16 of the Best Homemade Cleaning Products and DIY Cleaning Solutions

It is embarrassing for how long I didn't know I could make and use homemade house and kitchen cleaners to clean my house for cheap. 

My light bulb moment was the I walked up and down the conventional cleaner aisle in the grocery store trying to find a floor cleaner that didn't have petrochemicals in it that could potentially harm my dog. It was a practically impossible task because cleaning products do not have the ingredients listed on the bottle. 

I left the store frustrated.

And determined.

Well, if the companies aren't going to tell what is in their products, then I'll make something myself! Then I'll know my household cleaners are made with safe ingredients! So take that companies!

Turns out my DIY household cleaning solutions are not only nontoxic and use less resources to make, but they also cost less money. Which means you can live green without the pretentiousness and high cost associated with some of the eco guru products now in stores.

Or you can make your own cleaners just for the sake of saving money. That's OK too.

Sixteen of the Easiest Homemade Cleaning Recipes You Can Make for Cheap!

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1. How to Make Powdered High Efficiency Laundry Detergent -

three ingredients are all you need. It gets even Husband's toxically sweaty running clothes clean and doesn't make my washer stink at a price that can't be beat.

You can use this recipe for laundry detergent in conventional washing machines too!

  

2. How to Make Nontoxic and CHEAP! DIY Dust & Allergen Furniture Spray - 

This is the least expensive DIY cleaner recipe in the bunch! I was skeptical when my allergist recommended it because I was afraid it would damage my wood furniture. It works fantastic to my surprise and as long as I keep my dust rag damp, my wood furniture is none the wiser.

 

 

3. How to Clean Dog Urine from Carpet and Keep Your Dog from Peeing on the Carpet Again

If you have a pet, sometimes potty accidents happen. Especially when you are training a new puppy or rescue dog. The anomia in some household cleaners you might use to clean pet messes act as a homing beacon for your dog to keep using that marked spot again. Fortuanately there is an easy and nontoxic solution for that as well as a few dog behavioral training tips to make sure your dog knows their former potty spot indoors is a no go zone.

 

4. DIY Daily Shower Cleaner

Hands up who likes scrubbing the shower? Anyone? Yeah, me neither. I like the idea of using a daily shower cleaning spray after each time someone uses the shower but not the price. That is, until I came up with this easy recipe to banish ring around the shower for good.

 

 5. Seven Ways to Reuse Shampoo

And speaking of bathrooms and showers, do you know you can use shampoo to clean more things around the house besides your hair? It's true!

 

6. How to Make Air Freshener Spray the Natural Way!

No matter how spic and span you keep your bathroom, there are activities that leave it a little less than fresh smelling. Conventional air freshening sprays work to cover the scent of, uh you know, but use synthetic chemicals that smell like a fake flower factory exploded in your bathroom. This simple, simple, simple recipe allows you to make a room freshener tailored to how strong you like your scents or not.

 I use this nontoxic air freshener recipe all of the time. It works to cover even the most noxious of household smells and odors.

7. Baking Soda Mason Jar Shaker

Baking soda is my favorite scouring powder because it also cleans and deodorizes the sink as I'm washing it down the drain when its scrubbing job is done.

8.  How to Make Nontoxic Scrubbing Bubbles Cleaner! 

I can't tell you disappointed I was when I first sprayed Scrubbing Bubbles, walked away, and came back to find the cleaner stopping bubbling and the dirt stayed behind. (see Number Four about me hating to scrub the tub and shower.) I now know it is the bubbling reaction in the cleaner that helps lift the dirt as you scrub. I also know how to make my own version of Scrubbing Bubbles that makes that bubbling reaction that allows me to clean baked on stove gunk like nobody's business!

9. 10 Ways to Use Orange Peels

The oil in orange peels cuts through dirt and grease and is why there are tons of orange oil cleaning products on the market. Here are some simple ways to put those spent orange peels to work around the house!

10. How to Make Orange Citrus Cleaner the Lazy Way

 Vinegar is considered a natural disinfectant. Orange oil is considered a grease fighter. Mix them together and you have a powerful household cleaning spray that costs pennies to make!

 

11. 10 More Ways to Use Orange Peels

I found even more ways to reuse orange peels for cleaning and around the house after I wrote the first post, I had to write another! Here are a few more ideas on how to get one more use out of orange peels before you send them off to their final task of cleaning and deodorizing your garbage disposal.

 

12. 13 Homemade Laundry Helpers

Don't want to make your own laundry soap? No problem! But there are several other things you can make  to save money in your washer, dryer, and when ironing.

13. How to Make Lavender Antiseptic and Disinfecting All-Purpose Cleaner

Traditionally lavender was used in items because it has antiseptic qualities besides smelling good. This homemade household cleaner works just as well as the orange cleaner recipe in a slightly different way.

Many of the homemade cleaning recipes in this post call for essential oils. I like to use extracts (also called tinctures) in my DIY cleaning product recipes. I can make easily make essential oil extracts for less than it costs to buy an essential oil.

Extracts and distilled essential oils are not always interchangeable. I think essential oils are best for health, beauty, candle and soap making.

I don't always need the powerful punch of a spendy essential oil in a cleaning recipe. That's when I use its cheaper and slightly weaker cousin the extract.  Especially when I have mountains of material growing in my yard just begging to be used!

14. How to Make Peppermint Essential Oil Extract

You know that expensive bottle of peppermint extract you bought at the fancy baking store? This is how they made it.

15. How to Make Lavender Essential Oil Extract

Lavender!

16. How to Make Orange Essential Oil Extract from Orange Peels

Do you make your own homemade cleaning supplies? Share your cleaning tips, tricks, and hacks in the comments below!

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