How to Make THE BEST Homemade Cleaner
There’s nothing better than finding a solution to cleaning- right under your kitchen sink! This homemade cleaner and disinfectant is tough on all stains, spills, and all your household messes!
All-Purpose Cleaner
We’ve been making this homemade cleaner for so many years now and I just can’t go back to buying the stuff from the store. My cleaner is tougher than anything I have ever bought and can be used in more ways too!
Grass stains out of ball pants, gum out of hair, lipstick off the backseat of my car, and slim out of the carpet! It really works!
It works so great, we keep a bottle of it everywhere from the barn, to the bathrooms.
I end up refilling my glass spray bottles about 1 per weeks as we use it to clean and disinfect our countertops, kitchen tables and bathroom daily.
The only place I don’t use this cleaner/disinfectant is on our windows and mirrors. I love our Homemade Window Cleaner for that!
Making Scented Seasonal Vinegars
As the seasons come and go, so do our favorite scents. I love using orange, lemon or grapefruit peels to submerge into a jar of white vinegar. I put a cover on it and leave it set under my kitchen sink (in a dark area) for about 1-2 weeks.
This give you a citrusy scent and the oils from the citrus will help cut the grease when you’re cleaning too. You could also use a few drops of your favorite essential oils to scent your cleaner.
Vinegar Infused Cleaner
During the holidays or anytime I have fresh herbs around, I will toss in some balsam, pine, cedar snippets or small rosemary sprigs to the vinegar jar that stays under my sink. I like to use this infused vinegar after about a week of stewing. Much more after that and your herbs, fruits etc will start to pickle.
DIY Cleaning Solution | Make Your Own Cleaner
I used to poo poo homemade cleaners thinking they’ll never be as tough as the store bought stuff. That was until I experimented with making this recipe! Everything to the water marks in tub and shower, kitchen table, our brand new quartz countertops (yes, it’s safe for quartz countertops, I double checked with our manufacturer), and even the interior of the car!
The day that it got both slime and vomit out of the carpet at the same time, was a tough day for my, but not for this furious cleaner.
Our favorite, tough cleaner is held to such high regards around here, that it recently was promoted to a beautiful glass spray bottle! All things loved around here go in glass, but I’ll save that for another post.
Vinegar Cleaning Ingredient
This cleaner contains the one thing that slime can’t hold up against- vinegar! We had just finished making a new container of the best slime. Yes we have the Best Slime Recipe (you think I would share that recipe in this post? Nah!)
Anyway, the kids had been instructed by the new carpet-layer fellas, that there should be no food, drink, shoes, or pets on our new carpet. What they didn’t mention was slime! Luckily, I still think this was an accident.
We had placed the slime in a ziplock bag, but unfortunately it didn’t get zipped all the way. After getting tossed in a bedroom, that sneaky slime squeezed out and ran right onto the new carpet.
I was devastated until I remembered I held the secret weapon to getting this out of the carpet.
How to get Slime out of Carpet with my Homemade Cleaner
Spray your homemade Cleaner onto the slime spot. Allow to sit for a 15-20 to allow the vinegar to work. Then grab a butter knife and carefully scrape the slime off of the surface. Repeat for as many times as it takes to remove the entire slimed area.
Using 4 common household ingredients!
The kids clean and I love that this is completely safe for them to use since I know exactly what’s in it! They clean their tub, tops of their dressers, their sink and around the toilet. Spray away, kids! Because we know that there’s no harsh chemicals and is tough at the same time!
Natural Ingredient Cleaner
The fact that all of the ingredients in this cleaner are pretty nature and pure. But the best part for me is that they are all things I already have in our home because I use them for other things. Lemon Juice, Vinegar, Dawn Dish Soap and Rubbing Alcohol are all things we use anyway so it makes so much sense to be able to use them to clean our home with them, too!
Printable Recipe Card!
I keep a copy of this recipe card taped right to the inside of the cupboard below my sink. I now make a bottle of this per week, so I’ve got it memorized. But it’s nice to have it there in case the kids are in charge of filling our bottles.
Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner
Equipment
- 1 Spray Bottle
Ingredients
- 1/4 C. Dawn Dish Soap
- 1/2 C. Lemon Juice
- 3/4 C. Vinegar
- 1/2 C. Rubbing Alcohol
- 1.25 C. Water
Option: Make a citrus infused vinegar for a fresh scent by placing lemon, orange or grapefruit peels in a jar and filling the jar with vinegar. Let sit for a week remove peels and then measure out 3/4 C. to use for this recipe. Keep the rest in a covered jar under your sink.
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together and fill a spray bottle.
- You could also double the recipe and keep a gallon jug of it under your sink to fill up your bottles when needed.
Questions people are asking about this Homemade Cleaner
Yes! The alcohol in the recipe helps with disinfectant. You can either use 70% or 90% rubbing alcohol. I love using it in the bathroom and our main eating areas, for this reason
We always recommend doing a test on an area that is less conspicuous just to see how the cleaner works and shows up. I really love how it works on our cloth couch. Some cleaners can leave a ring where the spray/ stain was, but because this contains some alcohol, it helps spread that out and dissolves and residue.
Generally speaking nothing in this will harm your wood. It will clean and disinfect brilliantly. Our kitchen table is wooden and we use it there all the time. I imagine that if your wood is polished, you may not want to let this cleaner- that has vinegar sit on it for very long as it may tend to break down that polish.
I have, and it won’t hurt the windows, BUT the dawn dish soap in it, will tend to leave a few streaks that you may have to buff out. For windows, glass and mirrors I use this Homemade Window Cleaner recipe!
Homemade Cleaner as a Gift
This homemade all-purpose cleaner makes the best gift! I love tossing a bunch of handmade things like a sewn Apron, my Sourdough starter, a jar of our Favorite Play Dough, a dozen Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies or a loaf of my favorite Banana Bread and a bottle of the Homemade Cleaner into a basket wrapped up in a flour sack towel. This has been my go-to Bringing Home a Baby gift, Hostess or Christmas Gift.
Grab the Printable Label with the Recipe Instructions HERE.
Other labels included in this printable include: our Tallow and Honey Body Wash, Homemade Glass Cleaner, my Favorite Hair and Scalp Tonic, Natural Dry Shampoo, of course, the All-Purpose Cleaner, that you just made (and coming soon to the blog) Homemade Dishwashing Soap, Soft Scrub and Natural Deodorant.
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DAILY INSPIRATION ON THE GRAM @hearty.sol
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This looks like a great recipe for a non-toxic cleaner. I like the idea of infusing it with natural scents as well. I love your glass spray bottle with the silicone boot as well!
I love using this. I used an orange dawn and it smells great. My question is, how long is this good for after being made? I shake it a little when I do go use it.
We go through a bottle every 2-4 weeks, I’m sure it will last a few months if not longer. We use ours daily, so it we make it often. Yes, I do shake it up a bit before using.
I like this cleaner a lot, I used orange dawn dish soap and it smells great. How long is this cleaner good for once made? Thanks!
I’m so glad you are loving it! I usually use it all up in a few weeks and then make a new bottle. I don’t believe there’s a true expiration 😉