DIY Homemade Green Cleaning Supplies

Are you tired of using chemicals in your home? Not only these are harmful to you and nature, but they tend to leave the awful chemical smell. Still, it’s what you can find in stores as the only option when it comes to cleaning products.

Nonetheless, you can make your cleaning supplies using the ingredients you probably already have at home. Things like vinegar, baking soda, and mild dish soap are commonly known as greener and more eco-friendly options.

Homemade green cleaning supplies are a more sustainable way of keeping your house clean. If you’re interested in making the transition from chemical to green cleaning, continue reading as we share some of the best DIY homemade recipes.

Ingredients you might need

The great thing about the DIY green cleaning supplies is that you don’t need thirty different ones. You can use several of the same solutions for pretty much any surface.

Maybe you’ll have to make a specific solution for your carpet or windows, but in most cases, you’ll use the very same ingredients. The difference is that some of these require more or less of a particular ingredient.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Lemon juice
• Borax
• Sea salt
• Coconut oil
• Tea tree, peppermint, orange or another essential oil

Some tea tree and eucalyptus essentials might also serve you well if you have them in your house. If not, you can go out and buy some if you wish to add a bit of scent to your cleaning solutions. We do recommend this since most of these products will end up having a vinegary smell to them.

1. Stainless steel polish

Making your own polish for stainless steel surfaces takes no more than five minutes. The best of all is that you can make as much as you’ll use, so you don’t have to store any extra in a container.

You’ll need some vinegar in a spray bottle and about 50ml of coconut oil. If you wish, you can use scented vinegar to make the polish smell a bit nicer.

Spray the vinegar onto the surface and use a clean paper towel to wipe in the direction of the grain. Apply some oil to the surface and use a clean cloth to work it in. This will make all the stains disappear, so you can finish the job with an oil-free cloth to polish it.

2. Eco-friendly carpet cleaner

Carpet-cleaning products can be quite expensive while also packed with different chemicals. To avoid this, you can try cleaning your carpet using vinegar instead.

If you’re cleaning a stain, you want to make sure that you remove any solid matter from your carpet. Also, blot the stain dry if it’s new and too wet.

You can then spray some vinegar on the stain while blotting it with a clean cloth. Make sure to apply little by little, so the stain is never too moist because that would make blotting difficult.

Also, you should try using vinegar on a discreet part of your carpet that’s not as visible. It’s to make sure that the vinegar wouldn’t damage the surface.

3. Green Dishwasher Tablets

Commercial dishwasher tablets are known to be concentrated and packed with chemicals. You can sense that as soon as you open it after it has finished washing your dishes and the chemically smell kicks you right in the face.

This isn’t so healthy for your respiratory system, and it’s certainly not as healthy to wash the dishes with. For this reason, you should consider using a greener alternative.

You’ll need:

• 480g of baking soda
• 480g of borax
• 120ml of white vinegar
• 10 drops of peppermint essential oil
• 10 drops of lemon essential oil

It takes some ten minutes to prepare the tablets, but you should allow them to sit overnight. You’ll also need some ice-cube trays and an airtight glass container. These can stay stored for up to two months.

Mix the baking soda and borax in a large bowl. Slowly add vinegar to the mixture as well as the essential oils. Make sure to stir this well to combine all the ingredients and don’t be scared of the fizzing action the vinegar creates.

Once you combine everything, add a tablespoon of the mixture to an ice-cube tray. Press it down firmly, so it forms a tablet and let it dry overnight.

In the morning, you should turn the try over and let all the cubes to fall out. Be gentle with this because you don’t want to break any tablets. Store them in an airtight glass container and use them as you would commercial tablets.

4. Gentler glass cleaner

Glass cleaners usually have a heavy scent that sticks around for a long time. Luckily, there’s a greener option that you can make at home using ingredients you already have.

For this, you’ll need two cups of water, ½ cup white or cider vinegar, ¼ cup rubbing alcohol (70%), and some essential oils for the smell.

All you should do is mix these in a spray bottle right before you wash your windows. Use it the same way you would use a store-bought cleaner. However, make sure not to use it in direct sunlight because this could cause stains and streaks.

You can use the same solution to clean your mirrors, but don’t spray it directly onto the surface. Instead, spray the mixture on a paper towel or a cloth and then use it to wipe the mirrors.

5. Kitchen cleaner

Use four tablespoons of baking soda and 1-quart warm water to make a kitchen cleaner. It’s an ideal mixture to use on all surfaces of your kitchen as well as the inside of your fridge.

You can use it on counters, appliances, and stainless steel surfaces to clean and deodorize them. It’s best to pour the mixture on a sponge or a cloth and then wipe the surfaces. You might even want to pour it in a spray bottle for easier use.

There you have it. Save the environment by investing or creating your own green cleaning supplies.