Homemade Cleaners: Multi Surface Cleaner

To wrap up this week of making it homemade cleaners week, I will be concluding with several homemade cleaners you can use around the house. Each ingredient serves a different purpose and basted on cost and the type of clean you want you can choose to add each ingredients. I am going to start off with a homemade cleaner that is a great multi-purpose cleaner for bathrooms, appliances and other small messes around the house.

Homemade Cleaners

Vinegar is the best to use for homemade  multi-purpose cleaners. It is acidic enough to be a sanitizer, stain remover and safe for most surfaces.
Water is just to dilute the mixture a bit
Lemon Juice add a great scent and is an additional acid to help sanitize surfaces.
Tee Tree oil is the best thing to have around the house. It acts as a germicide, fungicide and anti-bacterial agent for cleaning surfaces. This is great to use for minor cuts and things around the home. If you don’t have some, get some! 

Ingredients for Homemade Cleaners:

1 cup Vinegar (goes on sale around Easter) STOCK UP
1 Cup Warm Water
3 Tablespoons Lemon juice
10 Orange essential oil
20-30 drops tea tree oil

1. Measure one Cup Vinegar and pour into spray bottle. 

2. Measure and pour 1 cup of warm water into the bottle. You could stop here and you have homemade cleaner as a great multi-surface cleaner for your home. But then we have the whole smelling like salad issue again. I know I want something that smells a little better than vinegar.

3. Add three tablespoons of Lemon Juice to the container to help freshen up the scent. 

4. Add around 10 drops of orange essential oil. Up to this point it is safe to use on counter tops and food preparation areas. 

4. Add around 20 to 30 drops of Tea Tree oil to the mixture. Then shake the container to mix up all the ingredients. It is a good idea to shake before each use to make sure everything is well mixed. Tea tree oil is not meant for consumption. I would use caution if using on counter tops. 

These homemade cleaners are not recommended for granite countertops. Depending on which salad dressings homemade cleaners your choose to make for cleaning around your house, you have several options to choose from. Don’t really eat it, tea tree oil is not to be eaten and is considered toxic if ingested. But this homemade cleaner (s) are great for cleaning most of the surfaces in your home. 

Since I have been making everything homemade, it seems like my kitchen gets used the most. I need a good cleaner to disinfect and clean well. We have granite counter tops, so a vinegar or acid solution is not good for a granite surface. A non acidic solution is needed to prevent the white build up, but it still needs a disinfectant to get rid of bacteria and other nasty stuff lurking in the kitchen.

Homemade Granite Cleaner:

1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol
4 drops of Dawn or other dish soap (or soap)
Water
5-10 drops essential oil (optional for a lovely fragrance. I use orange oil)

1. Pour the rubbing alcohol or vodka into a spray bottle.

2. Add the dish soap, essential oil to the alcohol.

3.  Fill up the rest of the bottle with water and shake to mix ingredients well.

This is perfect for granite counter tops, since it disinfects with the alcohol. The Dawn acts as the perfect degreaser and tough spots. I know I have been looking for a great granite cleaner and this seems to be the ticket to leave a streak free shine to the top of the counters. This is safe and I don’t have to worry about loosing the shine off my counters with this homemade granite cleaner.

I hope you try these homemade  cleaners out in your home. Let me know how these homemade cleaners work for you.