Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! We were battling the sickies here all weekend, which was not fun! Let me tell you that I am thankful that I have all natural cleaning solutions that I know will also disinfect and kill germs! And I’m sharing one of them with you today! Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday, between being sick and issues with our internet, it just didn’t happen. But, it’s good to take a day of rest, right?!
So today I have my recipe for Homemade Multipurpose Cleaner. This is the main cleaner that we use around our house because hubs doesn’t like the smell of vinegar.
We use it to clean our bathroom, kitchen, dining table and benches, floors and basically anything else that needs a good cleaning.
You make this multipurpose cleaner by mixing water, castile soap and tea tree oil in an empty spray bottle. The castile soap gives it strong cleaning power, and the tea tree oil has anti-viral and anti-bacterial qualities, so this cleaner disinfects and cleans naturally without using dangerous chemicals.
Homemade Multipurpose Cleaner
- Fill a 32 oz spray bottle to an inch or two below the fill line, leave room to add the soap and essential oil.
- Add approx. 2 Tbsp. castile soap (I like peppermint or citrus, but you can use any scent you like, or even unscented)
- Add 10-20 drops of tea tree oil
- Shake gently to combine.
This cleaner can be used anywhere that you would use the vinegar cleaner, or any other conventional multipurpose cleaner, around your house. After you make it, I’d love to hear how you like it!
Also, if you missed it on Saturday, I asked for your questions about homemade and green cleaning, so I can try to answer some of those questions in future posts!
Go here to read all the posts in the 31 Days to Green Clean series.
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I finally made the multi purpose cleaner with the castile soap, but I find that the castile soap is separating from the water like it does when mixed with vinegar. It separates into big white clumps. We have hard water and our county treats the water with lots of clorine, so maybe that’s why. Do you think using some dish soap in place of the castile soap would work for the multipurpose cleaner? (I have Seventh Generation dishsoap in two different scents.) Any suggestions would be helpful and much appreciated! : )
Oh that’s a bummer Kelly, I’m not really sure why it would do that. You could try using hot water at first to see if that would help the castile soap to dissolve better. Otherwise, yes, I definitely think that a natural dish soap is a great alternative to castile soap for a multipurpose cleaner. I have used that when I’ve run out of castile soap but needed to make more cleaner. Thanks for your question!
Thanks for responding! : ) I will definitely try that. I had also tried to use castille soap mixed with water in my bathroom soap dispenser but it did the same thing. I will try the dishsoap and water for that too. It’s a whole lot cheaper than regular liquid hand soap, that’s for sure!
Oh, I also meant to say that it probably does have something to do with your water. I know another blogger who tried castile soap for her foaming hand soap and she said the same thing – that it just separates and gets all yucky. So I guess it doesn’t work with every water type. Hope you find something that works well for you!
Kelly,
I know that with a lot of the natural cleaning/cleaner recipes that I have used you need to go get distilled water for them, because the minerals block the soap from foaming. You could try adding a tsp of washing soda or filtering the water with a brita or pur water filter first. Good luck.
Liz
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i was wondering how long does this cleaner last, i mean, its shelf life? thanks…=)
This cleaner is AWESOME! I loved the way it smelled after I put the tea tree oil in. I was so excited that I started cleaning right away and before I knew it half the bottle (28 oz) was gone! I will never purchase cleaner again. I just have to convince my hubby…
I think I saw on another of your cleaning pages Tea Tree oil is harmful to pets. So is this general cleaner okay to use? I was thinking with it being such a small amt in a whole bottle, its probably safe.
THANKS for your great ideas & information
Hi JBin DE, Thanks for stopping by! I am not completely sure about Tea Tree Oil being harmful to pets, but we do have a dog and use this cleaner all around our house and have not noticed any adverse effects. I would just be careful not to let the cleaner or any tea tree oil get directly on your pet’s skin, and do more research if you feel it is necessary. Hope that helps!