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a bottle of homemade cleaner

How to make your own cleaning products at home

Wow, what a response! So many of you were shocked to learn about the impact of your wastewater. Thousands of our members pledged to create less wastewater and be more mindful about how to keep it uncontaminated. This week, we thought we’d help you out. A lot of the wastewater in our homes is created through cleaning, so we’re going to show you how to make your own cleaning products at home. The best bit? They use little to no water and smell incredible! Cleaning with less water – who would’ve thought it! 



Cleaning with less water: The floors 

No matter whether you’re cleaning laminate, tiles, or wooden flooring, this all-around cleaner will work wonders on your floor. What’s more, you probably already have most of the ingredients at home. This is perfect for cleaning with less water and reducing your waste. We recommend using an old spray trigger bottle to store this cleaner in. It makes it ready to use at a moment’s notice but it also gives us the chance to reuse any old cleaning bottles you may have lying around the home. 

You’ll need to grab the following ingredients: 

  • 470ml of warm water 
  • 120ml distilled white vinegar 
  • 60ml rubbing alcohol 
  • 1/8 tsp liquid dish soap 
  • 5-10 drops of essential oils (your choice of scent) 

Mix all the ingredients together gently in a 650ml (minimum) bottle. When using, lightly spray 3 feet away from the surface you are cleaning and wipe with a cloth. Be sure to store it in a cool place safely away from pets and children. It’s that simple! 

Cleaning with less water in the bathroom 

This is another recipe that helps you reuse those old trigger bottles. Personally, the scent of this cleaner alone is enough to sell us on it, but there is the added bonus of no harsh chemicals with this one. You can use this cleaner for everything in your bathroom, from your toilet to bathtub, soap scum and beyond!  

Here are the ingredients you will need: 

  • 470ml of warm water 
  • 1 tbsp baking soda 
  • 2 tbsp Castile soap 
  • 30 drops of tea tree oil
  • 20 drops of orange oil 

To make the cleaner, pop the warm water in the bottle along with the baking soda. Shake it well so it mixes thoroughly, then add the castile soap and essential oils. Then give it a little swirl. You’ll need a 600ml bottle for this cleaner, but you can mix up as much as you like as long as the ratios are all kept the same. 

How to make your own kitchen degreaser 

There’s nothing worse than having a tough stain on your kitchen hob, but for this task, we use our trusty homemade solution. A lot of kitchen degreasers will leave you scrubbing for hours, and more often than not rinsing out your cloth over and over again – wasting water. But, as promised, we’re cleaning with less water in this blog. So, grab an empty 1L trigger bottle and fill it with the following solution: 

  • 250ml distilled white vinegar 
  • Natural liquid soap (something like Dr Bonner will work) 
  • 1 tbsp of baking soda 
  • Essential oil drops (for scent) 

Add the ingredients to the bottle then top it up with warm water. Screw the lid on tight and shake the bottle well before use. Spray onto any kitchen surface and wipe away. We love how we get to reuse another trigger bottle with this one – but also how we can switch up the scent whenever we want by switching out the essential oil (personally we love a lemon or orange scent). 

How to make your own multi-purpose cleaner 

This one is a double whammy for us. Not only are we minimising the plastic purchased at the store, but it also gives us an opportunity to minimise our food waste. Recently we’ve been talking on the blog about the devastating effects of food on our environment. This solution gives you a chance to reuse those lemon rinds and peelings too (you can actually freeze lemon peelings and add them to this cleaner at a later date if that’s more convenient). Here’s how to make it: 

  • 200ml white vinegar 
  • 200ml water 
  • Lemon rind 
  • Rosemary sprigs 

Pop them all in a bottle, shake it well and leave the mixture to settle for a week before you use (it allows the mixture to infuse together). This cleaner may require you to be a little more organised but it’s certainly effective! It’s perfect for all the varying surfaces around the home. 



We’ve chosen the most popular types of cleaners for this blog. They’re easy and simple to make, relatively inexpensive and more than likely, you already have a lot of the ingredients. Of course, there are plenty of other homemade cleaning recipes out there to explore. We’re happy to spend the time researching and testing ones we think work the best – so, what would you want to see next? Tell us in the comment section below! 

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