I’ve had a list of homemade cleaning recipes for several years. It’s not advertised anymore, but anyone who signs up in the form on the right, gets the cleaning recipes emailed to them for free on day 2 :). Every recipe is tested by me, works, and is super frugal to make.
A lot of my homemade recipes use vinegar. It’s cheap and it works. But what if you are sensitive to vinegar? Is there anything else to use?
Yes! Vinegar works because it’s an acid. Acids break down bases like soap scum and hard water deposits and kill germs. That’s why we water bath can acid foods like salsa or applesauce. Their acid environments are already hostile to germs. But foods like green beans and meat have to be pressure canned to get the temperature high enough to kill germs in their non acid states. Oops, got off topic there. š
But just being an acid doesn’t do anything for grease. Have you ever seen how vinegar and oil won’t mix in salad dressing? So vinegar alone isn’t the answer to all our cleaning problems.
Anyhoo, if you can’t use vinegar or can’t stand the smell, try lemon juice. It smells great and has similar acid properties to vinegar. The only drawback is, it’s not shelf stable like vinegar is. So any of your lemon juice cleaning preparations should be stored in the fridge, or stirred up one recipe at a time. And no reason to buy expensive fresh squeezed stuff. Lemon juice from concentrate (Aldi carries it) will work just fine.
Stay tuned for more recipes this week–like natural oven cleaner and how to clean the grossest microwave effortlessly!
THANK YOU! Plus lemon juice smells so much better!!
And I now have a great reason to wait till next week to clean my nasty microwave š
I’ve been using your recipes since I saw you on CBN and love them. I don’t mind the viniger but my husband does (even infused with orange peel like you suggested). Can’t wait to learn more about how to use lemon. I’m sure he will appreciate the change.
I’m wondering if vinegar kills bacteria that could be on kitchen counter tops? Or do I need to use Lysol, bleach, comet or other harsh chemicals because a dish cloth and dish soap might just spread it around. I’ve heard of special clothes that have silver in them that can clean and disinfect anything with only water. Wondering your take on this?
Andrea, I’m not an exepert on germs, but my personal opinion is not to worry about killing all of them. A sterile environment leads to super germs and immune system weakness. Vinegar kills a lot of bacteria, but not as much as lysol. You have to consider the trade though. Vinegar is non-toxic to humans, lysol is not. Also, most virus and bacteria cannot live in a dry environment. Once the counters are wiped down with plain water and allowed to air dry completely, there won’t be much left. My exception is when it comes to raw meat. I wash all things touching raw meat in the dishwasher since the water gets super hot. And I wipe down counters with vinegar to make sure. And I toss all of those rags into the wash right away before they are used on other surfaces.
I received your cleaning recipes a few months back, but haven’t been able to put them in use until recently when I made the switch to (mostly) stay at home mom. I gotta say I am LOVING the recipes! I’ve tried so many different home made cleaners but never really liked most of them for various reasons. But the recipes you gave me have been amazing. I’m especially shocked by the window cleaner! And finally something that actually gets those grease stains off the stove around the burners! Oh I could go on…
I do have one question though. You have a recipe for orange vinegar. I want to try it but I’m super sensitive to orange (gives me bad headaches). Do you suppose using lemon in the same way would work? We have a lemon tree so I’m always looking for uses for those lemons.
Anyway, thanks for all you do here!
Jennifer, I’m glad you are loving the recipes. And Yes! You can definitely make the lemon vinegar. That would be so lovely. And I drop my lemon rinds into vodka for lemon extract. You can use it for cooking or cleaning :).
Plus if you get a large spray bottle from Dollar Tree, the top fits perfectly on the lemon juice bottle from Aldi. And then you can use it to spritz your food, like fish or when you are dehydrating, and you don’t get too much on the food:) Multi-purpose.
Kelly! This is genius!
I have been using the cleaning recipes for more than a year! Especially the soft scrub! Next is the dishwasher detergent…. thing I don’t live without! Love the shampoo in the commode…. smells good and keeps stuff clean! Thank you thank you!