I’m a sucker for natural supplies, which is what first introduced me to making my own cleaning supplies. Quickly, though, I learned how cheap it was! Most cleaning supplies that you can make on your own have a ton of overlapping ingredients, which means you can buy the supplies in bulk and watch your savings multiply!
I realize there are quite a few different cleaners out there, so I’ll break it down by uses. Today we will focus on the kitchen and bathroom, but later on we will explore cleaning supplies for laundry day and cleaning supplies for the rest of the house!
**Note: A lot of DIY cleaning products will call for castile soap as well as vinegar, but those two ingredients should not be combined. Because of this, I leave vinegar out of dish soaps, but use it as a rinse agent instead. It works wonders!
Bleach
- 1 cup hydrogen peroxide
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp lemon joice
- 5-10 drops lemon essential oil
- Storage container
I figured I would start with my favorite! I love this concoction because the smell of bleach tends to make me naseous, but this smells like lemon instead! Plus I get a little bleach happy when I clean— using it pretty much anywhere I can get away with it— so it’s nice to have a cheaper alternative.
All you have to do is mix this up to create the product, but storage is a little trickier. It needs kept in a container that can block out light, which can easily just be a dark container or a paper bag around your clear bottle. You can find some more tips on homemade bleach here.
Soft Scrub
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup castile soap
- 1 tbsp hydrogen peroxide
- 10 drops lemon/orange essential oil
- Storage container
I used to clean houses for a living, and I become really attached to using softscrub. Really it’s just a heavy duty cleaner with kind of a paste texture, typically used on a sponge or with a scrubby in showers and sinks.
You simply mix these ingredients together and end up with the paste-like consistency, but you’ll want to leave a little bit of room at the top. You’re welcome to use any type of container you want, but I prefer one with a squirt top for easy use. You can find additional tips for storage plus some other details here.
Dish Detergent
- 2 cups washing soda
- 2 cups detergent booster
- 15-20 drops of lemon/orange essential oil
- 1 cup epson salt
- Storage container
For those of you with a dishwasher, there is not a need to pay for store-bought detergent ever again! This mixture argueably has the most specific ingredients, but its still very simple and cost effective— and it should last a while.
Just mix everything up and store it (I use a mason jar) until you need it. This recipe is inspired by Tiffany with Imperfectly Happy, who subs out the essential oils for Lemi Shine detergent booster.
Dish Soap
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- 1/2 cup castile soap
- 1 tbsp washing soda
- 1 tbsp of shredded bar soap
- 30 drops tea tree/eucalyptus oil
- Storage container
It’s definitely nice to have dish washer detergent handy, but you’ll still need dish soap! This one is the most complicated, just because you add the boiling water after combining all of the other ingredients first. It could take a minute to achieve the ideal thickness, so don’t be afraid to experiment. You can find more details on creating liquid soap here.
These are just a few cleaners to be used in the bathroom and kitchen, but there are plenty more we will discuss. I really love how simple and cheap it is to make my own cleaning supplies, and I’m always pleasantly surprised with how long they last!
With all of these mixtures I only use 7 TOTAL ingredients, most of which I have around the house anyway! Plus, so many overlap that it’s an easy decision to purchase in bulk. Do you guys have any great DIY kitchen and bathroom cleaners that help you save money? Share with me in the comments below!