How To Make Homemade All-Purpose Surface Cleaner

Monday is usually a food day around Live Simply. Over the past few months we’ve talked about shopping for real food and various ways to prep real food for the week ahead. We will return to our traditional Monday food talks in a few weeks. Over the next three weeks, may we branch away from real food and talk about natural cleaning,

I knew you’d be up for a change of pace. With a new eBook, DIY Natural Cleaning Challenge, in the final stages, I’ve been spending my days, nights, and weekends testing and retesting the beloved natural cleaning recipes I use in my home. The Cleaning Challenge is about helping you navigate the world of do-it-yourself, natural cleaning using a simplified, practical, no-condemnation approach. Let’s take a look at what we’re going to make over the next three weeks to help you confidently get started (or reignite a passion) with making natural cleaning products.

Castile soap is a concentrated vegetable-based soap made of ingredients you can actually pronounce. This soap is gentle on the skin and effective in the fight against dirt, grease, and unwanted germs. Dr. Bronner’s is a very a popular brand of castile soap. The world is just a better place with castile soap, really! Castile soap can be used to clean just about anything and everything: your face, your laundry, and even your stinky dog! Vinegar is 5% acetic acid.

This acid fights against bacteria and other yuckies you don’t want living in your home. Vinegar can’t be used on every surface (like marble and granite), but even with its limitations vinegar is an extremely versatile product to keep in your natural cleaning toolkit. Fresh citrus, particularly lemons and lemon juice, is an amazing addition to natural cleaners. Lemons contain antibacterial properties which aid in fighting unwanted germs and bacteria in the home.

Plus, citrus provides an amazing fresh scent to homemade cleaners. Rubbing alcohol, also known as isopropyl alcohol, is considered an antiseptic and sold as such in grocery stores. Rubbing alcohol is used in homemade cleaners to kill germs. Rubbing alcohol will be used in the floor cleaner spray to speed up the drying time (no Slip ‘N Slide this time). I know some people in the natural community avoid rubbing alcohol for cleaning purposes.

Vodka may be safely substituted for rubbing alcohol in cleaning recipes. Essential oils are very popular today, but the truth is before the popular oil brands marketed online and bloggers started filling Pinterest with recipes, essential oils were being used by generations before us. Essential oils are basically concentrated oils derived from plants. For those wanting a more scientific definition, here’s how Retha, a certified aromatherapist from Plant Therapy, defines an essential oil, “An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants.

Essential oils not only provide a pretty, natural fragrance to homemade cleaners, but also important disinfecting properties. A few of my favorite essential oils for cleaning, include: lemon, tea tree, peppermint, lavender, and orange. My favorite trustworthy and affordable essential oil brands for cleaning include: Aura Cacia, NOW, and Plant Therapy. All of these brands can be found online. Yep, good ol’ H2O is a staple in every single recipe we will make over the next three weeks.

When making homemade products, clean tap water may be used for temporary storage (1-2 weeks); for long-term storage use distilled water or boiled and then cooled water to limit the possibility of bacteria growth. In order to make these cleaners you’re going to need spray bottles. Perrier water bottles also work! Purchase ready-to-go cleaner bottles (these are my favorite).

The first recipe we’re going to make together is a basic surface cleaner, actually two depending on your preference. When it comes to making a surface cleaner, or any homemade product, it’s important to be educated and know what ingredients should or shouldn’t be used on various surfaces. For this reason, today’s post contains two different recipe options: castile soap or vinegar.

The castile soap cleaner is safe to use on any surface (always test cleaners in a small area first before applying to a greater surface area), including granite and marble. The vinegar cleaner does have a vinegar scent (hey, it’s vinegar!), but it works very well for cleaning multiple surfaces, including carpet mishaps.