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31 Days to Green Clean: Homemade Dusting Spray

October 19, 2012 By Emily McClements
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31 Days to Green Clean

This is Day 19 of the 31 Days to Green Clean series.

One of the chores that I did often growing up was dusting. I actually kind of enjoyed it because I liked the scent of the Pledge spray I would use, and it was nice to see things that were previously covered in a layer of dust, nice and shiny again.

Now with three little kids and a busy household, dusting is one of those things that I’ve basically let go in favor of cleaning things that are a little more necessary – like the toilet and the kitchen counters.

It’s not that I mind dusting, it’s just that, to me, a fine layer of dust really isn’t going to hurt anything. But, it does start to be an eye-sore after a while.

To be honest, I usually use of my my basic cleaners for “dusting”; vinegar and water, homemade multipurpose cleaner, and even the shower cleaner/stainer remover spray all work well for light cleaning and dusting of the surfaces around your home (don’t spray any of those directly on electronics, of course). That’s one of the things that I like most about green and homemade cleaning, it simplifys things so you don’t have to have a huge collection of bottles in your cabinet for every different cleaning need.

But, if you’re looking for a specific homemade dusting spray, I have two recipes for you today, that I made and compared how they worked side-by-side.

comparing two homemade dusting sprays

Homemade Dusting Spray

Recipe #1

  • 1 Tbsp natural dish soap or castile soap
  • 15 drops lemon essential oil
  • 2 Cups water

Pour ingredients into a spray bottle and shake gently to combine. Either spray onto surface and wipe clean with a cloth, or spray it directly on the cloth and then wipe down the surface.

Recipe #2

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a small spray bottle. Shake before using to make sure the mixture is combine well. Spray onto a cloth and wipe down the surface, don’t spray directly onto your furniture.

The Results

Recipe #1: This cleaning solution worked the best for me. It seemed to clean the dust away the best, and left a slight shine behind, without being greasy or streaky. It smelled lovely, and very similar to how I remember Pledge smelling. I did use Lemongrass & Clemintine Zest scented dishsoap, so I’m sure that added to the smell a bit too.

Recipe #2: The second recipe was very strange to me. It seemed thick, and didn’t spray very well. The combination of the olive oil and lemon juice was a very odd smell, not something I would really want to use around my home.

It was very greasy/oily, obviously, and left streak marks behind on my coffee table. It did leave a little bit of a nice shine on my Willow Tree figurines, but it left greasy marks on one of my picture frames. I felt like I had to go back through and re-clean with the first recipe spray to remove the greasy streaks that this second recipe left.

Also, because the second recipe uses food ingredients, it can go rancid. It should be stored in the fridge and used within a week or two, and I just don’t like cleaning products that require that kind of thought and effort.

I guess if you had a really nice quality wood piece, this would be something to make and use occasionally as a homemade wood polish to keep it looking nice,  My mom has an old piano that I bet this would work great on, the one I used to dust with Pledge, especially spraying it on the cloth and using small circular motions, kind of like you’re buffing the wood. But it’s just not great for everyday cleaning and dusting, in my opinion.

How often do you dust around your home? Do you use a specific dusting spray, or just a multipurpose cleaner?

Go here to read all the posts in the 31 Days to Green Clean series.

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14 CommentsFiled Under: 31 Days to Green Clean Tagged With: "green", 31 days to green clean, cleaning, green living, homemade

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Comments

  1. Kelly H. says

    October 19, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    Can you use any essential oil in the 1st recipe or should I go out and buy lemon essential oil? I have lavender, sandalwood and tea tree essential oil if that would work.

    Reply
    • Emily @ Live Renewed says

      October 23, 2012 at 11:33 am

      Hi Kelly, I think you could use any essential oil. The lemon does provide some disinfecting qualities, but it’s also for the scent. If you want the disinfecting qualities you could use either tea tree oil or lavender oil, if you mostly just care about the scent – use whichever oil you prefer the most. Hope that helps!
      ~Emily

      Reply
      • Kelly H. says

        October 23, 2012 at 11:51 am

        Thanks Emily! That will help since I don’t have the funds to buy lemon oil right now. The natural dish soap I already have (Seventh Gen. lavender and mint) as well as tea tree, lavender and sandalwood essential oil. I’m going to need more spray bottles lol! : )

        Reply
  2. Frieda says

    June 23, 2013 at 4:53 pm

    Actually I use the second recipy only on wooden furniture and am very happy with it. It is not supposed to be used on glass and so on. I do not use fresh lemonjuice but the once you can buy in the store in bottles or inside plastic lemons. That way I can keep it for months and months, eaven outside the fridge without any problem.

    Reply
  3. Pandia says

    March 15, 2014 at 10:40 am

    Hi Emily! I just tried your multipurpose cleaner and loved it. One question about this spray. Can I substitute Castile soap for the dish soap? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Emily McClements says

      March 19, 2014 at 10:11 am

      Hi Pandia, So glad you loved it! Yes, you can absolutely substitute castile soap for dish soap in this recipe!
      ~Emily

      Reply
  4. Jessie Lynn Lovell says

    March 20, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    Can you use the Recipe #1 Homemade Dustin Spray once a week as a Furniture Polish. I am trying to get Homemade Recipes for all my cleaning products as I have Pet Birds.

    Reply
  5. Denise says

    July 15, 2014 at 11:36 am

    I was searching for a natural dusting spray recipe and found recipe #2 on the internet in many places, but with the amounts reversed. The lemon juice (or vinegar, as I saw most everywhere else) was the larger measure (1/4 cup) and the oil 2 Tablespoons. Makes sense that you’d want the acid in greater amounts to cut through greased dirt on the surfaces. Maybe your using the ingredients in opposite amounts was why the consistency and results were undesirable.

    Reply
  6. Jamie says

    January 14, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    I just made this dusting spray following recipe one and used orange oil, but I did tweak it and added one tsp of olive oil. I love it!!

    Reply
  7. Blenda Banse says

    October 13, 2015 at 10:51 am

    A tried and true method that I have used for many years. Put about a quart of water in the sink,add1/2 squirt dish soap,spray top with furniture polish. use lint free cloth and dip in water and twirl to mix. Wring out cloth 2-3 times until as dry aspossible. If it dries out just add water to rejuvinate. Can be safely used on all surfaces including glass. Nothing will streak and dust will be repelled. I learned this many years ago as a commercial cleaner and then manager. this prevents polish build up also.

    Reply

Trackbacks

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  4. Homemade Cleaning Products » Duxbury Farm Girl says:
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    […] Homemade Dusting Spray- Sick of having your house smell like lemon pledge after dusting? Give this recipe a try! […]

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