It’s spring and a lovely time to dust off the winter blues, spring clean your home and get ready for the brighter days ahead. Earlier this year I wrote about how to clean your home with 5 staple pantry items. It was a wonderful start into the world of natural cleaning, inspired by Laura Trotta who is very inspiring and doing amazing work to make ecofriendly living mainstream! Much of my knowledge about natural cleaning stems from her and if you are interested in ecofriendly living you should definitely check out her site.
Now that it’s spring I’d like to spring clean our home AND overhaul all my cleaning supplies!
Living a healthier (and more sustainable) life has many aspects and what chemicals and toxins we bring into our homes has a huge effect on our overall wellbeing. Not just what we eat enters our body but also what we breathe in and what touches our skin. It’s so important to be mindful of the chemicals we expose ourselves to and cleaning products are top of the list. After all, we are surrounded by them as they touch every surface in our house, right.
The cleaning products I use now
There are a lot of great companies who produce non-toxic cleaning products these days, but generally they come with a high price tag. I used to love buying them and still would, but currently have to be careful where I spend our household budget.
The shopping list below includes all that is in my cleaning cabinet now. I got most of it in the supermarket, the castile soap and essential oils are from a wholefoods shop. Underneath you find a list of cleaning options for each room that you can all do with a mix of those ingredients. It is eco-friendly, non-toxic and will be cheaper than buying single use cleaning supplies. Your body, health and wallet will thank you!
Shopping List
Fresh Lemons
Olive Oil
Citric Acid
Bicarb Soda
Washing Soda
Salt
White Vinegar
Essential Oils: Lemon, Eucalyptus and Clove
Pure Castile Soap (completely biodegradable)
Microfibre cloths
Spring Clean ‘Recipes’
All Purpose Cleaner 1
2 cups water
2 tbs castile soap
15 drops lemon essential oil (or lavender, peppermint and orange)
Fill water into spray bottle. Add castile soap and essential oil.
Shake gently before use.
All Purpose Cleaner 2
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
15 drops lemon essential oil
Fill water and vinegar into spray bottle. Add essential oil.
Shake gently before use.
(I have found these recipes and many more great cleaning tips here.)
Mirror and Window cleaner
2 cups water
2 tbs white vinegar
few drops lemon essential oil
Mix and fill in a spray bottle.
Use a microfibre cloth to wipe clean afterwards.
Floor Cleaner – Tiles
2-3 litres hot water
squirt of detergent
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup washing soda
Mix in a bucket and mop your floors!
(I found the recipe here.)
Floor Cleaner – Laminate
3 cups water
1 cup white vinegar
squirt of dishwashing liquid
Mix and fill in a spray bottle.
(I found the recipe and more great tips about laminate flooring here.)
I don’t wet wipe our laminate, only spot clean and dust with a microfibre mop throughout.
Bathroom
This was probably the hardest change to natural cleaning products for me. For a long time I didn’t quite trust that natural options would be strong enough, especially on mould and the toilet area. The marketing teams of countless cleaning products have left their mark on me too!
Then I learned that a lot of bleach cleaners actually just take the colour out of the mould, rather than getting rid of it! So you end up putting harmful chemicals on the surfaces in your home and they just do a pretend job!! Outrageous isn’t it. So I reclaimed my common sense and put trust back into the natural disinfectants, rather than believing the shiny promises of a marketing agency.
Mould Remover
1/4 tsp clove essential oil
1 litre water
Spray directly onto mould.
Wipe after 20 mins or leave overnight.
Bathtub scrub
Bicarb soda
Water
Mix to form a paste.
Shower head and tap scrub
Fresh lemon cut in half
Salt
Dip lemon half in the salt and use it to gently scrub the shower head and tabs.
Toilet Cleaner
1 cup baking soda
50 drops eucalyptus essential oil
Combine in a glass bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oil clumps are broken up. Store in a glass jar.
When cleaning use 1 tbs of the mixture in the toilet bowl and give it a scrub with the toilet brush. Add some vinegar which makes it fizz, scrub again and rinse.
(I found the recipe here.)
Use citric acid for stubborn stains: pour in and let it sit overnight, scrub and rinse in the morning.
Also, am totally going to make these toilet bowl fizzies!!
Kitchen
Detergent
1/2 cup castile soap
1 tbs white vinegar
1 tbs washing soda
a few drops lemon essential oil (or tea tree or eucalyptus)
Mix everything in a bowl and add 1 1/2 cups hot water. Stir and combine well. Let mixture cool completely, stirring occasionally, then fill into a dispenser bottle.
(I found this recipe here.)
Dishwashing Powder
1 1/2 cups citric acid
1 1/2 washing soda
1/2 cup sodium bicarb
1/2 cup sea salt
Mix and store in an airtight container.
Use 1 tbs per load
Dishwashing rinse aid
4-6 drops lemon essential oil
Drop into dishwasher before you start the cycle.
Fridge Spray
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup white vinegar
10 drops lemon essential oil
Mix well and fill in a spray bottle.
Use it once a week when you restock the fridge or as required.
Disinfectant Spray
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
20-30 drops lavender, tea tree or eucalyptus essential oils
Mix well and fill in a spray bottle.
You might want to make different smelling versions, like lavender on counter tops and for toys and eucalyptus in the bathroom.
Kettle Descaler
2 tbs citric acid
1 litre water
Mix, boil in the kettle, stand for 15 mins, rinse.
Oven Cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup washing soda
3 tbs liquid dish soap
Hot water
1/2 cup white vinegar
Combine baking and washing soda then add hot water and dish soap until a thick paste forms. Add vinegar, which will make it fizz. Coat all oven surfaces and leave it overnight to soak. Wipe it off with warm water in the morning.
You may want to try and add some salt for more scrubbing power.
(I have found this recipe here.)
Stainless Steel Cleaner
White vinegar in a spray bottle
Water in a spray bottle
A soft (microfibre) cloth
olive oil
Sprizz with vinegar and wipe in the direction of the grain. Sprizz with water and use a soft cloth to wipe dry. Use a soft cloth dipped in a little bit of oil to polish.
Bonus! – Natural Spider Deterrent
0.5 litre water
3 drops lemon essential oil
3 drops dishwashing liquid
Spray on:
cobwebs
around doors and windows
around the lawn and garden
and any other surfaces where spiders lurk!
That’s it. All my house cleaning is pretty much done with these things. Please leave a comment below and let me know if this was helpful to you. I would also love to know if you have any other ideas, tips or tricks!
Much love and happy spring cleaning!
Be kind to yourself,
Katrine xx