Learn how to make natural cleaning products with this list of homemade cleaning solutions made with all-natural ingredients.
There are many benefits to making natural cleaning products. The desire to cut down on waste and harmful environmental toxins are a few good reasons to make homemade cleaners. Another great reason to make all-natural cleaning products is to keep children and pets away from toxic substances in the home. If all these reasons and more make you want to make homemade cleaning supplies–you have come to the right place. Scroll down to find a list of the best natural cleaning products made with all-natural ingredients! You might also enjoy making a Natural Cleaning Kit for Kids.
Best Natural Cleaning Products
I don’t know about you, but my family is over store-bought cleaning products–even the environmentally-friendly ones. The prices are through the roof, and I am constantly finding toxic ingredients listed in them.
The Problem with Store-Bought “Natural” Cleaning Products
Did you know that the term “natural” legally means nothing? Because there are no regulations or standards set on the term natural by the FDA, USDA, or EU, many chemical additives are often in many environmentally-friendly cleaning products and so-called “natural” products.
When I researched the matter further, I found most of the so-called “natural” cleaning products on the shelves were primarily made of unnatural ingredients, including a few harmful chemicals and toxins. I was constantly finding things like sulfates and parabens in natural cleaning products and cleaners that are not natural or friendly to the environment in any way, shape, or form.
Making Homemade Cleaning Products
I’ll be honest–I’m lazy. I don’t even want to clean, let alone make the natural cleaning supplies I need. I’m a mom with a hundred balls in the air at any given moment, and the last thing I need is to add to my to-do list. Are you with me?
However, as mentioned above, many of the ingredients in most cleaning solutions are toxic and bad for the environment–especially for pets and young children. So, what’s a Lazy mom like me to do?
Start slowly, ingredient by ingredient, one natural homemade cleaning solution at a time.
Now that my family has made homemade cleaning supplies for the past several years, I realize that DIY cleaners don’t take as much effort as I initially thought. This lazy mom has learned to love making all-natural homemade cleaning solutions!
However, when I first attempted to make household cleaning products–they bombed miserably. I was not fond of how they smelled as I was cleaning, and I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the scent they left behind either.
When I clean the house, I want to feel rewarded by a home that both looks and smells fresh and clean. Don’t you?
DIY Natural Cleaning Products that Smell Great!
Homemade cleaning products with essential oils and the natural ingredients listed below have been the ticket to my lazy mom’s success. Many essential oils are disinfecting and cleaning agents that can help make the whole house smell wonderful–naturally!
I love making DIY cleaning products now that I have found Essential Oils! We have listed more ingredients we use in natural cleaning products below. Please scroll down to the next section to see our favorite natural DIY cleaning solutions.
Natural Cleaning Product Ingredients for Home Use
Here’s a list of the best environmentally-friendly cleaning agents. But before mixing these ingredients to make your natural cleaning products, it is essential to know their natural cleaning properties and how they might react when mixed.
For example, knowing which ingredients should not be mixed in the same cleaning solution is essential before putting different solutions into the same bottle. Hydrogen peroxide, for example, should not be mixed with bleach and cannot be combined with vinegar or castile soap.
Why? Vinegar mixed with bleach can create toxic fumes, while vinegar mixed with Castile soap will make your natural cleaning products curdle and become ineffective. Neither result is what you expect or want when cleaning your home, classroom, or workplace.
Use the ingredients listed below by themselves as stand-alone natural cleaning agents or to make natural cleaners. You can find a list of the best DIY cleaning recipes at the bottom of this post–including the best natural all-purpose cleaner!
Distilled Water
Distilled water makes a great neutral base in homemade cleaning solutions. And we use it in our homemade glass cleaner and all-purpose cleaning solution.
Vinegar
Vinegar is a biodegradable acid that is a natural bleach alternative for cleaning. The low acidic content of vinegar can hinder the growth of microorganisms and help break down grease, mold, bacteria, and rust. Even though vinegar contains mild antiseptic qualities, it is not a broad-spectrum disinfectant. Never use vinegar on marble countertops, or mix vinegar with bleach or ammonia-based cleaning products.
Hydrogen Peroxide
More often found in the bathroom medicine cabinet than in the cleaning closet, this household staple is a powerful household cleaner and natural disinfectant. Hydrogen peroxide has antiseptic, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties, making it an effective natural household disinfectant, all-purpose cleaner, and bleaching agent. And it can help kill harmful mold, mildew, bacteria, and fungus all over the house.
As such, Hydrogen Peroxide is often an ingredient in eco-friendly cleaning products. The release of oxygen creates a reaction that causes foaming, and this acts as a natural multi-purpose cleaner that helps destroy bacteria, break down dirt, and neutralize bad odors. The 3% household solution is safe for marble countertops and can whiten and remove stains. Simply wipe and allow to air dry!
Witch Hazel
Like hydrogen peroxide, witch hazel is another household staple more often found in the bathroom than in the kitchen. It contains bacteria-fighting properties and is a natural alternative to rubbing alcohol.
These anti-bacterial qualities make witch hazel a tremendous natural household cleaner. Use it to clean surfaces in the household, including chrome and marble countertops. Wipe and allow to airdry for superior germ-fighting power!
However, research shows that witch hazel may not be an effective household disinfectant. So, if you need to be sure that you are disinfecting the surfaces you clean from all viruses and bacteria–70% Isopropyl alcohol, Hydrogen Peroxide, or bleach (mix 1 tsp. into a cup of distilled water and use immediately) is your best bet.
Castile Soap
Castile soap is a vegetable-based soap for cleaning surfaces of all kinds in bathrooms and kitchens worldwide, from the dishes to the skin’s surface. As such, castile soap is an excellent addition to many natural cleaning products. Just don’t mix it with vinegar, or you will end up with a curdled mess!
And although Dr. Bronner’s scented castile soap is our favorite way to clean our bodies, we like to use THIS unscented version in our homemade cleaning solutions and recipes.
Baking Soda
Also known as sodium bicarbonate, baking soda is a natural cleaning agent that can help clean and deodorize the whole house. It is a mild alkali and gentle abrasive that can clean dirt, grease, and stains without bleach, ammonia, or other harsh chemicals.
Essential Oils
Many essential oils and oil mixtures have natural anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, and anti-fungal properties, which, when combined with their pleasing scent, make them especially useful for natural DIY household cleaners.
But what are essential oils? Essential oils are volatile oils and compounds extracted from various plants and plant structures. These concentrated extracts capture each plant’s essence to use in several types of applications, including natural cleaning products.
Natural Cleaning Solution Recipes
Learn how to safely mix the natural cleaning solution ingredients to make your DIY cleaning products with our favorite cleaning solution recipes–get the tutorials below.
- Natural DIY All-Purpose Cleaner
- Best Natural Homemade Glass Cleaner (also an all-purpose cleaner)
- DIY Natural Wood Cleaner and Polish (for wooden floors and furniture)
Other Recommended Supplies for Making DIY Cleaners
- 16-ounce spray bottle (or get a 2-pack with a funnel and labels included!)
- Funnel
- 16-ounce glass measuring cup
We like to use clear spray bottles for our glass cleaner, blue spray bottles for our all-purpose cleaning solution, and brown bottles for our wood polish. It helps everyone in the house know at first glance which homemade cleaning product is in each bottle, but you are welcome to use whichever color you like.
Glass spray bottles are the best for natural cleaning solutions because essential oils stay fresh longer in glass containers, and, best of all, using glass bottles can reduce the amount of plastic waste. The planet is in desperate need of less plastic! And if you are concerned about glass breaking, use silicon sleeves for glass spray bottles.
The bonus of using a glass bottle is that I don’t mind it sitting on my kitchen counter, ready to use. It looks nice instead of an ugly plastic bottle with some awful name-brand logo. Besides, leaving it out on the counter makes it more likely that my husband and children will use it–win-win!
DIY Cleaning Products Made with All-Natural Ingredients
We hope you enjoyed learning about the best environmentally-friendly cleaning products. Stock up on the natural ingredients listed above, and use them to make your natural cleaning products.
We think that your family’s and the environment’s health is more than worth it! I promise that making homemade green cleaning products is much easier than you think. 😉
I love this! I’ll be sharing it on my Facebook page tonight.
Thanks Menucha! So glad you like it and thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. I need to pick up a glass bottle!
You won’t regret it… I’ve had oils go rancid in plastic and these are oh so pretty!
I cannot use cleaning chemicals, so this is awesome! I have been trying to make more homemade products but did not really know where to start.
It took me a long time to start making my own… I can be really lazy about certain things sometimes! But I am so glad I did! I almost like cleaning now 🙂