3 Simple Recipes for DIY Household Cleaners

by Miranda Marquit · 1 comment

It seems as though there are a lot of cleaners out there, promising to keep your home clean. However, in many cases you can keep your home clean fairly inexpensively — with the help of do-it-yourself household cleaners. For the most part, if you have three household products — baking soda, vinegar and bleach — you can mix almost any recipe. However, there are some DIY household cleaners that require a little more. Here are a few simple recipes that can help you create your own household cleaners with little fuss:

All Purpose Cleaner

You can create an all-purpose cleaner with enough 15 oz of hot water. You will also need 4 Tablespoons of vinegar and two teaspoons of baking soda. If you want, you can add an essential oil to your mix to add an appealing smell. If you choose to use an essential oil, you will need about 10 drops (or 15 if you want it stronger).

Mix the vinegar with the baking soda, and add the essential oil (if you want). Next, add the hot water and mix everything thoroughly. This solution can be used to clean a number of surfaces, and is relatively safe.

You can also combine two Tablespoons of borax with 1/4 cup lemon juice and two cups of water. Borax can be bought relatively inexpensively, and can be used in a number of household cleaning recipes.

Mildew Remover

There are some different ways to make a mildew remover on your own. This can be a great way to clean your bathroom and other areas where mildew is inclined to grow. One recipe involves mixing 1/2 cup vinegar with 1/2 cup of borax in warm water. You can also mix 1/4 teaspoon tea tree oil and 1/4 teaspoon lavender oil in two cups of water (recipe on Elizabeth’s Kind Cafe).

If you want to get rid of buildup in your bathtub, you can use vinegar on a sponge to wipe down the area. Then, use baking soda as a scouring agent. You will need to thoroughly rinse the tub when you are done.

You can remove toilet bowl stains (that pink ring) with the help of borax and lemon juice made into a paste. First, flush the toilet so that the bowl is wet. Next, you can apply the paste. You will have to let it sit for two hours if you want it to be most effective. Then, after that, scrub and flush.

Oven Cleaner

It can be tough to clean the oven, and no matter what cleaner you use, you might have more luck when you use an abrasive pad. But you can mix up a DIY oven cleaner using two Tablespoons of Murphy’s Oil and two Tablespoons of borax mixed in six ounces of warm water. You will need to let the mixture sit for 20 minutes on the surface before you begin scrubbing.

Window Cleaner

You can use vinegar and water in equal parts as a window cleaner. You can also mix 1/2 cup of cornstarch in two quarts of warm water. However, this mixture — though effective — can be a bit streaky. Choose a day when it’s not very sunny to clean the window with the cornstarch recipe.

What’s your favorite DIY household cleaning recipe?

Bonus Tip:

Did you know that you can save money with Netflix? Even if you don't plan on using the service, you should at least sign up for the Netflix free trial here to get some free movies for a month.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Omar September 18, 2012 at 12:19 pm

I just came from another of your pages entitled, “3 recipes that will save you money today” and copied this line from the text:

“Do NOT mix acids (like vinegar and lemon juice) with alkalis (like baking soda and ammonia.)”

On this page above under “All purpose Cleaner”, you say, ” You will also need 4 Tablespoons of vinegar and two teaspoons of baking soda. ”

Which statement is correct? They are completely contradictory to each other.

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: