade natural cleaners.  It is a great safe alternative to chemical cleaners, does an amazing job, plus it's affordable.  I buy a huge container of it at Costco to store and decant it into Ball jars (which sit on my open shelves in the laundry room) and bottles.  There are so many uses for vinegar it amazes me.  Here are some ways I use it:

Floor Cleaner 

 (I use this on our non-waxed wood floors, laminate wood floors and tile)

1 quart water

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

3 drops pure essential oil, such as lemon (optional)

Note: I use a mop with a washable microfiber pad and a refillable bottle that I can pour the solution into

Window Cleaner

equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle 

Fabric Softener

I add 1/4 cup vinegar to the rinse cycle in the washing machine

Mildew Remover + Stainless Steel Cleaner

Undiluted vinegar in a spray bottle

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Pour a few cups of vinegar into the toilet bowl and let it sit for an hour before scrubbing

 Mild dish soap can also be used for more that just washing dishes!  I always use Mrs. Meyers as I love the scents and effectiveness. 

Bathroom Cleaner

(I learned this from reading Martha Stewart and it works fabulous for scrubbing)

Pour a little baking soda and dish soap into a bowl and mix until a paste is formed

All Purpose Cleaner

1 quart water

1/4 cup dish soap

 A friend of mine got me hooked on having a couple pure essential oils in the house.  I have both lavender and lemon and I use them all the time.  I add them to my floor cleaner occasionally to mask the smell of vinegar, but probably my favorite way to use them is in the dryer.  I cut a lint-free towel into little squares and pour a few drops of lavender oil onto the towel square to add with wet clothes in the dryer.  Because I use a laundry detergent that is free of scents and the vinegar in the rinse cycle works as a fabric softener, this is a way I can add just a little natural scent to our clothing. 

I also want to tell you about an amazing natural homemade silver cleaner.  Recently my friend Ann over at On Sutton Place posted her recipe for removing tarnish from silver.  I decided to give it a try one day on our silverware and I could not believe how well it worked (and how easy it was!).  I immediately threw out my silver cleaner!  You can find the recipe here, but it consists of using only water, salt, baking soda and foil.

I'm sure many of you have some fabulous ways of using these ingredients for cleaners and probably know a lot more than I do about it.  I just love that there are so many ways to use natural, affordable ingredients that do just as good a job at cleaning...if you haven't had a chance to try homemade cleaners yet, I hope you enjoy the recipes!

Have a great weekend.