Make Your Own Household Cleaners

This time of year really encourages me to keep up with my house cleaning with the holidays and people visiting which is why I am sharing a couple of recipes to make your own homemade cleaning products. They are quick and easy to mix up and are so much cheaper than buying the store bought stuff that has who knows what in it. I am all about saving money when I can. Plus I love the idea of knowing exactly what is in my cleaner and knowing it is also safe for my pets too.

There is nothing worse than having the motivation to clean your house and getting in a cleaning mood, to find that you are out of a particular type of cleaner or do not have enough to complete the whole house. If I am in a cleaning mood, I definitely want to take advantage of it and not let the lack of cleaner keep me from getting things done.

My homemade dust cleaner and all-purpose floor cleaner are the two that I go to most. Dust seems to appear magically and drives me crazy. I am constantly trying to keep my floors clean due to having dogs in my house. Therefore these are the best cleaning products for me to have around.

Both of these cleaners include white vinegar. Who doesn’t love vinegar? I remember my grandmother using vinegar when I was younger and still to this day she claims it is good for everything. I used to think that vinegar was so gross and how she must be crazy but now that I have a house to clean and keep up, I see just how smart she really is. I have actually come to enjoy the smell of vinegar now which would have seemed so bizarre to me as a child. Vinegar is also extremely inexpensive and goes such a long ways.

Furniture Polish:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• ¾ cups white vinegar
• 2 tsp olive oil

Mix the ingredients together in a spray bottle using a funnel to pour them more easily. Screw the spray nozzle back on and shake well to combine the oil with the liquid. You are now ready to spray your furniture and wipe clean with a soft cloth.

This is also a great homemade leather cleaner. It gives a gorgeous shine to what appears to be such dull leather before.

All-Purpose Floor Cleaner

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Dawn original dish liquid
• A little less than one gallon of warm water

I use a gallon plastic jug to combine and mix my cleaner in. That way I have some made up in advance to use in the future instead of having to make it so often.

Using a funnel to make it easier, pour in the warm water but not all the way to the top being careful to leave enough room for the vinegar and dish liquid and also some room to shake to combine.

*If you put the vinegar and dish liquid in first, when you add the water it will start bubbling and will be a big soapy mess making it hard to get the jug filled completely with water. It would make it easier to measure the ingredients and pour them in, but trust me I learnt from experience.

Add the white vinegar and Dawn dish liquid. Shake the jug to combine ingredients. Once the bubbles settle some, I then use a funnel to pour into a spray bottle.

Spray the floor in small sections at a time and then use a mop with a dusting cloth attached to it to wipe over the floors. I have an old Bona floor cleaner mop that I use, but it is much cheaper this way to make my own cleaner than buying the Bona refills.

This can also be a hardwood floor cleaner even though you are using water. Many people are hesitant with putting water on hardwood floors, and they should be because too much water can soak into the floors and damage the hardwood. But by using the spray bottle, you are only applying a minimal amount of water making it completely okay. You would never want to use a regular mop with the hardwood floors and this cleaner like you would do on tile floors.

Now get up from your couch and get some cleaning motivation. Most people talk about spring cleaning, but I think this time of year is a great way to motivate us to do the same thorough cleaning. We are pulling out boxes from out attics or basements with Christmas decorations which stirs up more dust and always those annoying little green pieces that come off the branches of the artificial trees.

Most of us either have Christmas parties or company coming over for dinners so this is also a great motivation to get cleaning. Just don’t break the bank while also saving money for Christmas gifts by buying expensive cleaners. Make your own and save some money at the same time.

Most of us don’t enjoy cleaning, but find joy in even cleaning and the little things because it means you are blessed to have a house to clean and a family to clean for even though they make messes.

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