Homemade Cleaners -Three Easy Changes Anyone Can Make

You don’t have to be a chemist to make your own household cleaners. By using these three easy substitutions for glass cleaner, all purpose cleaner, and abrasive cleanser, you are well on your way to saving money and cutting down on the amount of toxic products in your home.

About a year ago I bought the book Clean House Clean Planet It’s full of recipes for making household cleaners that have no toxic ingredients in them and instead use common household products.  Even though I have not made every recipe in the book, I did use its advice to make the following three easy changes to the way I cleaned my home.

ingredients for homemade cleaners

Change #1: Use Club Soda instead of Commercial Window Cleaners

Want to make your own glass cleaner?  Use Club Soda.  That’s it!  The whole recipe!  You put club soda in a spray bottle!   This leaves mirrors and glass streak free and I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t tried it for myself.    I use it all the time now and especially love it on my big bathroom mirror.

Change #2: Use Vinegar & Water instead of Commercial All Purpose Cleaner

You can make a quick and easy all purpose cleaner by combining equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle. The author of the book adds essential oils to the mix too and that takes away some of the vinegar smell. I’ve done that too and it does help, but if I have no essential oil I don’t worry about it. The vinegar smell goes away pretty quickly after using it. I use this cleaner most often in my kitchen.

Change #3: Use Baking Soda instead of Commercial Abrasive Cleansers

Another simple recipe – put baking soda in an old parmesan cheese container and use as an abrasive cleaner on the sink. I started doing this one day simply because I was out of Comet cleanser and kept forgetting to buy more every time I went to the store. I decided the baking soda worked every bit as well and I never did buy another can of Comet cleanser.

Just these three recipes alone will help you save money on cleaners and you have the added bonus of knowing you’ve cut back on the amount of toxic chemicals in your home too.

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5 Comments

  1. Club soda, what?! I thought that was just carbonated water! I’m going to have to try it now, just out of curiosity. Can it sit in a spray bottle or do you only want to pour in what you’ll use?

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  3. I keep saying that as soon as my current cleaners are all gone, I am going natural. The problem is I have a huge stockpile of those darned cleaners and am too cheap to just throw them out. Eventually, however, I am going to vinegar and baking soda. I love the club soda idea, too.

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