This has been one of those things I’ve been wanting to do for ages but just never got around to it…until now! Making some DIY cleaning products really isn’t difficult at all, and is kinda fun and creative, and super awesome for your health.

Here’s why…

Your standard cleaning products found at the supermarket contain nasty, toxic ingredients, leading to the average home containing about 62 toxic chemicals. Ingredients in common household products have been linked to hormone disruption, cancer, reproductive disorders, asthma and neurotoxicity. Pretty scary, huh?

In small amounts, these products aren’t likely to be harmful, but it’s daily, weekly, chronic exposure over a lifetime that could potentially lead to health problems.

Some of the most common nasty chemical ingredients include:

Phthalates – found in household products, such as air fresheners, many scented candles, dish soap, even toilet paper. Because of proprietary laws, companies don’t have to disclose what’s in their scents, so you won’t find phthalates on a label. If you see the word “fragrance” on a label, there’s a good chance phthalates are present. Health Risks: Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors.

Triclosan – found in most liquid dishwashing detergents and hand soaps labeled “antibacterial.” Health Risks: Triclosan is a skin, eye and lung irritant and an aggressive antibacterial agent that can promote the growth of drug-resistant bacteria. It has associated chronic health concerns and is a probable carcinogen and hormone disrupter.

Quarternary Ammoniom Compounds or QUATS – found in fabric softener liquids and sheets, most household cleaners labelled “antibacterial.”  Health Risks: Quats are another type of antimicrobial, and thus pose the same problem as triclosan by helping breed antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They’re also a skin irritant; and suspected as a culprit for respiratory disorders.

This is what you can use instead!

Some ingredients you may like to consider for your DIY cleaning products experiment, include:

+ White vinegar (acid) – Cornwell’s white vinegar is the best. Apple cider vinegar can also be used. Even better, is if you fancy making citric vinegar. To learn more about this, check out Emily Ehlers post 🙂

+ Borax & bi-carb soda (bases)

+ Washing soda

+ Castile soap (I love the rose water scented one)

+ Essential oils (eucalyptus, tea tree, lavender, clove, orange, rosemary)

+ Lemons

Note: always wear gloves even when handling natural substances and keep away from children.

MULTI PURPOSE SPRAY

4 cups water

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tsp castile soap or eco-friendly liquid detergent

10-20 drops of eucalyptus oil (you can also add a few drops of another oil such as lavender, but eucalyptus works well on its own)

Great for showers, basins and bench tops. Mix in a spray bottle and shake before each use.

KITCHEN

Bench top cleaner

15 drops orange oil

3 tablespoons bi-carb

2 cups water

Mix in a spray bottle and use anywhere you’d use spray and wipe!

Chopping boards

Cut a lemon in half, juice it, then scrub the board with it!

OR

Add a bit of washing soda to an eco-friendly cloth and scrub away.

Stainless steel cleaner

Lemons to the rescue! Yep, just cut a lemon in half, squeeze the juice out to use later, and wipe on kitchen and laundry sinks, and then wipe away grime with a cloth. That’s it!

Oven cleaner

Heat your oven at 180 / 350F for about 20mins and then allow to cool.

Add enough water to some bi carb soda to make a thin paste, and then apply to the walls of your oven avoiding any elements.

Allow to set for a couple of hours, and then wipe away with a wet cloth. Should remove all grease and grime.

OR

(Found over at Super Natural Home)

In a jar put equal parts sea salt, vinegar and bi carb soda. 1/4 cup of each is good for your average sized oven.

Turn the oven on 180C / 350F and put an oven dish, half full of water in the oven and ‘bake’ to create steam for about half an hour. Do not add the paste to this dish. Cool oven a little before scrubbing your paste on the oven walls. Wipe down. Rinse with a couple of watery tea towels.

Note: I’ve seen quite a few DIY cleaning recipes on the net that combine vinegar and bi-carb or borax. {NERD ALERT} If you remember from your chemistry days, when you combine an acid with a base, they undergo an acid-base reaction. The result is that they neutralise each other to form water and a small amount of salt. It’s harmless to do, but I’m undecided if it works (and I haven’t experimented with it yet). I guess there wouldn’t be so many recipes out there if it didn’t work. If you’ve tried cleaning recipes that combine the two and had great results, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section at the end of the post!

BATHROOM

Mould

(Found over at Alexx Stuart)

2 cups of water (or 1 cup for seriously manky mould!)

14 drops each of tea tree oil and clove oil

Mix in a small spray bottle, and spray infected areas. Leave for at least 20mins, then spray whole area with your multi purpose cleaner and then scrub/wipe away. My house unfortunately has no window in the bathroom and the fan is broken. Keeping on top of the mould was becoming a bit of a nightmare, until I tried this recipe! It seriously works!

Note: Vinegar is also great for killing mould. Mix 1/2 water 1/2 vinegar with the clove oil (after trying the first recipe) if you wanna go gangbusters on it 🙂

Toilet bowl

Add some borax or bi-carb (or both) to a jar and puncture some holes in the lid. Then all you do is coat the toilet bowl with the product and scrub away 15mins later. Super duper easy. For something a little more creative that smells good too, check out this recipe.

Toilet seat

You can use the multi purpose spray for this. Another recipe you can try is combining around a cup of vinegar with 10 drops of lavender oil which are both antibacterial.

OR

I occasionally buy Earth Choice antibacterial wipes, however when I recently checked out their website and hunted down the ingredients to this product, it listed ‘fragrance’ – and this, as we now know, is not a natural ingredient. I’m currently playing phone tag with someone from customer service, but as soon as I’ve spoken to a rep, I’ll update what the fragrance actually is.

 

 

If making your own DIY cleaning products doesn’t float your boat, the brands I recommend are Eco Store (my top pick), Earth Choice and Ecover. Do your due diligence though, and check out there websites and ingredient list. Eco Store states their ingredients nice and clearly on their website, even including their EWG rating for all of their ingredients.

 

 

So there you have it folks! I haven’t experimented with making my own laundry powder, fabric softener, floor cleaner or cream cleanser (like Jiff), so will do another post once I’ve got some great ideas for you. Happy non-toxic cleaning my friends 🙂