Wondering How To Make All Purpose Cleaner at Home? Read This!

Do you have a crawling baby at home? Maybe he licks the floor or puts everything in his mouth?

Do you have a toddler who loves to eat food that fell on the floor?

You maybe mopping your home as frequently as you can, to keep it hygienic for your baby. Do you add some chemical filled liquid to your bucket of water to get your floor sparkling clean?

Chances are that, your baby is enjoying a clean floor. But along with that licking some of the chemicals you poured into the mop water!

Today I bring to you a DIY – 100% chemical free natural all purpose cleaner.

My introduction to homemade all purpose cleaner:

I was in the same situation a year back. I tried to buy expensive natural floor cleaners from health stores. But then, my maid complained they didn’t work as good as their chemical counterparts. And who knows if those natural ones are as good as they claim. So I hesitantly went back to my usual cleaner.

On my son’s second birthday, we held a party and I prepared lemon juice for everybody. I was left with a lot of lemon peels.

Not wanting to waste them, I googled for ways to use them. That’s when I discovered this wonderful cleaner called citrus vinegar. Let’s learn the simple way to make it with just two ingredients- vinegar and citrus peels.

Step by step method to make all purpose cleaner – citrus vinegar:

1. Buy some bottles of white vinegar. It is also known as distilled vinegar or non-fruit vinegar.
2. Collect the lemon peels after you have used the juice for your cooking or any other needs.
3. Collect the orange peels after eating the oranges
4. Take a glass bottle that can hold the peels you have collected
5. Fill it up with the lemon peels. Tear the orange peels into smaller bits before you put them in so that they occupy less space.
6. Pour in the vinegar such that the peels are just submerged in vinegar.
7. Keep it closed in a dark place and forget it for two weeks.
8. After two weeks, take the bottle out and filter it to strain the liquid. If you want, you can hand squeeze it after straining to extract the little liquid that is held by the peels.
9. You citrus vinegar is now ready.

It will have a very strong lemon smell and you can store it in a glass bottle, so that the acid does not react with the bottle. Stainless steel might also work.

10. Take a plastic (or any other) bottle and fill it with some citrus vinegar. Dilute it in the ratio of 1:1 with water.
11. Add half a cup of this diluted citrus vinegar to your bucket of water and you are all set to mop the floor.

Effectiveness of all purpose cleaner:

One of my biggest hurdles with trying to use natural all purpose household cleaner is that my maid should approve it. If she thinks it is not effective, it’s difficult to use it. But this citrus vinegar has received big thumbs up from my maid. She loves the lemon smell and the effectiveness with which it cleans the floor.

Further, both vinegar and lemon are anti-bacterial in nature. So the combo can effectively kill household germs.

Other uses of citrus vinegar:

The homemade all purpose cleaning solution is effective not just for mopping floors. In fact, it is an all purpose cleaner.

• Use it to clean your kitchen cupboards, stove, countertops and sink
• Use it to clean the insides of your fridge
• Use it to clean the bathroom floor, tiles and toilet bowl
• Pour it in a spray bottle and spray it wherever you need to clean. Wipe with a wet cloth.

Notes:

• Vinegar is completely safe for tiles and wood floor. It is safe on all surfaces except marble and stone.
• You can use warm water with the solution to increase its effectiveness
• Undiluted citrus vinegar is shelf stable and can be stored for a long time
• You can dilute it in batches, every two weeks or so
• You may be collecting the peels over a week or so. During this period, you can keep the peels soaked in vinegar itself. Vinegar will pickle the peels and prevent them from spoiling. Once you have added enough peels, you can leave them for two weeks for the lemon essence to get into the vinegar solution.

Since I use the vinegar for cleaning purpose (although it’s edible), I find the cheapest ones and stock a few bottles at home. So I constantly make this cheap and effective cleaner at home and use them every day.

Did you see how easy it is to make your own all purpose cleaner?

Commercial cleaners are filled with all kind of harsh chemicals, which is very harmful in the long run. With kids at home, it’s a good idea to avoid them as much as you can.

Citrus vinegar is not only a safe and inexpensive cleaner; it is also a great way to use your peels instead of throwing them away. Do try it out and let us know how you liked it.

Which is the cleaning liquid you use at home? Would you like to switch to a homemade all purpose cleaner like this? I would love to hear from you friends!