Once upon a time I was a single college student in a one-room dorm and it didn’t take much to keep it clean. Fast forward a few years and I was married to an amazing (but super neat and orderly) guy and had a couple of kids who weren’t so neat and orderly! I needed an all-purpose cleaner that worked, STAT!
A Natural Way to Clean
As a mom, I soon learned that child is a synonym for “maker-of-dirt-and-messes-while-being-absolutely-adorable” and was amazed at the messes my toddlers could make.
I also realized that kids put everything in their mouths, so I started looking for natural cleaning options that could stand up to toddler messes but without accidentally poisoning them if (when) they licked the floor or counter.
I learned about all the chemicals that are contained in most commercial household cleaning products and found that I could make healthier ones at home. One of the hardest ones to create was a homemade all-purpose cleaner, but I finally found one that works well (and my kids have tested it hard!). In fact, I’ve calculated that over the years, I’ve saved over $200 making this myself!
Why Make Your Own Natural Cleaner?
Short answer:
It takes literally 30 seconds, saves money, and works better!
Longer answer:
This all-purpose cleaner is so simple to make that those first couple of toddlers are now older kids who can make and use this cleaner on their own! And their younger siblings have happily filled the toddler mess-making shoes for them. Also, it is free from the more toxic chemicals found in many cleaners and completely customizable to your taste.
Important note: There is some debate about borax and if it is safe to use in homemade cleaners or not. I personally feel it is safe to use and much safer than most cleaning products, but this article has a good breakdown of the information and my thoughts on it. Don’t agree? Just leave it out or use a natural concentrated cleaner like Branch Basics in place of this recipe.
All Purpose Cleaner Ingredients
- 1 tsp borax
- 1/2 tsp washing soda
- 1 tsp liquid castile soap
- Essential oils of choice – I use 4 drops lemon, 4 drops lavender, and 10 drops orange
- Glass spray bottle for storage
All-Purpose Cleaner Instructions
- Place borax, washing soda, and soap in a spray bottle (preferably glass).
- Add 2 cups of warm water. Distilled is best, but any water that has been boiled will work.
- Add essential oils of choice.
- Cover bottle and shake well. Use as needed. I use as bathroom cleaner, floor pre-treater, kitchen cleaner and on toys.
All-Purpose Cleaner FAQs:
Worried about the chemistry of making your own cleaners? Want to make a substitution? These are the most commonly asked questions about my homemade all-purpose cleaner:
Is Washing Soda the Same as Baking Soda?
No, they are similar but with some important differences. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate and washing soda is just sodium carbonate. Washing soda is stronger and more effective in this recipe (but still non-toxic). Don’t have it? Make your own with washing soda using this tutorial.
Is This a Disinfectant?
Technically no, but most home messes don’t need a disinfectant and using too many disinfectants can cause problems as well. I wouldn’t use this on food related messes, especially raw meat, but it works really well for other hard household surfaces like counters, floors, and cabinets. The essential oils do have mild disinfectant properties in some studies, but I personally would stick to hydrogen peroxide or food grade alcohol and soap/water to disinfect raw meat messes.
Why Isn’t There Vinegar in this Recipe?
Vinegar actually isn’t the cleaning powerhouse it is made out to be. It does have its uses and shining moments, like cleaning windows, but isn’t an effective degreaser or disinfectant. Also, vinegar and washing soda (acid and base) will cancel each other out and this whole recipe would be less effective if vinegar was added. Want to use vinegar in natural cleaning? Save your fresh lemon and orange peels, pour white vinegar over them and leave for a few weeks. This makes a great citrus-infused vinegar that cleans windows and most smooth surfaces.
Vinegar also un-saponifies the soap in this recipe, leaving a nasty stringy mess. Use vinegar if you want to, just don’t use it in this recipe!
Is Borax Dangerous?
There is a lot of debate about this. I talked about my opinion here, but I generally feel safe using it on non food surfaces. If you aren’t comfortable using it, just omit or use witch hazel or food grade alcohol in its place.
If you still aren’t a fan of borax and want a completely natural alternative that works at least as well as this recipe, I recommend Branch Basics concentrate.
Does This Actually Work?
Yep. It works really well. But don’t take my word for it… a reader Anne, commented:
Ok, I’m a little slow, just found this. Good news – the gunk on the bathroom floor that no other cleaner in the world could get rid of (I have tried at least a dozen over the years) is now gone. I sprayed this, let it soak about 5 minutes and wiped it up with a microfiber cloth. I am astounded! Thanks so much for this!
I Don’t Like Lemon/Lavender/Orange Oil. Can I Use a Different One?
No way. Just kidding!
Use whatever scent you like in this recipe. Mint is lovely too and geranium has a mild bug-repelling property if you have flies in the kitchen. You can even omit the oils entirely for an unscented version.
How Long Does This Last?
I haven’t personally had this last longer than 3 months because I use it up in less time than that. I can personally vouch for its shelf life for at least three months though.
Does This Need to Be Stored in Glass?
I’m not a fan of plastic and don’t feel it’s good for the environment (or the body), so I try to not to buy it even for cleaning. Plus, if you use the citrus essential oils, it is important to store in glass as they can break down a plastic bottle over time, but glass is always a good idea!
Do you make any DIY cleaners? Share your favorite below!
Doesn’t vinegar natural antibacterial properties? Can you use delisted vinegar as a cleaning agent?
You can and it works great. I’ve just gotten out of the habit since we have granite countertops and you aren’t supposed to use vinegar on them. A 50/50 vinegar and water mix will clean most hard surfaces though.
What do you use on your granite? We have granite and I had no idea that I should not be using vinegar. Thanks!
I believe this (recipe) is what she uses on her granite 🙂
For my natural cleaner, I shred my own Castile soap (liquid form is expensive) and dissolve that and then put some of that in a spray bottle with water and some drops of tea tree oil. That is safe on granite.
My vinegar has a 10% concentration of acetic acid. Can I use it in the 50/50 cleaning recipe?
Thank you.
Michaël.
I have heard recently about how borax isn’t good to use. Is this true? I love this all purpose cleaner but wanted to ask you. I will try to find the article someone sent me.
A lof of the research on this looks at boric acix and in a different concentration than what is used in borax. Borax is sodium tetraborate, which is a different chemical structure. In general, i don’t use borax on areas where food will be directly prepared and consider it safe everywhere else…
You could always try witch hazel instead of borax… I use the one with Alcohol in my cleaner and it seems to work a treat? Just add a few teaspoons. Beats the vinegar smell. And we still seem to be living well after using it on all counters 🙂
The answer to this is in the article
Bob Vila has an amazing grout cleaning recipe! 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/4 hydrogen peroxide, 1 tsp of dish soap. I have used this for grout, stain remover, wall spots, soles of running shoes. It’s amazing. Use it right away. It will build up pressure in a container and explode.
Is there a reason your recipe does not use white vinegar? I noticed that most other recipe’s call for it. I still have not made my own cleaner and am looking for input from several sources before I do. Thanks! Amanda
I’ve found it isn’t needed in this one, and while it does clean very well, I’m not a huge fan of the house smelling like pickles all day 🙂
love that! I don’t care for the pickled house myself
If I don’t have essential oils, could vinegar be used in place of them in this recipe? If so, how much would you suggest to put? Thank you!!
Wellness Mama,
Can you share with me on your discovery that White Distilled Vinegar is not a disinfectant?
Thank you!
You don’t use vinegar with this recipe because you are using castile soap. if you use the vinegar it will cancel out the effects of the castile soap because one is a base and one is an acid. The vinegar “unsaponifies” the soap, by which I mean that the vinegar takes the soap and reduces it back out to its original oils. So you end up with an oily, curdled, whitish mess. And this would be all over whatever it was you were trying to clean – your laundry or counters or dishes or whatever. Also what is great about this recipe is that you have the same strong cleaning power as vinegar without the smell. 🙂
The answer about vinegar is in the article.
I have read through your article and I can’t see , How much of this would I put into a 5 litre bucket of hot water to mop my tiles in my bathroom ?
l love your blog lots of great ideas to become toxic/ plastic free
Made this today (after months of thinking about it) and so far very pleased. Thank you Wellness Mama
You are welcome 🙂
Hi! Wonderful blog with great tips.
One thing I worry about is the disinfectant capacity of this mixture. Is this really effective in killing germs in kitchen/bathroom areas? Thanks!
The essential oils are effective in killing germs, though you could always up the amount if you were especially worried about the germs. In my own opinion, we focus to much on killing germs rather than just having a strong immune system to be able to resist them. At least for kids, it seems that a lot of the recent research is showing that exposure to some germs can actually help prevent allergies and such.
Absolutely agree. Thank you for posting.
Hi, is Vitamin E a safe oil to use in homemade cosmetics? It uses wheat germ I believe…
Hi, is Vitamin E a safe oil to use in homemade cosmetics? It uses wheat germ I believe…
Unless you are officially a celiac, you shouldn’t have any trouble
with it, especially just topically.
Which food grade alcohol do you buy as the substitute for the borax? Is rubbing alcohol the same thing?
Unless you are officially a celiac, you shouldn’t have any trouble
with it, especially just topically.
I am having trouble finding washing soda. Can i use baking soda?
You can make washing soda with baking soda. There are lots of links you can ‘Google’ that show you how to do that. All it is, is baking the baking soda in the oven until the consistency changes.
Every Walmart carries washing soda.
Can not buy Washing soda in Canada at all. Two years ago i bought Procyon Dye from a fella in Colorado – and he wanted to save me cost (nice guy) and recommended i buy washing soda to set the dye. I could not find it at all. So i bought it from him. Then i found out that my “supposed to be safe laundry soap’ had bleach in it – and i’m seriously allergic to bleach. I was nervous about trying the baking soda in the oven thing. But again- the fella in Colorado said it was totally safe – he tried it out with a class of school kids when i told him about it. So -ever since then i’ve been making my own washing soda. 400F in the oven in a glass casserole dish – – – only one hour is needed – stir it around with a fork half way through – – -when it looks “soft’ and smooth – instead of ‘grainy’ like baking soda does – it’s done it’s transformation.
If you are on the west coast of Canada, London Drugs has washing soda under the Arm & Hammer brand in the laundry aisle! Even my husband found it when I sent him out looking.
Home Hardware in Canada carries washing soda.
what is “washing soda?”
It is sodium carbonate and you can find it in most laundry aisles in
grocery stores. Arm and Hammer makes the most popular one and it is
just called “washing soda”
So it’s different from their baking soda.
Yes, it’s baking soda that has been baked. If you can’t find it in the laundry section, you can make it yourself. I found the instructions by googling but it isn’t expensive, so I wound up buying it.
To get washing soda, take baking sodaI have baking soda & just bake it 400degrees for 2 hrs. I used this method to make my own laundry detergent:-)
There are two things:
Sodium bicarbonate and baking powder.
Sodium bicarbonate is also known as “baking soda” or “washing soda” or whatever. The bottomline is that it is pure.
Baking powder on the other hand contains aluminium and is not safe to ingest.
Michaël.
Baking Soda = sodium bicarbonate and is different from Washing Soda
Washing Soda = sodium carbonate
There are some aluminum free baking powders out there. Rumford brand is one. Keep reading those labels!
Does this work with semi-hard water? (I mean, I hope it does not leave a deposit… and I hope I used the right word, as English is not my first language 🙂 )
It does, I’ve used it when we lived in places with hard water and it
worked just fine.
I love this stuff! It works just as well as the store bought stuff at a fraction of the cost!
For the DIY laundry detergent, what essential oils would you reccomend to use with your recipe and how many drops?
For me it depends on what i’m washing, some I use a germ killing blend, others a more refreshing blends, sheets lavender, just my preferences.
I love the smell of clean cotton! I dont add any other scents.
I use a blend of lemon, eucalyptus, lavender, and peppermint. I make a dry laundry soap with finely shredded coconut soap (I often use Kirks), washing soda, and borax in equal amounts, plus a half measure of pure oxygen cleaner or peroxide powder. The last time I made it I think I used a cup of each, and a half cup of the peroxide. Then I typically add a couple of teaspoons of EO to the lot. It gives it a nice fresh scent. I don’t measure my EO for this, just shake lots of drops into a glass cup or bowl until I like the way it smells. Star with your lemon and eucalyptus. Then add maybe half to 2/3 that much lavender. I do the peppermint last because it can really overpower the rest if you add too much. If things are really stinky, a little Thieves oil will help. Add a few drops to just that load.
I love this stuff so much. I’ve made it several times. I really just want to make a gallon of it. Would you be able to give me the scaled up measurements for one gallon of this APC?
Thanks.