Let’s talk a bit about Detoxing Your Spring Cleaning with some DIY non-toxic cleaners.
Why? Because it's the most effective, healthiest and inexpensive way to clean your home. You'll reduce your exposure to harsh synthetic chemicals, sulfates and skin & lung irritants by making your own non-toxic cleaners from a few simple ingredients.
DIY Recipes are everywhere these days but many lack good chemistry behind them and can be a waste of time and resources and be super frustrating when you are wanting to get into DIY non-toxic cleaning.
Example: A very popular theme on social media is to mix natural castile soap (plant oil-based soap) with vinegar as a cleaner. You NEVER want to do this! Vinegar breaks down the natural soap and leaves behind a hard to rinse oily slime. Yuck!
Recipe #1 - All Purpose Cleaner
1 tsp Borax
1/2 tsp Washing Soda (not baking soda, this is found in the laundry aisle and is Sodium Carbonate)
1 tsp liquid Castile Soap
Essential oils of choice – I use 4 drops lemon, 4 drops lavender, and 10 drops
orange
2 cups warm Distilled (or boiled, slightly cooled) water
16 oz spray bottle
Instructions
Add the essential oils to the liquid soap and mix.
Add the borax and washing soda to the warm water and mix.
Mix the liquid soap into the water/borax/washing soda blend.
Put it in a spray bottle and spray to clean hard surfaces.
Recipe #2 - Natural Soft Scour Scrub
1 cup baking soda
3 Tbsp liquid castile soap
2 drops tea tree essential oil
6 drops orange essential oil
Half pint glass jar (or any smaller wide mouthed glass jar you have available)
Instructions:
Blend the essential oils into the soap
Mix the soap and oils into the baking soda.
You can store this in a small glass jar. This is excellent for scrubbing sinks or cleaning bathrooms!
Recipe #3 - Glass Cleaner
16 oz White Distilled Vinegar
Citrus Peels of choosing
16 oz spray bottle
Instructions:
Here is where Vinegar literally and figuratively shines!
Take your citrus peels and put them in a glass jar with 16 oz of white distilled
vinegar.
Let sit for up to a week.
Strain the peels out and put the citrus vinegar in a spray bottle to clean
windows and glass.
Recipe #4 Carpet Deodorizer
1 cup Baking Soda
4 drops essential oil
Instructions:
Mix together the essential oils of your choice into the baking soda.
Sprinkle the mixture on your carpet or rugs.
Let sit for 15 minutes and then vacuum as usual.
Recipe #5 Natural Granite Cleaner
1/4 cup vodka
3/4 cups water.
1/4 tsp liquid castile soap
5 drops peppermint essential oil.
8 drops of orange essential oil
2 drops of tea tree essential oil
8 ounce spray bottle
Instructions:
Mix together the vodka and essential oils. Blend in the soap and then the water and put in an 8 oz spray bottle to use when wiping down granite counters.