There’s really no way around it. In order to maintain cleanliness in your home, you have to have your laundry or storage room stocked with cleaning supplies. The question is are there DIY natural cleaning solutions that can disinfect your home without contaminating it with harmful, toxic chemicals?
Many non-toxic green cleaning recipes work just as well if not better than traditional cleaning products. There is no shortage of simple and affordable organic cleaning alternatives that can safely be applied in place of traditional home disinfectant and antibacterial solutions. For everything from bathrooms to floors, toilets, and showers – not only are these effective organic alternatives, they will keep your home a healthy, toxic-free environment.
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Why use a DIY natural cleaning recipe
It’s good to be educated about commercial household cleaning products. First consider the fact that one in three Americans suffer from asthma, allergies, bronchitis, or sinusitis – according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
That being said, do you know what’s lurking in your cleaning products? Just to name a few, here are some of the more popular household cleaning brands that are riddled with toxic chemicals:
- Lysol Disinfectant Cleaner: Contains a corrosive acid formula that is, according to the label, “harmful or fatal if swallowed.” Also on the label is a warning to open the container wearing safety goggles, because even just a tiny bit of acid in the eye can inflict “irreversible damage.”
- Glade Air Freshener: Despite its impact on alleviating foul odors, Glade asserts that “intentional misuse by inhaling the product’s contents can be harmful or fatal.”
- Ajax and Dynamo Laundry Detergent: Both of these detergents have formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen that can cause both asthma and allergies.
These are just a few examples. Most of the traditional cleaning products you’ll find at conventional retail outlets contain numerous chemicals that can be harmful to you and your family’s health.
Our DIY natural cleaning alternatives
Before we get into our ultimate chemical-free cleaning solution, consider these basic ingredients for cleaning your home naturally. These are common, inexpensive products that can be used either on their own or in combination for many home applications.
- Soap: Unscented soaps in various forms – liquid, powders, flakes, etc. – are biodegradable and offer many applications.
- Baking soda: Effective for cleansing, deodorizing, and softening water.
- White vinegar: Good for eliminating mildew, stains, grease, and build-up of wax.
- Cornstarch: Often used for cleaning windows, polishing furniture, and shampooing flooring like carpet or rugs.
Combining these ingredients into a single recipe can be an impactful organic cleaning solution, providing a substitute for commercial household products. An added bonus is these cleaning and disinfectant formulas are often less expensive.
The best natural cleaning solution
Our favorite DIY disinfectant solution is the use of essential oils. It’s amazing how many applications these organic products have to offer. And more and more people are now using them in their very own green cleaning recipes. The four single essential oils we recommend starting with are:
- Lavender
- Peppermint
- Lemon
- Wild orange
To keep things simple, we’ll suggest which oils to use for common household cleaning applications. On a side note, storing your cleaners in glass bottles is most effective for maintaining the integrity of the oil. These quantities we are suggesting will be relative to the size of bottle you will be using. But these are suggested for a typical-sized spray bottle. You can always start with less and add until you get to the desired amount.
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- Counter scrub: Combine water with 6 drops of lemon oil and 6 drops of wild orange. Great for counters, tables, and virtually any other surface area.
- Windows: Combine water with 10 drops of lavender to wipe smears and grime off windows. An added bonus is that lavender will help keep flies away.
- Toilets: Combine water water with 5 drops of lavender, 5 drops of peppermint, and 5 drops of lemon. This wonderfully crafted combination of essential oils will help disinfect as well as leave a refreshing bathroom scent.
- Degreaser: Combine 12 drops of lemon with water to cut through grime and hard-to-fight grease.
These are a just a few examples. Oils like lavender and lemon are quite universal when it comes to organic cleaning. You can use them to clean showers, tile floors, wood floors, ovens, and the list goes on. The reason for this is, lemon is a powerful antiseptic and disinfectant, and lavender offers a refreshing scent that sucks bad odors out of the environment.
Purify your air with Cleansing Blend
If you want an even more powerful solution, you might consider an essential oil blend – like our Cleansing Blend. This proprietary blend uses a perfectly-crafted recipe of oils that purifies the air and eliminates odors in a 100% safe and natural way. It’s uplifting properties can also improve mood in addition to protecting against environmental threats. This fresh, herbal blend combines the following ingredients:
- Lime peel
- Siberian fir needle
- Lemon peel
- Pine needle
- Austrian fir needle
- Melaleuca leaf
- Citronella grass
- Cilantro herb
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All of these ingredients combined offer potent cleaning properties that both disinfectant and purify the air throughout your home. It can be used not just in a green cleaning recipe, but you can run a few drops through a diffuser to give your home a refreshing odor-free environment.
So ditch the Windex and start using natural cleaning alternatives that disinfect in a safe, natural way.
Great recipes! How much water should I use? Thanx for your response.
can anyone tell me how to clean the stains in the bottom of the toliet bowel…we have tried soaking in Bsoda and vinegar, boric acid and finally we tried coke overnight…but to NO avail…in spite of scrubbing? I think next I will try a good dose of epsom salts…anyone else have a clue?