Clean Your House With Just 3 Natural Ingredients

Vinegar, or acetic acid, can be found in nearly every kitchen. It's long been used for pickling and as a condiment, but it also has a wide range of uses in your cleaning box.

The Kitchen

I use cleaning recipes using vinegar to clean the sinks, to wash off counters, and even when cleaning the stove top. It can also be used for removing lime scale build up from kettles. It cuts grease nicely too.

Vinegar is non-toxic. While it does have a strong aroma, this dissipates within minutes leaving a fresh, clean scent behind.

The Bathroom

I use vinegar to keep down lime scale build up in the toilet. It also helps to keep drains from clogging and can be used for cleaning mirrors, leaving a bright streak-free shine.

The Laundry

Added to the wash, vinegar softens clothes.If you live in a hard water area (like I do) it prevents lime scale build up in the pipes. It can be used to clean real nappies and towels, leaving them soft and clean smelling without the absorption-reducing properties of commercial fabric softeners and without harsh chemicals that can irritate baby's skin.

Vinegar can be used as well to remove lime scale build up from the iron.

The Garden

If you have problems with moss making your paths slippery, pour some neat vinegar on the path. You'll soon notice the path is cleared, and you don't have to rinse.

Spray neat on weeds to get rid of them.

Sodium bicarbonate, or bicarbonate of soda, combined with vinegar makes a powerful cleaning agent.

It is a gentle scouring powder, it deodorises, and can help to removestains from fabrics.

The Kitchen

Use to clean the sink, combine with vinegar to leave your sink bright and shiny. Or, for a nice touch, slice a lemon in half and dip that in sodium bicarb, then use the lemon half to scrub your sink clean.

Mix with water to make a paste and use that to clean stains from pots and pans. It also cuts through grease nicely.

Place a small amount in an open container in the back of the fridge to decrease odours.

The Bathroom

Pour a cupful of sodium bicarb into the drains before going away on holiday. When you come back your drains will be fresh and clean smelling.

Use with vinegar to clean the toilets and get rid of that bathtub ring.

The Laundry

Add a half cup to your wash to cut grease, deodorise, and soften your clothing. Make a paste with water and rub into stains to help remove them.

Outdoors

Make a paste with water and use to clean the heads on your car battery.

Olive oil can be used as furniture polish and to nourish leather products.

A 1 liter bottle of the least expensive olive oil I can find will last me for months.

Don't buy this on Amazon or elsewhere. Just go to you local grocery store and buy the cheapest bottle you can find.

These are other items I use around the house for cleaning, general and otherwise. They're good to have on hand, but you can do your cleaning without them.

Castile Soap

This is soap made using olive oil. I keep a bottle by the kitchen sink and use it for hand washing. I also add it to the laundry for cleaning clothes needing a gentle wash cycle. Mixed with borax it makes an excellent cleanser for greasy cooktops. A paste using castile soap, water, and sodium bicarbonate adds extra ooomph to stain removers on clothing.

Borax

Add a quarter cup to the laundry wash to clean your clothes. Combine equal amounts borax and sugar to get rid of ants.

Borax is toxic, so keep it out of reach of children and wash your hands after using it.

Essential oils

The two main essential oils I keep on hand for use with my home made cleaning products are tea tree oil and lavender. Citrus oils can be used with furniture and leather polishes. Lemon oil can be added to all purpose cleaners. You can often time find essential oils in local health food stores or larger drug stores.

These recipes are easy to make and use. I got them from "Better Basics for the Home".

Needed supplies

Empty spray bottles
Measuring cup

All-purpose cleaner

Combine equal measures of water and white distilled vinegar. Add 10 - 20 drops essential oil (optional). Put in a spray bottle.

This can be used to clean counter tops.
It can be used to clean glass and mirrors. Wipe off with a soft lint-free towel.
It can be used to clean chrome and other metals.
I use it to polish the metal work around our fireplace and the taps on the sink.

Leather cleaner

Combine 2/3 measure white vinegar with 1/3 measure olive oil in a spray bottle. Add 10 - 20 drops essential oil of your choice (optional).

Shake well before each use.
Spray a small amount on leather. Polish with a clean cloth. A small amount goes a long way.

Laundry cleaning

Add 1/2 cup sodium bicarbonate and 1/2 cup borax to detergent drawer of washing machine.
Add 1/2 cup white vinegar to fabric softener drawer.

Wash as directed on fabric care label otherwise.

For a gentle or handwash cycle, use 1/4 cup castile soap in place of borax.

Cleaning sinks

Spray neat white vinegar all over the sink. Make a small pile of sodium bicarbonate on one corner of the sink drainer. Dip a damp sponge into the bicarb then polish the sink all the way round. Or, cut a lemon in half and dip that into the bicarb and polish the sink that way. This method also works very well for removing tub and tile scum in the bathroom.

Drains

Pour 1 cup sodium bicarbonate followed by 1 cup white vinegar into the drains. Let sit for about 15 minutes then wash through with hot water. This will keep the drains clear and remove any odours.

Toilets

Add 1 cup each of sodium bicarbonate and white vinegar. Let sit for 15 - 20 minutes. Then scrub with a toilet brush.

Furniture polish

Use olive oil with a few drops orange essential oil. Use a clean cloth to massage the oil into the wood.

Most modern furniture is specially treated and doesn't need polishing. Just wipe clean with a damp cloth