DIY Home Cleaners With Essential Oils
Essential oils are all the rage these days, but did you know that there’s more to these oils than adding them to artfully placed diffusers or rubbing them on your wrists? Essential oils can actually be used to clean your home, specifically within budget-friendly DIY cleaners for your countertops, bathroom, and more. Learn below just why they make for great cleaning solution ingredients and how to make your own cleaners with them as you tackle spring cleaning this season.
Why Use Essential Oils?
Using essential oils in your cleaning products comes with several benefits. First and foremost, most essential oils act as natural disinfectants while simultaneously being gentle, allowing you to skip out on the harsh and potentially harmful chemicals that accompany traditional cleaning products. These oils have antifungal properties that make them the perfect solution for a dirty bathroom or kitchen.
Another benefit of using essential oils in your home cleaning products is their wonderful aroma. This is an added bonus, but it’s certainly one that those in your home will notice as soon as they step into a freshly cleaned room. Finally, essential oils are easy to acquire inexpensively, making them an affordable option to add to and enhance your cleaning products that you can conveniently make yourself.
DIY Home Cleaners With Essential Oils
Read below for recipes to make your own home cleaners with essential oils that are not only easy to create, but highly effective at cleaning.
All-Purpose Cleaner With Lemon
For a versatile cleaner that you’ll always want to keep on hand, combine two cups of white vinegar with two cups of water. Mix in one teaspoon of natural dish soap with 30 drops of lemon essential oil and 20 drops of melaleuca, aslso known as tea tree, essential oil. Put the cleaner in a spray bottle and use it to wipe surfaces clean and kill germs and bacteria. Lemon essential oil not only smells great, but it’s antifungal and antibacterial. Melaleuca or tea tree oil is purifying and has a fresh aroma.
Window and Mirror Cleaner
For a solution that you can use for windows and mirrors alike, combine three cups of distilled water with a quarter cup of rubbing alcohol. Add in a quarter cup of vinegar and 20 drops of either peppermint or spearmint essential oil. Combine in a spray bottle and shake to mix. Peppermint and spearmint essential oils make for good cleaning supplies because they are naturally antibacterial, helping to keep your home sparkling clean and germ-free.
Toilet Scrub
Cleaning a toilet isn’t something anyone looks forward to, but it certainly is improved with this useful cleaning solution. Combine a half cup of baking soda, a third of a cup of a liquid dishwashing soap, a quarter cup of hydrogen peroxide, and 30 drops of eucalyptus essential oil. Finally, add three quarters of a cup of water and mix together, pouring into a squeeze bottle for storage. Squirt a liberal amount into your toilet, letting it sit for 20 minutes. Scrub with a toilet brush for a deep clean. Eucalyptus essential oil is antiseptic and a natural deoderizer—perfect for a toilet!
Carpet Refresher
Carpets can hold a range of odors and stains, so having a go-to solution to relieve those symptoms is a must! For something easy, combine a cup of baking soda with 30 drops of lemon essential oil in a small container. Shake together and sprinkle onto your carpet. Let it sit overnight, vacuuming up the powder in the morning to get rid of odor.
Fresh Linen Spray
Refresh your linens with this easy-to-brew linen spray, which naturally and instantly makes drab blankets, curtains, and other household fabrics smell new again. In a spray bottle, combine a quarter cup of water with three tablespoons of witch hazel. Add 20 drops of lavender and 15 drops of frankincense essential oil and shake the bottle. Spray on sheets, pillowcases, curtains, and any other linens you want to freshen up. Lavender is a particularly great oil to use on linens in your bedroom, as it's regarded for stress-relief and inducing sleep. Frankincense is also a natural disinfectant, making this the perfect combination for a fresh aroma and cleaning properties.
Use these quick and easy recipes to replace the cleaning supplies in your home that have harsh chemicals. Not only is this a great holistic approach, but these solutions are affordable to make yourself.
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![Sara LeDuc]()
Sara LeDuc is a freelance writer for DoItYourself.com. She also writes for a handful of other websites and platforms. She has been growing her skills and client base for the past two years, but has been passionate about writing for as long as she can remember. She has worked with Internet Brands for over three years and enjoys learning about — and completing — DIY projects and keeping up with the latest and greatest home improvement trends. Besides her work for DoItYourself.com, Sara also has worked with retail, human resources, fitness, commercial, and medical clients to help them increase client engagement, grow their following, and drive traction to their blogs and websites. Sara has furthered her skills and reach by working as an editor with a media company. This has helped her diversify her abilities as a writer and work with additional writers, editors, and a wider range of clients. Sara enjoys continuously learning and building her skills in the field by working on SEO campaigns and outreach programs to increase the visibility of her freelance clients. She loves being creative, pitching article and post ideas to clients, learning more about the freelance industry, and completing DIY projects.![H.R. Helm]()
H.R. Helm is an accomplished DIY craftsman. He has been DIY since childhood and is now a septuagenarian. He is experienced in wood and metal construction, having designed and built several houses and metal buildings. He built every permanent building on his current homestead and did all the plumbing and electrical work. He has several years experience as a professional cabinet builder, and he is an accomplished auto repairman, having operated an auto repair business for many years. He currently has a home shop where he sharpens and rebuilds saws, repairs lawn mowers, mobility scooters, hydraulic jacks, and anything else that comes along. He also builds custom tools for metal working. Invention prototypes are another of his many accomplishments. He owned and operated a manufacturing business building Compact Utility Vehicles for homeowner use. H.R. enjoys making jams and jellies during fruit season along with cooking meals. He is committed to outdoor cooking in a Bar-B-Q pit he welded together several years ago. He maintains fruit and nut trees along with helping his wife with a vegetable garden. He farmed commercial garden produce for several years. It helps to have over 50 years of farming and ranching experience. Employment/Education Highlights ASE Certified Master Auto Technician Certified Welder Cross country truck driver -- over dimensional freight Design Engineer/Project Manager for injection molded plastic company Bus Driver/Substitute Teacher Inventor with two patents (weight training – anti-rollback for manual wheelchair) BS in Industrial Technology
