In our last blog, we shared how very toxic many of the household products are that we use for cleaning. In this blog we will be offering some natural DIY cleaners; alternatives to commercial cleaning products which include ingredients you likely already have in your home.

Let’s start by saying that for most of these recipes you should have white vinegar and baking soda on hand. To be honest these two items will clean nearly anything in your home, naturally.

Over the years I have gone from using paper towels to cleaning cloths and disinfectant wipes. I do like the ease of having disinfectant wipes, but two issues are that they are not recyclable and they, of course, contain harmful ingredients. For this first recipe, we will be mindful of both issues.

Homemade disinfectant wipes:

If you have some old t-shirts hanging around that you are ready to get rid of, you can cut them to use for wipes. If you have small children around, or use wipes yourself, you will likely already have a wipe container on hand to store your homemade wipes. For this recipe, you will need three essential oils – lemon or lemongrass, tea tree, and eucalyptus oil.

Combine in a mixing bowl:

• ¼ cup white vinegar
• 1 cup of water
• 8 drops lemongrass oil or lemon oil
• 8 drops of tea tree oil
• 8 drops of eucalyptus oil

Once your ingredients are all mixed together you can pour them directly over the cloths you have cut and folded into your wipe box or other container. When your clothes become dirty, you can simply wash them with other laundry, such as a load of socks.

Need to unplug the drain or have a smelly drain? This recipe works very well, and only uses two ingredients!

Drain cleaner:

• ½ cup of baking soda
• ¼ white vinegar

Simply sprinkle the baking soda down the drain and then slowly pour the vinegar down the drain. This will bubble and foam helping to clean the odors from the drain, and often will help to unclog the drain as well. Wait about 30 minutes and then pour a pot of boiling water down the drain. Be very cautious when doing this in a porcelain sink as you can crack the sink. It is best to pour right into the drain. If you have a clog, try pouring from a higher distance from the drain, holding the pot up and away from the drain, being cautious not to splash yourself. The added pressure of the water will assist in removing any clog.

Have a clogged toilet? You can put a few pumps of the following homemade kitchen dish soap, right into your toilet and then take very hot water (don’t use boiling hot as you may crack the bowl) and hold the bucket up over the toilet aiming to pour the water right where the water exits the bowl. Most often this simple trick will unclog the toilet if you don’t have a plunger on hand.

Kitchen dish soap:

• ½ cup of concentrated biodegradable cleaner (Dr. Bronner’s – can be purchased at most health food stores)
• Essential oil of your choosing. I love using lavender, but lemon or lemongrass work very well. 10-15 drops
• ½ cup warm water
• ½ cup white vinegar
• 2 tsp salt (preferably pink Himalayan – or other natural salt)

Mix the salt and warm water together first in order to dissolve the salt. Then mix in the rest of your ingredients. Once they are combined you can pour into a pump soap dispenser to place at your kitchen sink.

Air Freshener:

• 15-20 drops of essential oil of your choice. I love a combination of lavender and rosemary, but you can choose anything that you like for this recipe. Sweet orange is good, lemon, peppermint. In fact, if you pick up a few small spray bottles, you can change it up every day.
• ½ cup of white vinegar
• 5 cups water

You can spray this on your bed, drapery, couch, mats by the doors, bathmats, even on your car upholstery, and pretty much anywhere that needs freshening up. As a word of caution, if you happen to have any birds, you will want to avoid spraying anywhere near them, as the essential oils are actually toxic for them. Also, use caution with any other pets around the home.

Laundry detergent:

• 10-20 drops of essential oil of your choice – none if you wish for your laundry detergent to be unscented.
• 4 cups of washing soda (this is different from baking soda)
• 2 cups of baking soda
• 4 cups of borax
• 4 bars grated of Castile bar soap

Grate the bar soap first using a cheese grater and then put the grated bar soap into a food processor if you wish to grind it to a fine powder (optional).

In a large tub (one with a lid, preferably where you will store the soap) mix together the 4 cups of borax, baking soda, washing soda, and drops of essential oil until completely combined, and then stir in the grated castile soap. If you did not use a food processor to grind the castile soap to a fine powder, you may wish to add hot water to your load just for the first part, to dissolve the castile soap gratings. You will need about 2-3 tablespoons per wash load, depending on your machine.

Happy cleaning!