Effective cleaning materials can cost a lot and if you’re putting the time into a proper spring clean, you need the best equipment. If your budget just won’t stretch to everything you need to get your house completely shipshape, you may be wondering what you can do instead. We’re here to help you create effective, alternative cleaning products by simply rummaging through your kitchen cupboards…
Key ingredients
There are three main ingredients you’ll find you can’t live without when it comes to cleaning. And each of them cost less than £1! White vinegar, lemon juice and bicarbonate of soda are all brilliant multi-purpose items. Pick up some essential oils and washing up liquid and you’ll be good to go! Don’t worry, we’ve done the hard work for you. Here are our favourite and most effective homemade cleaning hacks:
Generic cleaning
For a multipurpose cleaner that you can use for everything from cleaning counter-tops to wiping down children’s toys, this solution is ideal. Simply fill half of a spray bottle with water before adding white vinegar until the bottle is three-quarters full. Add 10 to 15 drops of lemon grass extract to this to make the spray antibacterial – and to mask the vinegar smell – the finish off this mix by adding a few drops of washing up liquid. Make sure you shake well before you use it so the ingredients don’t separate.
Furniture polish
Instead of stumping up for a bottle of a cleaning product that you only use in a few places in your house, just equal parts of olive oil and lemon juice. Rub onto furniture to give it a lustrous sheen before buffing with a dry cloth.
Related: 5 Easy Things You Can Do To Save The Planet And Save Money
Non-wooden floor cleaner
Dilute 8 tbsp of vinegar in 3 litres of warm water. Add a few drops of essential oils of your choice, such as tea tree, lavender or lemongrass, to give the mixture a lovely smell.
Cleaning tiles
To keep your tiles gleaming, all you need to do is mix two parts bicarbonate of soda to one part vinegar and one part lemon juice to make a paste. Apply this mixture to your tiles using a damp cloth and leave it to work its magic for around ten minutes before rinsing off. This solution is also an ideal cleaner for soap or water marked shower doors, sinks, baths and draining boards.
Read more: 5 Affordable Alternatives That Are Better Than The Expensive Versions
Toilet cleaning solutions
The toilet can be a tricky thing to clean and you wouldn’t be blamed for feeling a little queasy when you know your loo needs a good going over – especially if you share a bathroom with a few others. For regular cleans stick to sprinkling bicarbonate of soda into the bowl before adding vinegar and scouring with a brush. If your toilet bowl has limescale on it, soak tissue paper with white vinegar and stuff this under the rim of the bowl. Pour white vinegar into the bowl as well and leave for several hours – ideally overnight or a day when everyone is out – to let the vinegar really get to work on stubborn marks.
Giving your home a thorough spring clean doesn’t have to be an expensive project to tackle. By using items found in most kitchen cupboards you can create cleaning products that tackle every need you could ever have. Whether it’s getting your floors spic and span, or making your bathroom tiles gleam, there’s a natural solution. Not only are these home remedies cost effective, but they’re also kinder on your home and your own health than chemical based alternatives.
How did you get on using your homemade cleaning products? Let us know in the comments.
