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2 Easy To Make All-Purpose Natural Zero Waste Cleaners

Zero waste all purpose cleaner

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There are three reasons I have switched to homemade cleaning products in our home.

  • The first is to reduce the number of chemicals we use in our home.
  • The second is to reduce the amount of waste we produce.
  • The third is to save money. 

Homemade cleaners are a lot cheaper to make than store-bought equivalents, especially if you buy the ingredients in bulk.

Related Post: Making Homemade Beauty Products using Organic Essential Oils

 

Here are the two main zero waste cleaners we now use in our home…

Vinegar & Lemon All-Purpose Cleaner

INGREDIENTS 

Jar white vinegar

Water

6 Lemons

Lemon essential oil (optional)

METHOD

  • For this homemade cleaner, you only need the peel of the lemons. Remember to save the flesh of the lemons for something else. Personally, I freeze them all and use them for cooking.
  • Put the peels into a large jar and pour the vinegar in. Leave this to brew for 2 weeks for the best result. Every now and then shake the jar to mix up the contents.
  • After two weeks add the same amount of water as vinegar and give it a good mix up. You then need to strain out the liquid into whatever you plan to keep your homemade cleaner in. We use *glass spray bottles that I reuse each time.
Zero waste cleaning at home

How To Use It

 

This all-purpose cleaner is really easy to make and you can use it to clean your kitchen, bathroom & glass. For the glass simply spray it on and then polish with an old rag.

 

If you’re not a fan of the smell of vinegar you may want to add a few drops of lemon essential oil to the mix.

 

I thought it was worth mentioning that if you don’t want to wait two weeks for the lemon peel version you can just use 50% vinegar with 50% water for cleaning.

Related Post: Plastic Free Washing Up

Really not a fan of vinegar? Try this all-purpose cleaner instead…

Castille Soap All-Purpose Cleaner

INGREDIENTS 

2 tbsp Castile soap

1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

2 cups warm water

Essential oil of your choice

METHOD

  • Put the warm water in the bottle you plan to use for your cleaner
  • Add the bicarbonate of soda and shake the bottle to mix
  • Next, add the Castille soap and essential oils and shake again
Zero waste cleaners

How To Use It

 

To use this cleaner simply spray it where it’s needed, leave it for a minute and then wipe clean using a cleaning cloth or rag.

Which Cleaner To Use Where?

I tend to use the vinegar based cleaner for cleaning our chopping board, cleaning our toilet and the sink in the kitchen. I also use it for cleaning glass.

I use the Castile based cleaner in the bathroom, it’s especially good for cleaning the bath after our daughter has used a bath bomb. They seem to have some sort of oil in them which can be hard to get off with the vinegar solution.

The good news is there are lots of ingredients you can use to make eco-friendly cleaning products. A lot of them you may already have in your home! 

What about you? Do you make your own zero waste cleaners? 

2 Easy To Make All-Purpose Zero Waste Cleaners

 
2 easy to make zero waste cleaners.

About Gina Caro

Gina is a content creator and award-winning blogger. Her aim is to help you live a more sustainable & simple life.  Her blog covers zero waste, minimalism, wellbeing & thrift. She currently lives in Cornwall with her partner, two kids and Charles the dog. 

6 thoughts on “2 Easy To Make All-Purpose Natural Zero Waste Cleaners”

  1. Vinegar is one of those handy things that can be used for more than just on your chips. I descaled our work water heater urn (that we use for coffee for lots of people) recently and all it took was a bottle of vinegar and a couple of rinses. Easy peasy and no nasty chemicals!

    Thank you for sharing about these, easy to make!

    #goinggreen

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