One of the easiest and most versatile homemade cleaners you can make is a simple mixture of equal parts vinegar and water. A vinegar and water combination can be used on counter tops, sinks, bathroom fixtures, mirrors, or floors. It’s a great all purpose mixture to have on hand and costs only pennies to make.
In addition to cleaning the floors and counters, here’s one more idea for cleaning with vinegar and water – it’s a great way to quickly clean your microwave!
A bowl of water and vinegar placed in the microwave and brought to a boil will produce steam that helps loosen the bits of dried gunk that can mess up the inside of a microwave from food that has popped and splattered around. The vinegar adds some extra cleaning power to the steam that makes it easy to just wipe down the inside of your microwave and make it nice and clean again with very little effort.
HOMEMADE MICROWAVE CLEANER
1. Combine the vinegar and water in a microwave safe bowl. If you want a little added fragrance add a few drops of essential oil.
2. Place the bowl in the microwave. Heat the water and vinegar mixture until it is boiling. (I heat it for 2 minutes).
3. Let the bowl stand in the microwave for a few minutes so the steam can soften the dried splatters of food.
4. Remove the bowl and wipe down the walls of the microwave with a damp sponge or a soft absorbent cloth.
For extra thriftiness, don’t throw away the water and vinegar mixture when you’re done cleaning the microwave. Let it cool and then put it in a spray bottle to use as an all purpose cleaner around the house.
I'm Bev and I love to share ideas for living a more creative and resourceful lifestyle with homemade alternatives we can make for ourselves. 
A friend of mine sent this to me and she asked if this could be modified to clean ovens. I have heard of using it in the microwave before, but I wasn't sure about the oven. Do you have any idea if this would work this way in the oven, or know of anything kind of like this that would?
Hi Rachel – this method would not work in a regular oven. If you want to clean a regular oven with a homemade product, you could try a paste of 1/4 cup baking soda, 3 tablespoons vinegar, and a few drops of a liquid soap like castile soap or dishwashing liquid. You would spread this paste on the dirty areas of the oven, let it set for 10 minutes or so, and then scrub and clean with a damp sponge. This method should only be used for a regular oven, and not a self cleaning oven. This is a recipe and I found in a book I have not tried it personally. However it certainly sounds like a method that would not have the nasty fumes of the store bought oven cleaners.
The only downside to natural cleaners (vinegar) is that you can't use it on granite countertops. We don't have granite and don't plan to, but it is the big thing now.
You're right Kathryn, granite is very popular for countertops now. I will have to do a little more investigating on what can be used on granite and what cannot. I still love my butcher block countertop and don't plan on changing to granite any time soon.