Save money by making these natural DIY household cleaners with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen! Not only are these recipes easy, but they don’t have all those harmful chemicals that most brands at the store do.

When I first moved out on my own and had to do the cleaning, I would fill my cart with any chemical cleaners thrown at me at the grocery store. I literally had a cabinet full of cleaners. It wasn’t until I became pregnant that I started questioning my choices of cleaning products. What were these chemicals I was breathing in and putting in my home? Once my oldest became a toddler, I decided to go the more natural route when it came to cleaners in my home. In my journey to “detoxifying” my house, I learned that you don’t need heavy duty cleaners to have a sparkling clean home (ha – who am I kidding, my house was never sparkling clean to begin with but, you get my drift). You would be surprised that many things used to clean may already be in your pantry!

I like to keep the things I have to bare minimum so to be honest If you were to look in my pantry right I have 3 things of DIY cleaner:

All-purpose Vinegar cleaner

1-part water

1-part vinegar

Essential oils (completely optional)   I usually add a couple drops of tea tree oil.

I use this  multipurpose cleaner for everything! Minus hardwood floors (whoops!) and my granite.

To clean my non-hardwood floors, I put about ¼ cup in a bucket of warm water and mop away!

“DIY” Hardwood Cleaner

For my hardwood I buy BONA (which is safe for the environment and my family) and dilute that with a little water in a spray bottle to make it last longer.

DIY Granite cleaner I got from http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/06/diy-homemade-granite-cleaner.html

• ¼ cup rubbing alcohol
• a few drops of dish soap
• water
• a few drops of essential oils (optional)

Seriously, this is all I use as well as a big ole box of baking soda!  This has me saving so much money while keeping my house clean and free from toxic chemicals. Not to mention they are super easy to make 🙂

Below are all the items you may already have in your home and awesome ways you can use them around the house!

Vinegar

Who knew vinegar had so many uses other than for picking things?!? Vinegar is a staple in my house! I always have a massive bottle that I buy at the commissary for only a couple dollars and it lasts forever!

Other uses for Vinegar:

*Fabric softener

*Removes hard Water Stains

The list goes on and on. For more wonderful ways to use vinegar, click here, you will be glad you did.

Baking Soda

Baking soda isn’t just for baking folks!  Baking soda even by itself is a natural odor eliminator! I keep one where there might be offending odors(i.e. cat box, refrigerator, my husbands closet!ha!). Just be sure to NOT use that baking soda for baking or you may have some funky tasting baked goods 😉 I love baking soda because it is a bit abrasive so when I need something with a little oomph I pull out the bs. Many times I make a paste with a bit of water and some good ole bs and put it on those tough to get out stains or  grime build up in my bathroom,kitchen or anywhere for that matter. It is  also handy  use it if a child or animal has an accident because it soaks up the odor as well as absorbing the liquid.

For other great cleaning ideas for baking soda, click here!

Baking Powder and Vinegar

Ahhh I always love the chemical reaction when you add baking soda and vinegar together. I find this combo works well for cleaning my toilets, kitchen sink and bathtubs!!  I just pour baking soda onto the damp surface  rub it around then pour vinegar all over after give it a good scrub and rinse with water and the area is  sparkling clean!

Olive Oil

This is a new one I read up about in Apartment therapy, apparently, Olive oil can be used to polish your stainless steel appliances. I have a heck of a time keeping my stainless steel clean so I gave it a try myself ….and it worked as you can see!!!

Before Olive Oil

After Olive Oil

But that’s not all, apparently, it can help clean cast iron pans and polish some wood . For the full list of things olive oil can do visit Apartment Therapy.

Lemons

I love cooking with lemons, and adding lemons to water. I also knew lemons were good for removing fish odor from hands as well as making your garbage disposal smell lemony fresh, but according to Real Simple

I had no clue it could also:

*Remove those pesky stains off our leftover plastic storage containers,

*Be used as a great as a grout cleaner when mixed with Cream of tarter

*Brighten laundry

These are just a few of many natural DIY cleaners  that I use in my home because I always have the ingredients laying around and I keep it simple! But there are so many more recipes and different natural DIY cleansers you could use! For more recipes and ideas for DIY cleaners visit the awesome links below:

• Greatist.com
• Real Simple
• PopSugar

What natural DIY cleaners do you swear by? We would love to hear, so please comment below!

photo credit:since1985 / 123RF Stock Photo