Last year, our family went on a cleaning spree and I don’t mean the kind that had us waging war against the dust bunnies with a duster sword. When we realized that cleaners and foods that are full of chemicals that made my chronic pain issues worse, we waged war on those products within our own home. We removed everything that we could and in the place of those products, we started making our own. In fact, at this point, there are over 30 things that we stopped buying and started making at home and that list grows everyday. This Homemade Lavender Lemon All Purpose Cleaning spray is one of those things.
One of the reasons that I love this as a homemade cleaner recipe is that it’s incredibly easy to make. It’s made right in the bottle so there isn’t any cooking involved which to me? Makes my life so much easier. All you need is a plastic spray nozzle and once you’ve mixed a batch up, you’re good as gold. I generally just grab one or two extras when I head to the dollar store (I buy the whole spray bottle since they’re so cheap and just swap the nozzle), but you can pick them up pretty cheap online too if you can’t make it to a Dollar Tree. This stuff is also incredibly cheap to make. Each batch will cost you less than $1.00 per batch.
Homemade DIY All Purpose Cleaner
I spent quite a few months finding an all purpose cleaning mix that I liked. What I discovered was that they were either too over powering or they just didn’t work as well as I wanted and needed them to. Lavender and Lemon were always part of my equation simply because of the properties they have. For cleaning, lavender is a powerful anti-fungal, antibacterial, and antimicrobial ingredients. The addition of lemon adds even more antibacterial and anti-fungal properties as well as it being a good antiseptic. What I found with looking at other recipes was that they almost always included a bunch of stuff that wasn’t needed. I’m not sure about you, but I know that personally, I want something that works without being over complicated or stuffed full of unneeded ingredients. For the essential oils in this cleaner recipe, I use Now Foods essential oils. I like NOW brand simply because they’re just as high quality as the more expensive ones and they’re A LOT cheaper.
You Will Need:
- 1/2 cup white vinegar – I just use a 32 oz bottle of white vinegar
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 30 drops lavender essential oil
- 30 drops lemon essential oil
- Plastic spray nozzle that fits your bottle or empty cleaner spray bottle
To start, add the 1/2 cup of white vinegar to whatever bottle you’re using. I usually pour out the entire bottle into measuring cups then use part of it to clean my coffee pot, part to clean drains, part in a load of laundry and so on until I’m left with only the 1/2 cup I need. This makes it so I can use the vinegar bottle for the all purpose cleaner but also keeps me from wasting any of the vinegar.
Once you have your half cup of vinegar, pour the water into the bottle. You can use regular tap water if you want. If your tap water is dirty or from a well, you may want to consider boiling it and letting it fully cool first.
Once you’ve added the water, add the essential oils one at a time. Close the bottle with the spray nozzle and give a good shake to mix! To use, just spray on the surface you’re cleaning and wipe clean!
If you want to put a label on your bottle, cut a piece of paper to fit across your bottle. Use a sharpie to write the name of the cleaner on it then tape on. If you want to make your label a bit more waterproof than regular paper, you could either laminate it before putting it on or you could cover the entire label with packing tape once it’s added.
Stacy Ott
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I’m Stacy, CEO extraordinaire and 1/4 of the Six Dollar Family. I'm on a journey to become a six figure family and I would love if you came along with me! We'll kick off our shoes, sip sweet tea, eat loads of goodies, save some money and maybe even learn a thing or two along the way!
Great article. I use vinegar all the time to clean, but never thought about adding the essential oils. I don’t particularly love the smell of vinegar, but it works well. I purchase mine though at Sam’s for just under $4 for 2 gallons.
Thanks for the tip on how to make my cleaner smell better.
Hi, can you use anything else other than lavender? iM allergic to lavend era and eucalyptus.
Monique, Tea Tree Oil would be a great substitute.