The Big Spring Clean, Pt 2 – Homemade Cleaning Products

 

In part one of our guide to giving your home a natural spring clean, we focused on giving your bedroom a new lease of life. The good news is, great homemade cleaning products can work wonders throughout the rest of the house, too!

At this time of year, the whole house can benefit from a deep clean, and the more natural it is the better (both for your sake and the sake of the environment). In this post we’ll look at two fantastic DIY recipes that you can use throughout the house to keep your floors sparkling and your wooden furniture glowing.

 

Wipe the floor with chemical cleaning products

 

Of course, we mean that figuratively, not literally. It’s easy to neglect our floors during the winter months when the light never really penetrates into the house and you can’t see the grime building up. Come spring, however, it’s time to throw open the curtains and face reality.

Your floors are probably in need of a deep clean, and there’s no better way to do it than with this simple DIY floor-cleaner recipe.

Most of the commercial products available on supermarket shelves are made with chemicals. And once you’ve realised what’s in them, you might not be quite so keen to splash them liberally all over your floors.

Luckily, this essential oil floor cleaner uses ingredients that you’ve probably already got in your kitchen cupboards.

Homemade Floor Cleaner Ingredients:

• 1 bucket hot water
• 1 cup white wine vinegar
• ¼ cup baking soda (optional – makes a more heavy-duty cleaner)
• 15 drops essential oils of choice (lavender and lemon, peppermint and sweet orange – let your imagination run wild!)

Add all the ingredients to the bucket of hot water and use the mixture to mop the floors, then let them air dry. No rinsing required! You can safely use this cleaner on tiles, hardwood, vinyl, laminate, ceramic, or linoleum for all-round cleaning ease.

 

 

Work up a shine

 

It’s not just your floors you can leave glistening with the help of essential oils. Your wooden furniture is probably feeling a little unloved after the winter, but this simple homemade polish will breathe new life into it.

There are only three ingredients in this spray, but it’ll still do just as good a job as a commercial polish. And, bonus, it’ll leave your furniture smelling glorious.  

Homemade Furniture Polish Ingredients:

• ¼ cup olive oil/other carrier oil
• ¼ cup white vinegar
• 10 drops essential oil (wild orange, pine, lemon, cedarwood and lavender are all good for polishing wood)
• Funnel
• Spray bottle

Use the funnel to pour the vinegar and olive oil into the spray bottle. Put on the lid and shake well so everything is combined.

To polish your wooden furniture, spray the mixture onto a microfibre cloth and get wiping. While you can keep on top of dusting between uses, this homemade polish only needs using about once every two or three months. Perfect for a long-lasting spring clean.