Homemade Natural All-Purpose Cleaner

For about the past year or so, Ryan and I have really gone down a hole. And the hole that I am talking about, is the one of clean beauty and home products, organic ingredients, using food items and products that are non-GMO, using more vegan and vegetarian products, reducing the use of single-use plastics, using products that are not tested on animals, supporting small businesses and Certified B Corporations, upping our recycling game. . .and well, I am probably leaving a few things off of the list, but you get the idea. For us, what we use on the outside of our body has become just as important as what we put inside of it.

And really, this all began with those good ol’ Clorox Wipes. You know, the ones that come in those big, giant tubs and practically reek of fake citrus? Yep, those ones. At some point in the past few years, we noticed that the product had changed. And how did we notice said change? Well, it was when our hands started to feel a little bit tingly after using the wipes that we both felt a bit perplexed and startled. First, we immediately agreed that this was no good. But then it got us wondering. . .what are really in these products anyways?

So we set out on a mission to find all-natural, chemical free, and organic (if possible) products that we could use to clean our home with. And as you can imagine, our wishlist was near impossible. In fact, we couldn’t find anything that was really wowing us, or ticked off all of the boxes. So we decided that it would be worth looking into making our own products. And that is when we really fell down the rabbit hole.

Our eyes were completely opened to a whole new world of clean, natural, organic, cheap (yes, really), and convenient home cleaning solutions. But the best part? These new products cleaned better than our old ones. And that was really the one area that we were unwilling to budge on. We had both agreed that anything that we were switching to had to minimally match what we had been using in terms of cleaning power. But really, our all-purpose cleaning solution easily blew those Clorox Wipes out of the water. Oh yeah, we were sold.

Homemade Natural All-Purpose Cleaner:

1/2 Cup Organic White Vinegar

1/2 Cup 70% Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol

1 Cup Distilled / Filtered Water

3 Drops Natural Dish Soap (we use this one)

30 Drops Organic Lemon Essential Oil

Pour all of your ingredients into a clean, reusable spray bottle, and simply shake it a few times to combine. Then spray and use as needed!

To help cut down on waste, we also use reusable microfiber cleaning cloths. Not only do they hold up better and not leave behind any fibers, but they also wash like a dream.

This all-purpose spray works great on tile floors, tubs, showers, toilets, laminate surfaces, and stove tops. Basically the same surfaces that you would have used the store-bought products on, except now you could literally eat off of your floor. And just as you would with any new cleaner, test this all-purpose spray in an inconspicuous place first.

Tips and Tidbits:

• Our recipe can be easily halved, doubled, etc. . .depending on the size of the bottle that you are using to hold the cleaning solution.
• We like to keep our cleaning solutions organized by different colored spray bottles. We use green for this all-purpose cleaner, blue for our glass spray, and pink for our granite cleaner. (And yes, I will be sharing all of these recipes with you!)
• The science behind using the 70% Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol, is basically that it takes longer to evaporate. Which in turn means that it is sitting on the surface of whatever you are cleaning for a few extra seconds = greater cleaning power.
• We made a point to create an all-purpose cleaner that is borax-free. Why? Well, because borax is used to kill roaches and bugs. . .and I definitely don’t want anything like that on my kitchen or bathroom counters.
• When we first created this cleaning solution, we picked up our plastic spray bottles from our local Dollar Tree. But having read more and more about the negatives of plastic, I recently ordered these glass bottles, and am very excited to test them out. Fingers crossed that they are durable. . .because I am a bit clumsy ;)

9/16/2019 Update:

Inquiring minds would like to know how we use our all-purpose cleaner to clean our toilets. And while that is completely the hubby’s territory, I did ask him for his instructions.

He said that cleaning the toilets is really just a happy marriage between our all-purpose cleaner, some baking soda, and a little bit of elbow grease. He starts by spraying the inside of the toilet bowl with a little bit of cleaner, followed by shaking in a few tablespoons of baking soda along the inside edge of the toilet bowl. He then sprays the baking soda with the cleaner to “activate” it. After letting it sit for a few minutes, he scrubs away as usual. Additionally, he uses our all-purpose cleaner on all of the exterior parts of the toilet.

Happy cleaning friends!