How to Save Money by Making Your Own Cleaning Products

Save money by making your own cleaning products

You may find yourself attached to a few favourite cleaning products that make your house squeaky clean, but a wonderful way to not only do the environment a massive favour at the same time but also save money by making your own cleaning products.

Luckily, a lot of the ingredients you need for your homemade cleaning products are items that may be lurking in your kitchen cabinets. And, if you have a few essential oils around the house already, great!

If not, these can be easily found in places like Boots or Holland and Barrett for a few pounds each. You only need one or two and they will last you a while (and make your house smell divine!)

My favourite essential oils to use for cleaning include lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree, sweet orange and lemon, so these are the ones we feature today, but go for whatever scent/s you like.

Whatever you use will make your house smell amazing, but with many essential oils also having anti-bacterial properties, they’ll give your countertops and floors etc. a good clean at the same time.  DIY cleaning products can work just as effectively as commercial, chemically-laden products, but they are a lot kinder on the pocket and the planet. Read on for some of our favourite recipes and give them a try yourself. You won’t regret it!

Amazing All-Purpose Cleaner

What you’ll need:

• 1 tsp borax
• 1/2 tsp washing soda (you can find this on amazon and in larger supermarkets)
• 1 tsb liquid castile soap
• 2 cups of warm water
• 10 drops of essential oil of your choice – great choices are lemon, lavender or sweet orange

How to make:

Place the borax, washing soda, castile soap and essential oils in a spray bottle (the bottles you need for your homemade products can be found in garden centres and some home goods shops, or online).

Add the warm water (distilled is best, but if you don’t have it just make sure you boil the water first and then leave it to cool for a bit).

Put the lid on the bottle and give it a good shake.  Et voila! It’s really that simple. Use the spray as needed on kitchen and bathroom countertops and anywhere else you would use an all-purpose cleaner.

Fabulous Floor Cleaner

This is a great recipe for a grubby kitchen floor, but it’ll work well on any floor that needs a good clean.

What you’ll need:

• 2-3 litres of hot water
• A dollop of dishwashing liquid
• 60ml of vinegar
• A couple of shakes of washing soda
• A few drops of tea tree oil (this is the best essential oil for a deep clean, but you can use another oil instead if you prefer)

How to make:

Place everything in a big bucket and give it a good stir with your mop.

Soak the floor with your mop and leave it for about 10 minutes to let the cleaner work its magic.

Give the floor a mop and marvel at how clean it looks!

If you have any stubborn marks on the floor that won’t shift, try buffing them away with a little eucalyptus oil on a clean white cloth.

Gorgeous Glass Cleaner

This gentle cleaner works wonderfully on windows and mirrors. To buff it in, use a microfiber cloth to avoid streakiness (or even a bit of newspaper if you don’t have a cloth).

If you have detergent marks on your glass, consider adding a little castile soap to the following ingredients to get rid of the residue.

What you’ll need:

• 16 fl oz of room temp. water (preferably distilled)
• 2 tbsps of vinegar
• 10 drops essential oils of your choice. Lemon is a great choice to help cut the unpleasant vinegar scent (which quickly dissipates!)

How to make:

Place the ingredients into a spray bottle and give it a good shake. And that’s it!

Terrific Toilet Cleaner

This simple recipe will make your toilet look spotless and smell divine! What more can you ask for?!

What you’ll need:

• 2 fl oz liquid castile soap
• 14 oz water
• 2 tbsps bicarbonate of soda
• 8-10 drops of essential oils (again, tea tree oil is a good bet here)

How to make:

Simply add all the ingredients to a large squirty bottle and give it a gentle shake.
To use, squirt the cleaner into the toilet bowl as needed and use a brush to scrub the toilet bowl clean.

Oh my gosh! Oven Cleaner

Conventional oven cleaners are not only pricey, they are also full of toxic nasties and so are best avoided.
Luckily, it’s easy to make your own oven cleaner at home that is safe to breath in and a fraction of the cost of the shop-bought version!

What you’ll need:

• 1 tbsp dishwashing liquid
• 180g bicarbonate of soda
• 5 drops of essential oil of your choice
• 60ml white vinegar
• Water as needed to make a thick paste

How to make:

Pop your ingredients into a bowl and give them a good stir. The mix should be thick but still spreadable.
Spread the mix all over your oven using a brush — an old pastry brush will work wonderfully for this job!
Leave the mix on overnight. You may see it foam up, but don’t be alarmed; the mix is simply doing its job of lifting up the dirt and grime.
Fill your second bowl with water and use it to scrub your oven.
You may need to do this a few times to get all the dirt off but it’ll be worth it once you see how lovely and clean your kitchen looks – and you didn’t have to open all the windows and make sure the cat is in a different room to make it happen!

Remarkable Rug and Carpet Deodoriser

What you’ll need:

• 225g of bicarbonate of soda
• 10 drops of your favourite essential oil

How to make:

Add the ingredients to a bowl and blend them together using a wooden spoon (essential oils can react with metal, so be sure that it’s wooden). Pop the mix into an airtight container.
When you want to deodorize your rugs or carpets, simply shake a light layer of the mixture evenly over the top and let it sit for 15 minutes before you vacuum it off. Your carpets will smell nice, as will your house!
Now it’s over to you! Have you dabbled with DIY cleaning products? Are there any you come back to time and time again because they’re so effective? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Guest post from MoneyNuggets

It is fantastic to have a guest post from a friend who can create amazing content that I would struggle to write. A huge thanks goes to Moneynuggets for sharing this fabulous information about home made cleaning products. I have also written a post for their website, which was published today too. Collaboration is good and allows us to share expertise and advice with our audience. MoneyNuggets is a career and personal finance blog for women who want to take charge of their finances and secure their future. Their goal is to empower women through financial education.