Sunday, January 6, 2013

Homemade Bathroom Cleaners

After seeing many cleaners online and in magazines, I finally made the time to read what they were made of and see how truly simple they are!  Since starting to use doTERRA Essential Oils a few months ago, I am more driven to make all my natural around the house items I have been thinking about for years.  I started with my bathroom cleaners.  I cannot stand the chemicals in the normal cleaners, and find myself only half breathing so I can save myself from some of the fumes!  However, I have children now, who are often within range of me cleaning and will be doing the cleaning themselves sooner than later.  They don't know how to half breath to take in less of these toxic cleaners fumes, so I got myself into gear and figured this out!  Now I am worry free when I clean, and actually kind of look forward to cleaning my bathrooms...shhhh I know, weird.  But they smell so good and the essential oils have uplifting properties in them so it's even better, and I don't cringe when I clean now.  My recipes came from doTERRA's Living Spring 2012 issue.  They are SO SIMPLE and have worked great in my home.  I hope you enjoy!

 My awesome cleaner caddy with all-natural, yummy smelling cleaners!

This is my BEFORE using the normal chemical cleaners!
Happy fume free cleaning, 
Melina
Please feel free to contact me to learn more about doTERRA Essential Oils and how you can get your own!

Click here for PDF Printable  
Homemade Cleaners in my Bathroom
with doTerra Essential Oils

All-Purpose Spray
A general disinfectant, for countertops, doorknobs, light switches, ect…
¼ cup White Vinegar      (1/8 cup) for a half batch
2 cups Water                      (1 cup)
1 tsp. Borax                        (1/2 tsp.)
30 drops Essential Oil      (15 drops)
Add ingredients to a glass spray bottle, then shake thoroughly before each use.
Essential oils to try:
15 drops each of Lavender & Lemon
10 drops each of Eucalyptus, Peppermint & Wild Orange
30 drops On Guard

Window/Glass Cleaner
1/8 cup Vinegar
1 cup Water
10-15 drops Lemon Essential Oil
Mix ingredients in a glass spray bottle.  Shake and apply.  Wipe clean.

Toilet & Sink Cleaner
Baking Soda
+
¼ cup Vinegar
10 drops Melaleuca Essential Oil
Combine the Vinegar & Melaluca essential oil in a glass dispenser.
I shake the amount of baking soda I want to use in the toilet (1/4 c.) or sink (1 Tbsp.) first, and then add the vinegar/essential oil mixture.  Scrub to clean.  In the sink you will see it react, bubbling.  Kids love to watch this!

Bottles & Containers
16 oz. Glass spray bottles $1.78/ea
I use two of these, one for the All-purpose spray the other for the Glass Cleaner
Syrup Dispenser $3.00
I use this for my Toilet Sink Cleaner – Vinegar & Melaluca essential oil
Rubbermaid Plastic Canister $3-5.00
I keep my Baking Soda in here, so it is easier to sprinkle out into the toilet and sink
Caddy $8-10
to hold the cleaning supplies
**I use GLASS containers for any mixture the Essential Oils are in, as the essential oil can be absorbed into plastics**
**I am sure you can use any essential Oils, but I use doTERRA.  They are 100% pure.  Here is a great article that explains further http://www.iheartdoterra.com/differences-in-essential-oil-quality/  

Baking Soda:  scrubs, whitens, deodorizes and cuts grease
Vinegar:  Kills germs, cuts grease, deodorizes and dissolves mineral deposits
Borax:  Disinfectant.  Kills germs, bacteria, fungi and deodorizes
Liquid Castile Soap:  Vegetable-based soap commonly found in health food stores (look for unscented)

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Fantastic guide, very detailed and I love the attention toward natural ingredients. I've heard from a friend of mine who used to work for cleenco.co.uk that lemon juice in cleaning solutions can bleach the colour from fabrics? Is this true?

Graffs On The Go said...

Thank you for sharing and put the time into this list. Very helpful!

Shellie and Bryan said...

Thanks for posting! I love the oils but didn't have any good cleaning recipes :)

Unknown said...

i'm so glad to see someone else doing this! i dumped all my "regular" cleaners last fall and now clean with only baking soda and vinegar. i'm excited to try some of your recipes as i too have been using doterra and love it! thanks for the tip on the glass containers, i would never have thought of that. if you haven't yet, check out this website http://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners
you can put any product in the search box and it will tell you how good/bad it is to use. baking soda and vinegar get and "A" rating every time for safety. i'm trying to ditch my regular laundry soap for the same reasons but haven't been able to give it up...yet. i'm working on it!

Spencer and Melina said...

Sheila, I haven't heard about the lemon juice bleaching fabrics, and honestly I don't know anything about that. A simple Google search is confirming that possibility. I would definitely just test a small are you are cleaning first to see if it changes any coloring. I personally don't use any of these cleaning solutions on fabrics, just the toilets, sinks and counter tops in my bathrooms. Good luck!

Spencer and Melina said...

Angie Hawkes, that is great! I have been using a homemade laundry detergent for months now, and have been pleased with it. Feel better knowing that it is natural rather than commercial. I haven't noticed a difference in our clothes, and it works with my cloth diapers as well! I will be posting about the laundry detergent later, thanks for that reminder. It is just as easy, I have to make some in the next couple weeks.