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DIY Cleaning Solutions For Your Home That Work Wonders

Are you looking for a safer and more affordable way to clean your home? If so, you’ll love these natural cleaning solutions. These DIY cleaning recipes use ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and hydrogen peroxide to clean almost every surface in your home without leaving behind any harmful chemicals. 

Plus, they’re more affordable than traditional cleaning products.

Cleaning your home can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be expensive or dangerous. 

In fact, you can clean your entire home using natural ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen cupboard.

I asked Dr. Samantha Radford from Evidence-based Mommy how to make DIY cleaning solutions for the home. These homemade cleaners use vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and hydrogen peroxide to clean almost every surface in your home without leaving behind any harmful chemical residue. 

Plus, they’re more affordable than traditional cleaning products. So why not give them a try?

Diy cleaning solutions

The Benefits Of Using Natural Cleaners

When it comes to cleaning your home, using natural cleaners is not only safer for you and your family, but can also save you money.

Many common cleaners (especially those containing disinfectants) contain harsh chemicals that can harm the respiratory system and potentially cause long-term health issues. 

Bleach quaternary ammonium compounds (quats), for example, can irritate the eyes and skin, and even lead to wheezing or asthma.

Alternately, natural cleaning options such as vinegar and baking soda are generally non-toxic and often just as effective at tackling everyday messes.

In addition to being safer for your health and the health of your children, using natural cleaners can also save you money in the long run. 

After all, you can mix up many of these natural cleaning solutions for less than a dollar, instead of paying much more for a store-bought cleaner.

So next time you reach for a conventional cleaner, think about switching to a natural alternative for the benefit of both yourself and the environment. 

Vinegar baking soda and lemon

Just these few ingredients will handle almost any cleaning task you need to do:

  • Vinegar
  • Baking soda
  • Hydrogen peroxide
  • Lemon juice
  • Dish detergent (Dawn in the US, or Fairy here in Australia)

Homemade Cleaning Recipes

What is really cool about natural cleaning substitutes is the fact that you will likely have most, if not all of the ingredients at home already. Here are a few DIY recipes for natural cleaners:

Natural All-Purpose Cleaner

Make a solution of half water, half vinegar, and add one drop of dish detergent. Put this in a spray bottle, and it will be perfect for cleaning pretty much any hard surface in your home!

This all-purpose cleaner is perfect for laminate countertops, stove tops, and glass.

(NOTE: Don’t use vinegar or lemon juice on marble or granite countertops, as these may etch and dull your counters.)

You can also wipe down the inside of your fridge and freezer with this vinegar solution when you do a refrigerator deep clean.

Natural All-Purpose Scrub

Do you need to polish a sink or some pots? A paste made of baking soda and water will shine up stainless steel sinks, pans, and utensils.

Natural Cleaner For Cast Iron

Those who cook with cast iron love it, but they’re often nervous about the best ways to clean it without harming the seasoning.

The best way? Sprinkle coarse salt on your cast iron and scrub. The abrasive surface will remove cooked on food and grease without damaging the seasoning layer.

Natural Descaler

Do you have limescale buildup on your shower head or kitchen faucets? Natural products to the rescue once again!

As I mentioned in my shower head descaling hack post, you just need vinegar and baking soda. Unscrew your shower head and put it in a plastic bag with 1 cup of vinegar. Let it sit for at least a few hours; the acid will remove deposits from your shower head.

How to unclog shower head with vinegar and bicarb

Next, add a scoop of baking soda. The bubbles created by the fizzing will shake loose any remaining debris.

Let this sit overnight, then remove the shower head and scrub with an old toothbrush. Finally, rinse with hot water before reattaching the shower head.

Microwave Cleaner

It’s possible to clean your microwave naturally and make your home smell good, all at the same time!

Halve a lemon and squeeze the juice into some water in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the lemon halves to the bowl as well, then microwave them all for about 5 minutes.

After you remove the bowl (NOTE: Wear oven mitts), wipe down the microwave. Easy peasy!

Garbage Disposal Deodoriser

Are you wondering what to do with the leftover lemon juice and rinds from cleaning the microwave? Put them down your garbage disposal and turn it on! The lemons will help clean your disposal and leave it smelling fresh.

Natural Stain Remover

Grass stains, blood, or diaper explosions can be really frustrating during laundry time! That’s why I love this DIY stain removal hack.

Just mix 1 part dish soap with 2 parts 3% hydrogen peroxide. Work this into your clothing stain, give it a bit to react, and then launder your clothing like normal. You’ll likely be amazed to watch the stain disappear before your eyes as you work this cleaner into the fabric!

Just check that the stain is gone before putting the clothes in the dryer.

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Conclusions on DIY Natural Cleaning Solutions

The next time you need to clean your home, consider swapping out harsh chemicals for more gentle solutions. Baking soda, vinegar, peroxide, and other natural cleaners can be a fantastic, non-toxic way to clean throughout your home. Not only are they better for the environment, but they’re also often cheaper and just as effective as traditional cleaning products. So why not give them a try? You may be surprised at how well they work!

Trixee

Sunday 11th of October 2015

What an awesome post, I am definitely going to try some of these suggestions!

Holly

Tuesday 13th of October 2015

Thanks Trixee. I will be adding more in future as I test them out and learn new options too :)

Vanessa

Monday 21st of September 2015

I love the citrus suggestion. I use a vinegar type mix myself but the citrus one would be nice to mix it up a bit.

Holly

Thursday 24th of September 2015

Citrus is a great smell for cleaning. Very fresh and summary. Vinegar...not so much lol but the vinegar smell isn't terrible.

Lauren @ Create Bake Make

Monday 21st of September 2015

I've stared using vinegar and bicarb soda A LOT around the house and am kicking myself I didn't start using it sooner.

Holly

Monday 21st of September 2015

Such a huge saving & better smell... Usually. Vinegar can be a bit stinky lol