3 DIY Cleaners to Spring Clean Your Whole Home

If you’re looking to simplify your spring cleaning – yes, please!, you might want to look for just a couple products to do all of your spring cleaning. I love using DIY products in our home for cleaning, it makes cleaning easier and it will simplify your spring cleaning as well. Why spend all that time cleaning with products that can potentially do more harm than good? With just a few key ingredients and hard-working products you can spring clean your entire home and I’m willing to bet that you’ll find some favorites too. I’m going to share 3 DIY Cleaners you can make today to Spring Clean your whole home in this post but if you read through to the end, I’m also going to share other tips, tricks, and DIY recipes you can try because I just can’t help myself. So mix up just 3 cleaners and clean your whole home or mix up a couple more – do what works for you!

SOAP BASED ALL-PURPOSE CLEANING SPRAY – use this for most surfaces, no rinsing is required
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon castile or dish soap

GLASS CLEANING SPRAY – use this for mirrors and windows
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons rubbing alcohol
3 drops essential oil

SCRUB/ CARPET + MATTRESS FRESHENER
2 cups baking soda
20 drops essential oil (lemon + clove are my favorites)

• If you want to use this as a scrub, add a squirt of castile or dish soap in the sink and scrub.
• If you want to use this as a carpet and/or mattress freshener, sprinkle on the carpet or mattress, let sit for 15-30 minutes and vacuum up the residue.

As you work on prep week this week, don’t miss the Spring Cleaning Sale in the shop this week – fill your cart and stock up! I’ve marked down quite a few products in the shop so you’ll receive 10% off in addition to the sale prices. The Homekeeping Planner and the Weekly Wall Calendar are on sale, all the Printables are marked down, Essential Oils are on sale to make sale for something new, and more! (Hopefully the laundry powders will be back in stock later this week – if not, they’ll go on sale as soon as they are back!) Use the coupon code SPRINGCLEANSALE on the products in the shop for 10% off your entire order and you can use the same coupon code SPRINGCLEANSALE for $10 off a new subscription to Homekeeping Society – that coupon applies to the monthly AND annual plans!  This is the last time I’ll have a coupon on Homekeeping Society before December (just an FYI).

Here’s your checklist to get started:

• FOLLOW: Make sure you’re following along on Instagram @cleanmama
• SUBSCRIBE: If you haven’t subscribed to the blog – you can do that by putting your name and email address in the FREE PRINTABLES PAGE
• DOWNLOAD + PRINT: Once you get the password (you only need to enter your email address in ONE time), grab the Spring Cleaning Checklist on the FREE PRINTABLES PAGE – this is what we are following for the month of March.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS: Spread the word on your social media and tag me so I can share too! Cleaning is always more fun with friends!

WATCH FOR A NEW POST EVERY MONDAY: Every Monday for the month of March I’ll lay out the plan for the week, tell you how I’m approaching Spring Cleaning and then I’ll have a post or two during each week that helps with the tasks for the week. Make sure you’re following along on Instagram for DAILY updates from the Clean Mama HQ (my house).

SPRING CLEANING IS THE MONTHLY FOCUS FOR MARCH: You can find the Monthly Focus in the Homekeeping Planner and in the Homekeeping Society subscription. If you want to work with a small group, join Homekeeping Society for the support!

SPRING CLEAN WITH ME SCHEDULE – I’ll link the posts as we go!
WEEK 1 : Prep Week + the Laundry Room
WEEK 2 : Dusting + Wiping
WEEK 3 : Kitchen Deep Clean
WEEK 4 : Windows + Bathrooms
WEEK 5 : Beds + Floors

Of course there are a plethora of DIY recipes here on the blog that you can clean your home with but if you are looking to keep it simple and easy, this post is for you.

Common ingredients used in DIY cleaners:
filtered tap water (you can use distilled water too)
baking soda
white vinegar
castile and/or dish soap
hydrogen peroxide
vodka
essential oils
rubbing alcohol

Looking for more favorite DIY Recipes?  Here you go! 

8 DIY Cleaners that Will Change How You Clean Your Home

ALL-PURPOSE DISINFECTING SPRAY
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup vodka or rubbing alcohol
15 drops essential oil
PLEASE NOTE: If you want to up the disinfecting power in this spray, use Everclear (95% alcohol) instead of vodka – 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1 cup Everclear, 15 drops essential oil.

STONE CLEANING SPRAY
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons rubbing alcohol
1/4 teaspoon castile or dish soap

GLASS CLEANING SPRAY
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons rubbing alcohol
3 drops essential oil

FABRIC REFRESHER
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vodka (or rubbing alcohol)
10 drops essential oil

FLOOR CLEANING SPRAY
1 3/4 cups warm water
1-2 drops castile soap
3-5 drops essential oil

DISINFECTING SPRAY
put a sprayer on a hydrogen peroxide bottle
spray solid surface thoroughly (do not spray on fabric)
let sit for 10-15 minutes and wipe clean

NIGHTLY SINK SCRUB
2 cups baking soda
20 drops essential oil (lemon + clove are my favorites)
a squirt of castile or dish soap in the sink

BATHROOM SCRUB
2 cups baking soda
20 drops essential oil (lemon + lavender is great for the bathroom)
a squirt of castile or dish soap if needed to add a little sudsing power

Grab this 2-page Simple DIY Recipes printable here. It’s on my Free Printable page – just put in your email address one time to get access.

Want to DIY your cleaners? Check out my labels, spray bottles, and jars here. You can also see my Favorites Page here and my Spring Cleaning favorites here.

CLEANING SOLUTIONS

Choose ingredients with multiple uses and you’ll be able to mix and match to your heart’s content. One of the bonuses of DIY’ing cleaning recipes is that I have what I need on hand AND each batch costs just pennies to whip up. Run out of a cleaner, mix up a batch and keep cleaning. Simple ingredients, nothing harmful for humans or pets.

BAKING SODA
My favorite use is my Nightly Sink Scrub but that same recipe works for a Bathroom Scrub or general scrub too! Use it to freshen and deodorize carpet and mattresses and/or add a little water and soap for a scrub. Simple, yet effective, I use it so many different ways throughout the year but when it’s spring cleaning season it really shines.

WHITE VINEGAR
Think of white vinegar like a cleaning concentrate – you can use it in your carpet cleaning machine (equal parts warm water : vinegar), in an all-purpose cleaner, in an all-purpose disinfecting cleaner, to clean and polish wood, and a fabric softener. There are so many ways to use it – just keep it away from stone (granite, marble, silestone).

OXYGEN WHITENER
If you haven’t tried Oxygen Whitener yet, here’s a post with 12 uses – it’s not just for whitening laundry! I put it in a small mason jar and keep it handy for cleaning and I also keep a jar in the bathrooms to add to toilets for a little extra cleaning power.

CASTILE SOAP
It’s amazing what you can clean with warm water and a squirt of castile soap. Baseboards, doors, and floors, you can even add it to water and a foamer for hand soap.

RUBBING ALCOHOL
Put a little rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad to wipe down remotes and door knobs. The rubbing alcohol effectively cleans and kills germs. I also use it in my stone cleaning spray and window + glass cleaning spray – it helps dry the surfaces quickly while adding a little cleaning and disinfecting power.  I also recommend using vodka in my Lemon + Lavender Fabric Freshener, my Daily Shower Spray and my Disinfecting Spray Cleaner.

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
Put a sprayer on a hydrogen peroxide container and you have a powerful disinfectant at your fingertips. Great for sinks and areas that need disinfecting. I spray it on my toilet brush after I’ve used it – see my method here. You can also use it to whiten grout and get rid of minor mildew in the bathroom. DON’T take it out of the brown bottle – it loses its effectiveness after about an hour of being in the light.

ESSENTIAL OILS
I love a little scent while I’m cleaning but I like to add it myself so I know it’s 100% natural and not synthetic or an artificial fragrance. Enter essential oils. I’ve talked about them quite a bit – you can see how I use them in most of my DIY recipes. Of course, use caution around children and pets.

SOURCES:
Labels, sprayers, glass spray bottles can be found here.
Cleaning cloths can be found here.
Essential oils can be found here.
Cleaning favorites page is here.
Amazon favorites page is here.
Clean Mama Books are here.