There is only one cleaning “product” in our household. A made up bottle of eucalyptus oil, washing up liquid, white vinegar and bicarbonate soda.
Cheap, easy on the environment and works a treat for pretty much anything you throw at it.
So how do you make it?
In an old litre bottle container add
about 5-10mls eucalyptus oil
about 100mls dishwashing liquid
and about 750mls of white vinegar
That’s it. GIve it a little shake up and use with a generous sprinkling of bicarbonate soda for cleaning bathrooms, (toilets, tiles, grout.) Use a squirt or two in bucket of warm water for mopping floors. Use undiluted for spot cleaning on carpet. Use as a paste mixed with bicarb soda and rub into stains. Squirt a bit into hot water for soaking really dirty clothes. Or with a small amount, wipe down sticky benches and stove tops.
Easy, cheap and no need what so ever for 127 other varied and excessively packaged “cleaning” products.
cityhippyfarmgirl 
I use vinegar and baking soda and hydrogen peroxide for cleaning almost everything.
I put the baking soda and hydrogen peroxide in a sandwich bag and tie them to my shower heads- it cleans it overnight- even inside the holes! Love it!
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Heidi I just started to read what hydrogen peroxide is actually made up off but my eyes started crossing a little….but it’s good to have a cleaning solution that you love isn’t it! 🙂
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What a versatile concoction! Can’t wait to mix some up and give it a go!
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Excellent. I hope you’ll like it.
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I make something very similar to this with Doctor Bronner’s liquid castile soap in place of the dish soap (doctor Bronner’s is vegan and biodegradable, and comes with essential oils already in it if you so choose) – I usually use the eucalyptus or lavendar ones.
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I’ll have to have a look out for that brand as I’m not familiar with it.
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Thanks for this version. Was wondering what to use if trying to avoid commercial dishwashing liquid
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If you’re in the US, Dr Bronner’s is a great vegan, biodegradeable, all natural soap that comes in lots of smells 🙂 I like lavender and orange the best! Great for mopping floors, washing hair, hands, etc etc
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Do you use Bosistos? I’ve got one large bottle left in my kitchen 🙂
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Sure do Tandy. It’s good stuff isn’t it.
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Could you please send this post to gleeman@bigpond.net.au Keep up the good work, your site is always interesting and I can’t wait to read it each time.
Kind regards
Liz Gleeson
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Done Liz 🙂
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Excellent! I will use this. I have all these products and have been wanting to clean like this but needed a formula. Thanks Brydie xx
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It really is a good one. I’ve been using the same method for about 6 years now.
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Have used similar for years . . . hate the damage to health and the cost, financial and to the environment, the other 100 + do!! Thank you for publishing . . .
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Thanks – I’ve been using all sorts of combinations but haven’t sorted out an ‘all-in-one’ and had gone back to buying bottled (green cleaning) products. I’ll give this a go.
(still reading devotedly btw)
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Gina! I was thinking of you recently and wondered how you were going! So lovely to see your name pop up dear lady. xxx
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What a coincidence! I very recently bought a little book called “Nontoxic housecleaning” from Amy Kolb Noyes. White vinegar, baking soda, eucalyptus it’s all in there. Plus lemon juice, that seems a very good basic product too. I’m definitely going to try your concoction as I do like having a ready made spray handy! Thanks for sharing!!
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Great mix Brydie! I have so many issues with chemicals and cleaning products, I stick to Earth choice dish and wash liquid and orange power for everything else. My insurance company provides me with a cleaner once a fortnight, and I have had so much trouble with other products sneaking in. I’ll make a big batch and tell them it’s this or ELSE!
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Love the eucalyptus oil and vinegar on everything! Isn’t it effective in the shower? And if our doggie has an accident inside the eucy vinegar spray is the best way to deter him from going back! Fresh, fresh, fresh! Love it!
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Love your post. I often feel a bit alone using my own, homemade household cleaner when all my friends buy bleach in the supermarket. I struggle to walk down the cleaning products aisle in the supermarket; the chemical smell is so over-powering! Yuk! I also make my own washing powder and bubble bath. I’m going to start a category on my blog soon so I’ll be able to share them with you!
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Yes Yes Yes!! Wish more people steered away from the chemical aisle in Woolies. Thanks for posting this Brydie xx
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Thanks!
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OK, new at this but have been reading posts for a while, I have an issue with the vinegar as a cleaner. I am in the process of making cleaners, soaps etc, (tiny bit of commercial washing powder left). However the vinegar eats away at the polished floorboards and my neighbour is a tiler and says not to use vinegar on tiles and grout as it eats away the same as the floorboards. All my sisters used to use vinegar on floorboards but have had to get the floors repolished due to the acid eating away. Has anyone else had this problem and a solution? I’m talking over the last 15 years.
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Alison I have read before that vinegar can eat away the grout a little, but I’ve also read it for bicarb as well. I havent noticed either being a problem at all in our bathroom. For the polished floor boards I also havent noticed anything over the past 6 years of using it. I would have thought it would be far too diluted to have an impact on the varnish?? Mostly it’s just water I use with a squirt or two of the solution. I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has this problem as well.
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brydie..it’s so good to read so many responses to your post from others who use natural and home made cleaners..i use only bi carb, vinegar and some essential oils too to do all of my cleaning..so far though i haven’t managed to find a suitable natural recipe for clothes washing..
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Jane have had a look at soap nuts before? They might suit what you’re looking for?
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Thank you! I tend to use the Earth brand (or whatever it is) for floors but still have various spray bottles with various things that probably all do the same thing really. I should simplify 🙂
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What is in your dishwashing liquid Brydie? I find I don’t use many cleaning products at all these days but tend to use cloths made from microfibre and lots of hot water and that seems to do the trick. I do have a collection of products under the sink but by and large they just sit there and go hard and crusty. We have hard (limescale rich) water so have to descale things like the kettle and the shower heads every so often which is when we use the vinegar. We also have a steam cleaner which again only uses water for cleaning tiles and grout and so on and is excellent if a dog has had an accident on the carpet, though those are increasingly rare. I have to admit that as I don’t have kids the house maybe doesn’t get as grubby with sticky fingers and the like, though the dogs can trail in lots of twiggy bits and grass. As you get older and your eyesight gets worse, you don’t notice so much anyway 🙂 🙂
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The dishwashing liquid is a plant based biodegradeable one that requires a really small amount when cleaning dishes…and there are a lot of them! 🙂
I haven’t tried a microfibre cloth for dishes before- does it really get off those cooked on stuck bits?
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ah for dishes I don’t use one, but I use it on the glass of the hob (when I finally get round to cleaning it). They are very good for degreasing windows, glass, tiles. I have a lot of glass in my kitchen, splashback and hob are the ones that get greasiest. For dishes I just use a non stick scourer and I do use a dishwasher which takes a tablet, not green at all, except I was told once that a dishwasher uses less hot water than doing the same load in the sink. So lower energy cost. Our gas and electricity prices have soared here in the last year once again, so energy economy is a big concern in the UK, I imagine you have lots of solar energy in Australia?
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