How to Make Homemade Green Cleaning Products

Many of the chemicals found in common household cleansers are bad for the planet and bad for your health. When you factor in the wasteful packaging and inflated price of commercially marketed cleansers, creating your own homemade cleaning products just makes sense. Green-cleaning powerhouses such as vinegar, baking soda and borax are inexpensive and easy to come by, and are likely the products your great-grandmother used to keep her home sparkling when money was tight. It's time to turn back to simple, practical solutions, for the sake of our health, our pocketbooks and our planet.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Water
• Essential oils
• Lemons
• Mineral oil
• Borax
• Olive oil

1. Mix 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar and 1/4 cup baking soda into 1/2 gallon of water to create an all-purpose cleanser that can be used on almost any surface, including windows. The vinegar smell will dissipate when the formula dries, but you can add several drops of essential oil to mask the scent, if desired.

2. Splash full-strength vinegar under the rim of your toilet bowl and let it sit for several minutes before scrubbing. The vinegar will eat away at hard water stains and other buildup. Sprinkle the toilet brush with baking soda for extra scrubbing power and deodorization.

3. Scour painted or ceramic surfaces, such as walls, stovetops or bathtubs, with baking soda and a damp sponge. Soak your sponge in vinegar for especially tough jobs, but avoid cleaning tile this way. Vinegar can soften tile grout.

4. Slice a lemon in half, sprinkle it with baking soda, and scrub your tables and countertops with the fruit. Rinse the surface thoroughly. Your home will smell delicious.

5. Mop your floors with 1 cup vinegar mixed into a gallon of warm water. Add a splash of mineral oil for shine, essential oils for a pleasing scent or 1/4 cup borax for extra cleaning power.

6. Polish your furniture with a mixture of 1 part lemon juice and 2 parts olive oil. The scent and shine is incredible.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid using full-strength vinegar on glass. Undiluted vinegar will etch glass over time, but if properly watered down, it will not.