
When I first moved out on my own and had to do the cleaning, I would fill my cart with any chemical cleaners thrown at me at the grocery store. I literally had a cabinet full of cleaners. It wasn’t until I became pregnant that I started questioning my choices of cleaning products. What were these chemicals I was breathing in and putting in my home? Once my oldest became a toddler, I decided to go the more natural route when it came to cleaners in my home. In my journey to “detoxifying” my house, I learned that you don’t need heavy duty cleaners to have a sparkling clean home (ha - who am I kidding, my house was never sparkling clean to begin with but, you get my drift). You would be surprised that many things used to clean may already be in your pantry!
I like to keep the things I have to bare minimum so to be honest If you were to look in my pantry right I have 3 things of DIY cleaner:
All-purpose Vinegar cleaner
1-part water
1-part vinegar
Essential oils (completely optional) I usually add a couple drops of tea tree oil.
I use this multipurpose cleaner for everything! Minus hardwood floors (whoops!) and my granite.
To clean my non-hardwood floors, I put about ¼ cup in a bucket of warm water and mop away!
“DIY” Hardwood Cleaner
For my hardwood I buy BONA (which is safe for the environment and my family) and dilute that with a little water in a spray bottle to make it last longer.
DIY Granite cleaner I got from http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/06/diy-homemade-granite-cleaner.html
- ¼ cup rubbing alcohol
- a few drops of dish soap
- water
- a few drops of essential oils (optional)
Before Olive Oil[/caption]
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After Olive Oil[/caption]
But that’s not all, apparently, it can help clean cast iron pans and polish some wood . For the full list of things olive oil can do visit Apartment Therapy.
Lemons
I love cooking with lemons, and adding lemons to water. I also knew lemons were good for removing fish odor from hands as well as making your garbage disposal smell lemony fresh, but according to Real Simple
I had no clue it could also:
*Remove those pesky stains off our leftover plastic storage containers,
*Be used as a great as a grout cleaner when mixed with Cream of tarter
*Brighten laundry
These are just a few of many natural DIY cleaners that I use in my home because I always have the ingredients laying around and I keep it simple! But there are so many more recipes and different natural DIY cleansers you could use! For more recipes and ideas for DIY cleaners visit the awesome links below:
What natural DIY cleaners do you swear by? We would love to hear, so please comment below!