For cleaning, my goal is simple:
>Quick & easy solutions
>Chemical-free ingredient listings- I really don't like that smelly aerosol smell!
>At- home convenience
Here are a list of ingredients and products we keep at home to make homemade cleaning spray.
White vinegar/pickling vinegar. Stinky at first, but get the knack for infusing and essential blending and it's refreshing.
Essential oils: I especially use tea tree (anti-fungal & antiseptic), clove, citrus, berries, mints. These fruits and spices are the ingredients I use to infuse vinegar- since that is a natural way to extract essential oil.
Here is a quote from a study via US National Library of Medicine: "Generally most of the tested organisms were sensitive to many of the essential oils. Out of 21 essential oils tested, 19 showed antibacterial activity against one or more bacteria. Cinnamon oil, lime oil, geranium oil, rosemary oil, orange oil, lemon oil and clove oil showed maximum activity against all the bacterial species tested."
Ingredients to infuse vinegar. This boosts fragrance of the vinegar, provides natural essential oils and therefore boosts cleaning ability. Ingredients I like to use: citrus peels, evergreen needles, juniper berries. At first I used to dry these in paper bags near a sunny window, now I use a dehydrator.
Natural fragrance oils. If you are into stronger smells. I would recommend looking for a brand that is free of paraben & phthalate.
Sea salt. We always have a saline solution made in our cupboard for quick use. Saline is convenient for cooking, injuries, infections and certain stains.
Castile soap. We buy Dr. Bronner's in bulk for cleaning toilets, bathtub, tile surfaces, rug stains and in our laundry.
Rubbing alcohol. I add this to our air fresheners to help penetrate the air, declog the essential oils and sterilize.
Baking soda. A super oxidizer for intense stains.
Burning sage, copal and incense. Especially sage is believed to destroy negative energy, bacteria and viruses in the air. I regularly smudge (burn sacred plants) before and after we have company, or if something dramatic happens in or around the house.
Instruments to clean, such as microfibre cloths, brooms, vacuum.. a refillable spray bottle and jars to infuse your concoctions.
HOMEMADE INFUSED SURFACE CLEANER
Get a mason jar and fill it half way with your choice of cleaning-agent plants. My favourite blend is evergreen needles & juniper berries (that I clipped and dried from the tree in our backyard), rosmary and citrus peels (slice and dry them in a dehydrator or on a plate in a sunny, well-ventilated window).
Next fill the jar with vinegar & wait 2+ weeks. The more time that passes, the more potent this concoction gets. Eventually I would recommend straining the infusion into another storage jar for quick use and to protect the integrity of the metal jar lid from corroding. Store the jar of infusing plants in a cool corner away from direct light.
Homemade cleaning spray recipe-
adjust depending on the room and how intense you need to clean:
2 part infused vinegar
1 part saline
Dollop of castile soap or natural dish soap
1 tsp of baking soda
Essential oils
Transfer cleaning mixture into a spray bottle.
Wouldn't you like to have a shorter grocery list?
Refilling our spray bottle is simple. As well, I like to have to change our plant infusions and essential oil blends.
Just like many sustainable practices in the home, initially it seems like more work, but eventually grooves.
Then one day a shift in perspective, "why would I buy something so easy to make at home?"
Samantha