When you want to clean the counters, the sinks, the toilet or the bath you’ll want an effective all-purpose cleaner that leaves everything clean and shining.
And because all-purpose cleaner is exactly that – for all purposes – it is often left out in an accessible place, whether intentionally or not, which creates a problem if you have young children roaming around.
You don’t need to worry about hiding your cleaning products and remembering to put them away if you use a natural, non-toxic product in the first place. If your little one does get his hands on it, it might taste gross but it definitely won’t harm him. As a general rule: if it’s not edible, don’t use it!
You might even save a few dollars on cleaning supplies since homemade recipes generally use cheap ingredients. And if you run out it’s pretty simple to make some more since the ingredients are common to all good homes.
With that in mind, I’ve created a couple of recipes you can choose from depending on the ingredients you have access to.
All Purpose Cleaner Option 1
- 1 cup of water
- 1 cup of vinegar
- 20 drops of essential oil – I personally prefer to use something citrus based like lemon or orange, but tea tree, oregano or thyme also work well due to their excellent anti-bacterial properties.
Combine all the ingredients and add it to a spray bottle. Extremely cheap and extremely effective. You won’t have to worry too much about your house smelling of vinegar because the essential oils will mask it quite nicely.
All Purpose Cleaner Option 2
- 1 cup of water
- 2 teaspoons of liquid castile soap (such as Dr Bronners)
- 20 drops of essential oil
Again, you can choose which essential oil you prefer. Combine and add to a spray bottle.
Always shake before use and keep out of direct sunlight.
If you’ve never come across it before, castile soap is a vegetarian olive-oil based soap which can be used for pretty much anything. You can use it not only in the above recipe but also for laundry, mopping and even for homemade shampoos and body washes. Definitely a worthy product to have in your home.
