Homemade house cleaning recipes

Although ingredients for these cleaners are baby and environmentally friendly for the most part, always use due care in mixing up your own cleansers. These 'recipes' are meant to be used by adults.

Use new empty containers (spray bottles etc) to store your solutions in -due to residue that could be left on containers if you re-used a store product's bottle.

Always label what's in the container with a permanent marker. Include the ingredients, in case of emergency. HINT: Write the recipe for the mix right on the bottle with a permanent marker, for easier mixing the next time.

Never mix ammonia based cleaners with chlorine bleach, or anything that contains bleach. The fumes that are created are very dangerous. ALWAYS read product labels before doing any mixing.

2 cups of water
½ cup white (clear) or cider vinegar
¼ cup rubbing alcohol (the 70% concentration type)
you can also add a couple drops of orange essential oil, if you want it to smell nicer.

Mix these ingredients and store in a spray bottle*. Spray on paper towel or a cloth first and then wipe glass/mirror.

*Spray bottles can be found at your local Dollar store or discounter. Be sure to use a permanent marker or else write on masking tape and apply to bottle to identify what is in the bottle - not only that it's Glass Cleaner, but the ingredients, just in case of emergency.

4 Tbsp baking soda
1 Quart warm water

Pour this on a clean sponge and wipe. It's really good for inside the
Refrigerator, your appliances and your kitchen counters.

TO CLEAN A TOILET with the same basic 'recipe':

Sprinkle around the edges inside the toilet bowl with about 1/4 cup of baking soda. Carefully and lightly pour 1/4 cup white vinegar, (watch the reaction, but don't get your face too close) Go "whoo hoo!" then scrub your toilet with a toilet brush.

½ of a lemon
½ cup borax*

Dip lemon into borax and scrub the area you want to clean then rinse.
(not safe to use on marble or granite surfaces).

*find borax on the detergent aisle of your grocery - it is a laundry additive.

Another Scrub Idea:
I also like to sprinkle salt and baking soda in my sink and scrub with an old wet rag. The salt and baking soda become like a paste and it works great! Then I run a bit of white vinegar over it and down the drain to clean and freshen. Rinse.

½ cup sudsy ammonia, mix with enough water to fill a 1 gallon container.

Sudsy ammonia has detergent as an additive so that helps it get off the really heavy grime.

To use this, dip your sponge or mop in it and wipe over the surface, then you rinse with water.
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Sprinkle the bottom of your oven with 1/3 cup baking soda then spray over it with water. Leave it alone overnight or at least for several hours to let it work in. After letting it sit, you can scrape off the spills with a spatula. Rinse the oven well with water.

Mix 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar and a gallon of warm water in a bucket or your wash pail. Simply use this to mop your wood or linoleum floors, then RINSE with water.

Very important to RINSE it and don't leave any large areas of water sitting. The vinegar is acidic and could potentially damage your flooring if you don't rinse it...so I say again, DO RINSE!

This is a home recipe for a spray you can use to help kill some contaminants on fruits and vegetables. If you wash your produce as soon as you bring it home, this cleanser will kill bacteria and spores, with the added bonus of helping your produce last longer.

To a new spray bottle, add:

1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP white vinegar
1 cup water

Leave this on your produce for 1-2 minutes and then rinse well.

Thanks to SouthernSavers.com for this great information!

Get a tall drinking glass (glass rather than plastic is best, so the plastic wrap will stick to it.)

Pour apple cider vinegar into the glass until about 1/3 filled. It's important to use apple cider vinegar, or any fruity type vinegar, so it will smell like rotting fruit to the flies.

Put a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the glass. Seal it tightly around the rim. Take a pen or a pencil and poke 2-3 holes in the plastic wrap.

That's all there is to it! The flies are attracted to the rotting fruit smell, go inside and are trapped.

Now, if we could just keep the kids from letting the door hang open so the flies wouldn't get in in the FIRST place! Sorry, there's no easy home-made recipe for that.

Does a Bag of Water Hung Over a Door Deter Flies

A reader wrote in to me about filling a plastic baggie half full of water and hanging it over a door. I have found different theories about why and how this works, one being that the flies think it's a wasp's nest so it scares them away.

Another theory is that the housefly sees it's own reflection and thinks there's a bigger fly in front of him! The jury's still out on whether it truly works or not.

Some people say it does, while others say they have tried it and it definitely did not work for them. Maybe some flies are smarter than others.

Perhaps a Fly IQ test is in order. I know my houseflies buzz with a southern accent, but I'm not sure about the quality of fly-schools down here.

The Straight Dope says the flies see reflections of movement of people around the bag, and houseflies are skittish so it scares them away.

The recipes here are posted free and as a service. The writer of the article and Squidoo.com take no responsibility for anything that happens if you choose to use these recipes. Everything posted is believed to be useful and safe, and should be safer than products you buy in the store. But user/reader understands that the use of the ideas, products, and recipes on this page or any other webpage (aka "lens") are provided only as a service.