Thursday, February 19, 2009

Homemade Cleaner

I've been experimenting with making my own homemade cleaners.  My favourite homemaking handbook has dozens of recipes for great cleaners but I keep coming back to one simple recipe:

Citrus Disinfectant

Peel from 1 orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime
3 C. white vinegar
1 clean quart jar with lid
1 clean 1L (32oz) spray bottle

1.  Combine the citrus peel and vinegar in the quart jar.  Fasten the lid on the jar and store the mixture in a cupboard for two weeks, giving it an occasional shake.

2.  Remove the peel from the jar, strain the vinegar, and return it to the jar.

3.  To use as a spray cleaner, pour 1C. of the citrus vinegar in the spray bottle and fill with water.

4.  To clean floors, add 1C. citrus vinegar to 7.5L (2 gallons) water.

I use the citrus disinfectant to clean the bathroom.  I spray everything down, let it sit a couple minutes, then wipe everything clean.  Sometimes I require more cleaning power in the battle against soap scum, so I sprinkle a little baking soda and use a green scrubby on the sinks and tub.  (The bubbles are fun.)  I also use the vinegar solution to wash our floors.  I think lemon smells the best and sometimes I'll add a couple drops of lavender essential oil to the solution. 

4 comments:

AlisonVeritas said...

ooo this is great, I will definitely give it a try!

Simply Sara said...

Oh Lindsay, you're awesome!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I'm so excited to make up my own batch....in fact the girls are still sleeping so I'm off to do just that!
:)

The Nilsen's Journey said...

I love this post Linds!! I am going to make some of this - I'm trying to get away from all those chemicals! Thanks so much!!

Prairie Girl said...

Some other essential oils you could try would be:

Teatree oil (natural disinfectant)
Lemongrass (naturally antibacterial/antifungal).

Great recipe - I'm going to have to give it a shot :)