I recently met a good friend of mine for coffee. Over our almond milk lattes, we talked about the typical things: Work, our kids, daydreams of long vacations on tropical islands and the toxins lingering in our homes.
Yeah, you heard me right. Toxins. Not a super glamorous conversation but one that we stumbled upon, none the less. We shared how we both had our own “ah-ha!” moment a year or so ago after downloading the Think Dirty and EWGapps. These apps are great for telling you how clean the products around your home actually are and I was a total mad woman for a few days scanning everything in my home and work to discover truly how “clean” I was living.
The resulted were appalling….and such an incredible eye-opener! After all the effort, money and time I had invested in cleaning up my family’s diet…I was stunned to see how many chemicals were lingering around our home. Even some of our “natural” products rated high for concerning ingredients.
As baffled as I was, I started to move forward in cleaning up the products in our own home and soon found the best and most economical way to do this was by making my own.
Now I know that sounds like an incredibly time consuming task, but it was shockingly simple! And after I invested in the initial ingredients that I found went into many of my homemade cleaning products (like essential oils and castile soap) and containers/bottles that I use again and again, I found that I actually saved money! I was hooked and am constantly finding new household products I can DIY.
One of the first non-toxic DIY homemade cleaning products I started making was Natural All-Purpose Cleaning Spray. I literally used it everyday. In the kitchen. On the counters in my bathroom. On the floor when my daughter spills her smoothie. It has become my go-to cleaner and it is made with three simple, super clean ingredients!
When coming up with my Natural All-Purpose Cleaning Spray, I tried lots of different formulas and recipes until I found one that I simply adore. Most homemade cleaning solutions contain vinegar, which is an awesome naturally cleaning ingredient for some. However, I opted to skip the vinegar for a couple of reasons:
- I’m not a huge fan of the smell. It reminds me of pickles…something I am not a fan of of and, hence, don’t want my house smelling like. This is just a personal preference. If you like pickles, having your house smell like vinegar might not be a bad thing!
- Vinegar is acidic and can damage granite or marble surfaces by etching them. Stone tile floors might also be affected by an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. I learned this lesson the hard way and have opted to create a gentler all-purpose cleaning solution.
Also, when “cooking” up non-toxic home products, I found that owning some really high-quality 100% therapeutic grade essential oils was key. Unlike the food we eat, there is not a whole lot of regulation when it comes to personal care products, home cleaning supplies and even essential oils that are labeled “nature”. Unfortunately, it is totally legal for companies to claim a bottle of oil contains “100% pure essential oil “ (like frankincense or lavender) but it only ACTUALLY has to contain 5% of the said oil. Therefore the other 95% could be chemical extenders, artificial fragrances, fillers, or who knows what else. The bottle may say 100% pure…but it likely won’t be. Because of this, I have opted to use Young Living Essential Oils in my home. You can read more about why here.
If homemade cleaning products intrigue you, but also terrify you…don’t worry. This will be easy and painless. Truly, only 3 simple products and about 2 minutes stand between you and your own Natural All-Purpose Cleaning Spray.
Looking for other easy peasy non-toxic homemade products? Try DIY Natural Foaming Hand Soap next and never go back to store bought again!
- Distilled water
- 2 tablespoons unscented castile soap
- 15 drops Thieves, lavender, peppermint, or lemon essential oils, purification (or a combination)
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 1 bottle
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Thank you for this easy DIY cleaner! I’m going to give it a try since I have everything listed on hand! We currently do the water/vinegar solution, but sometimes I want something a little nicer smelling 🙂 As most essential oils are toxic to cats, I will probably do less drops and stick with the either lemongrass or rosemary as I’ve read these are safe for cats.
I totally hear you! I steer clear of tea tree oil due to my cats! Gotta keep those little fur balls healthy too!
Do you need to use all of those oils or just 15 drops of one of them?
Hi! I just made it and used 15 drops of lavender. I was wondering the same thing as well! I believe it’s 15 drops of essential oil of your choice listed. The mix has a nice fragrance, does great on counter tops, but leaves mirrors smudgy. I’ll definitely keep mixing this for future cleaning as it seems to work great on other surfaces!
Hi, can you please comment on the need of distilled water vs regular tap water? I have all the other ingredients and plan on paying with essential oil for different fragrance.
It has less bacteria than tap water. In a pinch, I have used boiled then cooled water in this!
Hey Jo, Did you use distilled water? If so, it could just be the essential oil making the blend cloudy, or another ingredient (castile soap will do this). If not, I would play it safe and toss the cleaner.