Cleaning Supplies – Making Your Own

Cleaning Caddy filled with cleaning supplies

A few inexpensive household items keep the cost of cleaning supplies to a minimum.

I clean my house with cleaning supplies made from vinegar, dish soap or bleach.  Here’s the how to:

Vinegar

  • Use for cleaning, deodorizing, eliminating soap scum and cleaning floors. 
  • For heavy duty jobs such as removing soap scum, mix a solution of one part vinegar to one part water (1:1 ratio). Let sit for a few minutes
  •  Spray 1:1 ratio solution lightly on floors and wipe with a dry cloth.  
  • For regular glass cleaning and shining, mix 1/4 cup vinegar to 2 cups water.  
  • Money Saving Tip:  If you don’t like the smell of vinegar, dilute commercial window cleaner. Put 1/2 an inch of cleaner in the bottom of a spray bottle and fill it up with water.

Dish soap

  • Use as an all-purpose cleaner throughout the house and for cleaning floors. 
  • For an all-purpose cleaner, combine 2 tbsp dish soap (a regular dish soap such as Ivory or Dawn, or an antibacterial dish soap) with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle.  
  • For cleaning floors, add a squirt of dish soap to a mop bucket and fill with warm water. 
  • Keep a bottle handy under the kitchen sink to spot clean as needed or spray on pots and pans to lift baked-on food easily. 

Bleach

  • Use as a toilet bowl cleaner.
  • Add 1/8 cup of bleach to toilet bowl and let sit a few minutes before scrubbing.  Then flush.  
  • Be careful not to mix bleach with other chemicals as this can cause a toxic gas.
  • Do not pre-mix bleach with water. Bleach will lose its disinfecting power after about 24 hours of being diluted.
  • Here is more information on cleaning and disinfecting with bleach

Purchase spray bottles for your solutions or re-use clean, empty spray bottles. Label bottles with contents and solution ratio for quick reference when refilling.

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