I’ve made homemade glass cleaner before, which consisted of just water and vinegar. It worked well, but I found myself missing a good scent when I cleaned. I looked around Pinterest for a homemade glass cleaner and found this one. It appealed to me because it uses essential oil to add scent. I also liked that it used a drop of dish detergent, which I think adds a bit of shine to the glass compared to just using vinegar and water alone.
Homemade Glass Cleaner
1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 cups water
1/2 tsp dish soap
15 drops essential oils
Put all in a spray bottle and shake.
I chose Grapefruit essential oil as my scent. I LOVE any citrus scent, especially grapefruit. I got mine at my local health food store, but next time I will be ordering it from Organic Mountain Rose Herbs, where the price is much better!
I started making my own glass cleaner a couple years ago. I have 2 glass tables, one in the dining room which is centrally located in our home, and one in the kitchen. My youngest was struggling with asthma and allergies, and I read a book on how a mother got rid of spray chemical cleaners and it made a world of difference with her daughter’s allergies. At that time I was the queen of the blue spray glass cleaner, spraying it numerous times a day in our home to get rid of fingerprints on our glass tables. Little did I know that it was going right into my little ones sensitive lungs and causing an asthmatic reaction. When I switched to organic cleaners, her asthma immediately got better. She still struggles with it if she gets a cold or during spring allergies, but she is no longer on inhalers year round. I was amazed at what a difference switching up cleaners made in her health!
I am on a roll in making homemade cleaners as I am tired of paying the prices of organic cleaners. I wanted an easy way to label them, so I got my daughters alphabet stamp kit out and made a bunch of labels. More cleaning recipes to come!
Between my cancer history and my daughter’s health issues, I am passionate about getting as many chemicals out of our home as possible. Making my own cleaners is a super easy way to make a HUGE difference in cleaning up the air in our home.
What about you? Have you ever made your own cleaners? Would you ever consider it? Do chemicals in your home environment concern you?
levette Parks
March 28, 2014 at 2:45 amInteresting and highly informative! ! Very helpful, thank you for sharing.
levette Parks
March 28, 2014 at 2:45 amThanks for sharing this!
Anonymous
October 7, 2013 at 3:59 amMay I ask where you got your measuring spoons at? (the tsp, Tbs, etc) Thanks!
gelisgoodies
September 8, 2012 at 11:55 amI’m going to try this….thanks! I’ve just started making my own cleaners and I really love how much money I save and the lack of chemicals. Yesterday I tried air freshener – just put water in a spray bottle and added vanilla essential oil – love it!!
Clean Mama
May 17, 2012 at 11:42 amLove homemade cleaners – I like to do a homemade carpet freshener with baking soda and essential oils.
xo, Becky
Katie
May 17, 2012 at 2:20 amI’ve been making homemade cleaner with just vinegar and water. It doesn’t smell great, but I’m amazed at how well it works. I’ve been meaning to purchase some essential oil to help the smell so I will be checking out the Mountain Rose Herbs!! Looking forward to more cleaning recipes 🙂
heather_h
May 16, 2012 at 8:10 pmI recently made my own foaming hand cleaner using 1/2 of a trial-sized bottle of Dr. Bronner’s peppermint castille soap, and water to fill the rest of the re-used foaming dispenser bottle. It works great, smells good, saves money, and has simple ingredients. And this isn’t completely homemade – but I also bought a big bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s concentrate and diluted that to fill my all-purpose spray bottles. The cost of buying the countertop spray one bottle at a time was killing me.
thejuicerdepot
May 16, 2012 at 7:30 pmYou have all kinds of great tips. I never thought of making my own cleaners. Your Homemade Natural Lip Balm also caught my eye too. When you make it your self you know exactly what you are getting.
Claire
May 16, 2012 at 10:59 pmWe just remodeled a bathroom and have a glass shower door. I made the water/vinegar cleaner the other day, and it looks pretty good after cleaning, but I am concerned that hard water stains may build up. I love all the ideas here for chemical-free cleaning! Please keep them coming!
Mrs.Lucas
May 16, 2012 at 8:15 pmI never thought about switching but after reading that it has helped with asthma I might have to. I have had asthma since I was a kid. We bought a Kerby vacuum that actually sucks up the dirt and traps it and that has helped a lot! But I still have problems! I think I will experiment with homemade cleaners! Thanks for the info on where to buy the essential oils! It gets expensive buying them at health food stores!
Aimee
May 16, 2012 at 8:02 pmMy favorite glass cleaner is 1 cup of alcohol, 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. When I use a 1:1 ration of water and vinegar, I had streaking.
I like the idea of essential oil! Will have to try that.
Jane Craske
May 16, 2012 at 7:07 pmLove my homemade counter spray. We go through it like crazy and I vary the scents to keep us interested and fresh C:
Deanna
May 16, 2012 at 4:25 pmWe’ve been green cleaning for over five years now. No nasty chemicals – just vinegar, borax, baking soda, microfiber cloths, and scrubbies. 🙂 We also got rid of the carpet in the house and use a steam mop to clean the floors – now when the floors are clean, they are really clean.