3 Ingredient All Purpose Cleaner

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I’ve been making this for years.  I love it.  I could literally spray this in my mouth and not die (don’t do that), AND it works hard at the everyday cleaning and disinfecting that, well, doesn’t really happen everyday at my house.  

There are so many opinions out there about the safety vs. effectiveness of the big cleaning agents.  Frankly, I’m not ready to throw any dogs into the fight, but after reading everything I could get my unwilling-to-get-a-degree-in-it hands on, I have found myself comfortable with the job a vinegar based cleaner does for the everyday stuff.  It kills up to 90% of household pathogens and can even combat the flu virus.  It has not been proven to touch salmonella, though, so make sure you clean up after handling raw meat with hot water, soap, and a scrub brush (or yes, bleach!)

Without further ado, I present my number one household cleaning companion:

3IngredientCleaner

1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 Tablespoon Borax
10-15 drops essential oil

Add everything to 4 cups warm water to dissolve borax.  Pour into spray bottle, label, and you are ready to squirt!

I use an empty gallon vinegar jug to make a gallon at a time (about 4 times this recipe). If you do this, I would suggest adding the EO’s directly to the spray bottle, as they can lose their effective properties sitting too long in a translucent plastic jug.
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You can also add a couple of squirts of dish soap if you like in place of the essential oils.  Many EO’s have disinfecting or anti-microbial properties.  Lemon, tea tree, eucalyptus (oh, how I love eucalyptus!), clove, and cinnamon bark are just a few.  Make sure you use pure EO and not just a fragrance oil.

Let me know if you have any other tried and true recipes!

1 COMMENT

  1. The best part about this homemade all-purpose cleaner is that you can mix and match your citrus peel and herbs. For instance, you might try a lemon basil cleaner or perhaps orange and clove is more your style. Grapefruit would be amazing, as well! Any combo of citrus and herbs/spices can make a fresh-smelling homemade cleaning spray that will save you money and lessen your use of toxic chemicals! Three cheers for all of that!

    Best regards! Orpington Carpet Cleaners Ltd.

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