Cheap Homemade Cleaners you can Make Yourself

Homemade cleaners are easy to make and also super cheap.

This post contains affiliate links.  Please see our full disclosure policy HERE.

I talk a lot about how you can save money on your grocery bill.  But another way that’s pretty easy to save money is by making your own cleaners.

Making your own cleaning supplies isn’t that difficult and can usually be whipped up with only a few ingredients.  The basic supplies I use to make cleaning products is mostly vinegar, baking soda, dish soap, and essential oils.  I use a few other things, but you can pretty much clean your whole home with those basic ingredients.

We have been told this lie that we need 15 different products to clean our home and it simply isn’t true.  The same few ingredients can clean almost anything.

One of the other reasons I love to make my own products, besides the fact that I save money, is that I can make all my cleaning products non-toxic.  The stuff I buy in the store will have chemicals in them that I really don’t want to be breathing in, and I don’t want my children breathing in if I can avoid it.

 

Of course, you can buy all-natural products in many stores these days, but they aren’t cheap.  Often they are more than double the price of the regular cleaning products in the store.

When you make your own cleaning products it will cost you just a fraction of what you would pay to buy them.

So today I want to share with you a list of products you can make at home.  I buy many of the products I need to make my won cleaning supplies at my local grocery store, but for the recipes that use essentials oils you can read where I buy them, what brand I like and why here.

When it comes to essential oils the cost initially may make you think it’s too expensive, but when you break it down to how long those bottles last you will see that actually it’s very cost effective to use them and you will pay less than if you had bought your cleaning supplies in the store.

For many of my homemade cleaning products I use amber glass bottles that won’t degrade over time.  I bought these ones. I also like to use these microfiber cloths.

HOMEMADE CLEANING SUPPLIES YOU CAN MAKE YOURSELF

ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER

1 cup vinegar

1 cup water

20 drops of Purify essential oil

10 drops of lemon essential oil

Pour all ingredients into a glass spray bottle and shake up to  mix.  I use this cleaner for a variety of things, but my favorite and most often use for it is to clean down my counter tops.

 

TOILET BOWL CLEANER

1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 cup vinegar

10 drops of tea tree essential oil

Sprinkle baking soda all around the inside of the bowl of your toilet.   Put in your tea tree oil.  Add the cup of vinegar.  Let it sit for 30 minutes.  Scrub, flush, and enjoy the clean toilet.

 

BATHROOM AIR FRESHENER

Favorite Essential Oil (I like lavender, or harvest spice)

Put a few drops of essential oils on the inside of your toilet paper roll.  Every time someone grabs some toilet paper it will release more of the scent of the essential oils.

Alternatively you can place a few drops of essential oils in the toilet bowl after someone uses it to keep the bathroom smelling fresh.

 

SINK SHINE CLEANER

1/4 cup baking soda

5 drops Lemon Essential Oil

Sprinkle your sink with baking soda. Sprinkle in the drops of essential oil.  Scrub the sink with a wet cloth.  Rinse the sink out.  Your sink will shine!

 

DRAIN UNCLOGGER

1 cup baking soda

1 cup vinegar

5 cups boiling water

Pour the baking soda down the drain, followed by the vinegar. Put the plug in the sink.  Let it sit for 20 minutes.  Pour the boiling water down the drain.  This should do the trick but if it doesn’t work, try repeating the process.

 

COFFEE MAKER CLEANER

Half vinegar

Half water

Fill your coffee pot halfway with vinegar.  Fill the rest of the way with water.  Pour into your coffee maker and run it until it’s halfway through.  Turn it off and let it sit for 30 minutes.  Finish the brewing cycle.  After the brewing cycle is done run just plain water through it once more time.  This works really well if you have hard water build up and your coffee maker isn’t running as well anymore.

 

WINDOW CLEANER

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup rubbing alcohol

1 cup water

15 drops lemon essential oil

Pour all ingredients in a glass spray bottle.  Use on windows just like you would a store bought cleaner.

 

AIR FRESHENER SPRAY

1 cup water

1/4 tbsp rubbing alcohol

15 drops of your favorite essential oils (can be a combination.)

Put all ingredients into a spray bottle.  Spray like you would any other air freshener.

 

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP

16.5 oz laundry soap bar

1 cup borax

1.5 cup washing soda

20 drops lemon essential oil

10 tea tree essential oil

water

Grate the laundry soap bar and put it in a pot with 4 cups of water.  Heat on medium until dissolved.  If it isn’t dissolving well you can use an immersion blender near the end to help it along.  Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the borax and washing soda.

Pour the mixture into a 5 gallon bucket and then fill the bucket with WARM water (make sure it isn’t cold water so it continues to dissolved the borax and washing soda.)  I fill my bucket 3/4 of the way full. Add the essential oils. Stir it and put the lid on it, letting it sit overnight.

In the morning take the lid off and give it a good stir.  It should be gelatinous at this point, but even if it isn’t it will still do the job.

 

STOVE TOP CLEANER

3 Tbsp baking soda

1.5 tbsp water

4 drops wild orange essential oil

Mix all the ingredients together to make a paste.  Scrub your stove top with it.  The baking soda acts as an abrasive and the wild orange is an excellent degreaser.

 

HOMEMADE CLEANERS CAN SAVE YOU MONEY

Save money and time (no more spending extra time shopping for cleaners) by making your own products at home.  With just a few simple ingredients you can clean your house from top to bottom.

Do you make your own cleaners already?  Do you have any favorite recipes?  I’d love to hear them in the comments below.