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DIY Homemade Cleaners

We've been scheduling a cleaning day each week where we do the more intense jobs like bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming. The day changes each week because of Ben's work schedule, babysitting, and our activities. This week our cleaning day was yesterday, and we're now out of cleaning sprays, but everything is sparkling!

I've been making our cleaning supplies for at least the last year, maybe longer. I love that the ingredients are simple and useful in other aspects; I also love that I don't have to buy these ingredients just to make the cleaners. 


These recipes are for 24 oz spray bottles.

Window Cleaner
1 oz. Ammonia
4 oz. Rubbing Alcohol
1 drop of Laundry Detergent (I keep a trial size on hand)
Fill remaining space with Water
I add a couple drops of blue food coloring to make it look like Windex which helps everyone grab the right cleaner.

Bleach Cleaner (I use this mostly in the bathroom
2 oz. Bleach
1 tsp. Laundry Detergent (I keep a trial size on hand)
Fill the remaining space with Water

Multi-Purpose Cleaner
5 oz. rubbing Alcohol
3 oz. White Vinegar
1 tsp. laundry Detergent
1 tsp. ammonia
2 drops of Essential Oil (for scent, I use wild orange that I was gifted)
Fill the remaining space with Water
I add a couple drop of green food coloring to make it look like Simple Green which helps everyone grab the right cleaner.

Dusting Spray
1 C. Water
1/4 C. vinegar
2 T. Olive Oil
10-15 drops Lemon Essential Oil
The water and oil naturally separate. You will need to shake before each use. 

Air Freshener
1/3 C. Fabric Softener Beads (I LOVE Downy Unstoppables, I also use it in my Laundry Detergent recipe)
2 tsp. Rubbing Alcohol
1 C boiling Water
Combine rubbing alcohol and beads. Pour boiling water on top. Let sit until all the beads dissolve. 

Like any other money saving activity you need to decide whether the savings are worth your time. I've decided that making my own cleaning supplies is worth my time. They're simple, they use ingredients I already have on hand, and I feel empowered when I make something myself rather than buying it. 

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