The Great Spring Clean: Eco-friendly Recipes for a Squeaky Clean Home

You might have stumbled on DIY cleaning recipes, and it’s usual mixtures of baking soda and vinegar. As it turns out, baking soda and vinegar cancel each other out; it’s basically a mixture of…salt water. Talk about being anticlimactic. Sometimes, simple recipes mean effective recipes, especially when it comes to DIY cleaning products. 

On that note, here are a few simple cleaning recipes for the big Spring Clean.

Multi-Purpose Cleaner

With a pH of 2.4, distilled white vinegar is a strong acid which is why it can dissolve build-up of dirt and limescale. This makes white vinegar perfect as a gentle toxin-free cleaner.

While white vinegar is a great all-purpose cleaner, it’s not recommended to use it as a disinfectant as there is no evidence that vinegar can get rid of harmful pathogens like salmonella.

We also recommend diluting the vinegar with water for some fragile surfaces like granite, wooden surfaces and fabrics as strong concentrations of white vinegar could damage them.

Vinegar-Based Multi-purpose Cleaner

• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 cup distilled water
• 10 drops of essential oils of your choice such as eucalyptus, lavender or citrus

Soap-Based Multi-Purpose Cleaner

• 1 cup distilled water
• 3 tablespoons of you lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Liquid Dishwasher (Ideally Ecover or another green brand)
• 10 drops of essential oil of your choice

Window Cleaner

Avoid adding any soap, castile soap or baking soda to your windows as these leave residue behind. Using a squeegee to remove all excess solution will also ensure a streak-free window. 

Rubbing alcohol is a common disinfectant used in hand sanitising gels and superficial wounds, but it also makes for a great window cleaner.

If you are very sensitive to smells, this might not be the recipe for you as both rubbing alcohol and vinegar are very pungent. However, once your windows dry, the smell evaporates with the solution and you’re left with clean windows and virtually no smell. 

DIY Window Cleaning Solution

• 1 cup rubbing alcohol 
• 1 cup distilled white vinegar

Toilet Cleaner

Mixing certain ingredients with bleach can make it very toxic. I prefer to keep my toilet cleaner simple and just use bleach, a toilet brush and a bit of elbow grease. It’s cleaning without any frills and without questionable chemicals. 

DIY toilet cleaner Solution

• Bleach 
• Water

Wood Floor Cleaner

Taking of our hardwood floors can be difficult as they are fragile but also prone to getting dirty very quickly with daily activities. Do not put any corrosive detergents on your hardwood floors as the bleaching properties will leave you with a patchy floor. 

DIY Wood Floor Cleaner

• One bucket warm water
• Few drops of washing liquid (ideally Ecover or other green label)
• 3 drops of olive oil (you want your floor to be shiny, not slippery, be very sparse with olive oil)

Once you’ve soaked your mop into the cleaning solution, make sure to wring it properly. Water is the number one enemy of wood, and you want to clean it with a damp mop, not a wet one. Make sure to dry it as soon as you can too.

Oven Cleaner

The grease-grabbing qualities of Castile soap make it an excellent cleaner for greasy hobs and ovens. You can also use it on your pots and pans as castile soap is non-toxic and biodegradable. However, don’t combine Castile soap with vinegar as they cancel each other out and leave the surface of objects with a residue that is hard to remove.

DIY Oven Cleaner

• 1 tablespoon Castile Soap
• 2 cups of water

Fridge Cleaner

The PH of baking soda is higher than neutral. It is a basic (the opposite of acidic). This means that when it interacts with odours (which are acidic) it reacts to them and neutralises them. Baking soda is also slightly abrasive which helps in dislodging dirt particles. 

Hydrogen Peroxide is a great disinfectant that also whitens and brightens. Try getting a 3 to 5 per cent solution.

Mixing hydrogen peroxide with vinegar creates peracetic acid, a corrosive acid that can harm the skin, eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. While it’s okay to use the two in succession on a surface, do not ever mix hydrogen peroxide and vinegar in the same bottle. 

DIY Fridge Cleaner Solution

• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon hydrogen peroxide

I hope these make-it-yourself cleaning recipes help you get your chores done and welcome Spring with a clean, fresh home. Happy Cleaning!