Green and DIY Cleaning Products

Posted on 16/09/2020

How to Make Your Own Cleaning Products

 

More and more people are starting to use green or homemade cleaning products these days, in a bid to look after the environment. However, there is a lot of confusion and some myths surrounding green and homemade cleaning products that tend to put people off. There is the assumption that in order to be green you will need to spend more, the notion that making your own cleaning products is too expensive and takes more time. Almost all of these ideas are completely false.

The truth about green and homemade cleaning products:

1. They don’t work: this could not be further from the truth, green and homemade cleaning products are as effective and sometimes more effective than conventional cleaning products are.

2. You need to use more effort and give green or homemade cleaning products more time to work: sometimes it is necessary to leave homemade or green cleaning products on a something such as baked-on grease, for a little longer than a conventional cleaner, but it takes as little and sometimes less effort to then clean afterwards. It won’t make any more work for you, it just may mean you need a little more patience.

3. The green cleaner is more expensive: this may be the case, green cleaners are slightly more expensive, but they are also usually stronger meaning you need to use less of them and therefore they last longer. Furthermore, there are excellent all-purpose green cleaners, meaning you only need to buy the one. If you are making your own cleaning product, then this is considerably cheaper than buying conventional cleaners, and so this notion couldn’t be more wrong.

4. Conventional cleaning products are tested properly, whereas green and homemade cleaning products aren’t: this is not the case, all of these products have been tested equally, unfortunately, conventional cleaning products haven’t been tested nearly as much as we think they have been.

How to make your own green cleaning products:

• All-purpose cleaning spray:

You will need an empty spray bottle, white vinegar, water and a cleaning cloth.

Half fill the empty bottle with vinegar and fill the other half with water, give the mixture a good shake. Spray and wipe clean using your cleaning cloth. For more stubborn stains, spray on the mixture and let it tackle the dirt for a few minutes before wiping it away. For very stubborn stains you can use vinegar straight from the bottle, but be careful what you use this on, it may damage some things, e.g. it causes the grout to breakdown.

• Cleaner for bathtubs and sinks:

You will need a clean, empty bowl, baking powder, washing-up liquid, a squeeze of lemon, a sponge.

Add the baking powder, washing up liquid and lemon together in a bowl and mix until it becomes a thick paste. Apply this mixture onto your bath or sink using the sponge and scrub, rinse off using clean water. For a more intense clean, leave the baking powder mixture on the sink or bath for 165 minutes before rinsing.

• Glass Cleaner (also can be used on mirrors):

You will need an empty spray bottle, vinegar, water, newspaper.

Fill your empty spray bottle a quarter full of water and add 2 teaspoons of vinegar, shake vigorously. Use the solution as you would a normal glass cleaner, except instead of using sponges to wipe the glass clean, use newspaper. The ink on newspaper absorbs the moisture just like a sponge would, and the ink leaves a smear-free finish.

• Floor Cleaner:

You will need a mop bucket, washing up liquid, vinegar or lemon juice and warm water.

Squirt some washing up liquid into your mop bucket and add half a cup of vinegar or lemon juice. Fill the bucket with some warm water and give it all a stir. Clean your floors with the mixture using a mop.