When I first moved into the home where we live now, I was so excited to decorate and make it my own. One thing that was very important to me personally was to maintain a high level of cleanliness (a task which was much easier at that time than it is now, since our children weren’t born yet lol). I set aside Saturday mornings as a “cleaning day” and even went so far as to do a quick vacuum of the floors every evening before bed (I don’t do that every night now 😉 ). Yes, I admit that I was a bit OCD with my cleaning compared to most standards, but it brought me so much joy to clean this new home and make it as fresh and lovely as possible. I “invested” in so many scented cleaners and cleaning products with the words “natural” and “healthy” in bold letters on the side. Many of them claimed to harness the power of essential oils and boasted long lists of toxic ingredients that weren’t in the bottle. Unfortunately, the harmful ingredients that were in the bottle were hidden in small letters on the back.
After an unfortunate experience with one of those so-called “natural” cleaners getting into my eyes and burning them (and ultimately ending up in the ER to wash said cleaner out of my eyes per poison control’s recommendation), I realized that I was no longer comfortable having any regularly-used and easily-accessed cleaners in our home that might have the same (or worse) effect on our toddler, who was just then starting to explore and show increasing interest in our cabinets. So I started experimenting with making my own cleaners. I soon learned that although disinfectants require specific concentrations of ingredients to be effective, general household cleaners don’t necessarily have to be fussy or even measured at all – especially in the context that I use them most often (i.e. wiping down kitchen counters and cleaning up spilled milk or toddler messes). I also found that I was saving money … a considerable amount of money! A simple multi-purpose cleaner would generally cost between $3 and $7 at the store (and I went through them quickly with 2 babies under the age of 2), but the DIY multi-purpose cleaner that I use now only costs me a squirt or two of dish soap, a dash of vinegar, and enough water to reach the top of the bottle. My multi-purpose cleaner is just as efficient at dissolving stuck-on food and sticky toddler messes as a store-bought version, and I don’t need to worry about our toddler accidentally getting some in her eyes if she were to grab the bottle and do what toddlers do best. 🙂
DIY Multi-purpose cleaner
This cleaner is my favorite go-to for general household messes and cleanup. I use it to spray down my counters and sink after dinner every night during my “kitchen reset,” grab it to spray down the frozen blueberry stains in toddler hand prints that end up all over the kitchen (and living room, if I don’t catch her to wash her hands quickly enough!), and even use it to spot clean mud on the floor or grubby little hand prints on the sofa. It works very well for situations where a little degreasing/dirt-dissolving action is necessary, but I’m not concerned about highly infectious microbes. I just add the ingredients below to my spray bottle and shake it a little to mix everything together:
- Squirt of dish soap (I eyeball it and generally use about a teaspoon for a 16 ounce spray bottle. You want enough soap to harness the cleaning action of the soap, but you don’t want too much, or your solution will be overly sudsy and require multiple wipes to get the soap suds off … ask me how I know lol)
- Squirt of vinegar (this one is optional and may be left out if you use this spray on granite or tile surfaces, but it does add some oomph to your solution, especially for super sticky or dried-on messes. I use about a tablespoon or so for a 16 ounce spray bottle)
- Water (you can use distilled or filtered water if you’d like, but I personally just use the tap water that comes from our home’s well and fill it to the top of the bottle).
DIY Glass cleaner
This one is super easy and only requires two basic ingredients (the cornstarch is optional, and I actually tend to leave it out when I’m mixing up this spray for a quick wipe down of a handprint-smeared window or mirror). Mix vinegar and water in equal parts (a 1:1 ratio) in a spray bottle and shake it up. It’s that simple!
- Distilled white vinegar (I just fill the bottle up halfway with vinegar and halfway with water)
- Water (as with the above recipe, I just use tap water but you can also use distilled or filtered water if you’d like)
- (Optional: cornstarch can add a little abrasive cleaning action to your glass cleaner. I generally add about a teaspoon worth to my 16 ounce spray bottle).
DIY disinfectant spray
This one is strong enough for most household disinfecting needs as long as the surface is sufficiently wet with this solution for the appropriate amount of time. The biggest downside to this disinfectant spray is that it evaporates quickly (it’s rubbing alcohol), so I generally apply it a few times before I deem the surface as thoroughly disinfected. I like to stick to around five minutes of “wet” disinfecting time, because that is generally the timeline we would go by in a medical setting. But whenever there is a particular pathogen I’m worried about, I always look it up and see if there is a specific amount of time required to disinfect it before trusting that any disinfectant will work in that scenario. Also, if you use this, please be sure to follow the safety guidelines on the back of the bottle and don’t leave this spray within reach of little hands (or mouths!) or use it in an unventilated area or near a flame because it is flammable and can be an irritant to the airway in high concentrations.
- 70% rubbing alcohol (aka isopropyl alcohol)
- That’s it! Seriously, I just pour rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle and use that to disinfect hard surfaces around the house (it has to be at least 70% to disinfect, and 90% generally evaporates too quickly, so 70% is my go-to)
