We went through a common progression in my house. First, I started buying more “natural” foods, then I started buying more “natural” personal soaps and cosmetics, and eventually my quest for “natural” reached our household cleaners, pots & pans, cooking utensils, clothes, candles, and really just everything in our home environment.
Here, I’ve compiled a list of my recipes for how to make household cleaners with only natural, non-toxic materials. These are effective, pleasant, and easily customizable. I hope you give them a try!
Infusing Your Ingredients (Optional)
Infusing your vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and/or water with botanicals can offer benefits (like scent, antimicrobial properties, deodorizing properties, and grease-cutting properties). Infusion also gives you room to be creative and customize your cleaners to say, your bathroom (maybe thyme and rosemary), or your kitchen (maybe bay leaves and citrus). Infusing vinegars and rubbing alcohol does take a week or two, and I don’t want to scare anyone away from making their own household cleaners. If you don’t have time for this, you can always skip it, or make a non-infused cleaner today and start an infusion for your next batch.
4/25/26 Update: I have been cleaning a LOT (we are selling our house) and have been short on time. Lately, I am skipping infusion all together and adding essential oils instead, which yields a quick, great cleaner too.
Adding a few drops of essential oil or infusing your water doesn’t require weeks, and also provides a nice, quick way to customize your household cleaners!
- Citrus Peels: Citrus peels are rich in d-limonene and other terpenes, which are effective at breaking down oils and greasy residues. Citrus peels enhance vinegar’s natural degreasing ability while softening its sharp acidic odor. Citrus peels also contribute mild antibacterial activity and leave behind a pleasant, bright scent, making them useful for kitchen and high-touch surface cleaners.
- Pine Needles: Pine needles contain alpha-pinene and other resinous compounds with deodorizing and mild antimicrobial properties. These volatile compounds bind to and neutralize stale or musty odors rather than simply masking them. Pine-infused vinegar is great for floor cleaners, trash sprays, and general deodorizing.
- Rosemary: Rosemary contains cineole, camphor, and rosmarinic acid, which provide mild antibacterial and antifungal effects.
- Thyme: Thyme is especially high in thymol and carvacrol, compounds with well-documented antibacterial and antifungal activity. Great for bathroom cleaning, including toilets and mold-prone areas.
- Bay Leaves: Bay leaves contain eugenol, cineole, and linalool which have documented antibacterial and antifungal properties. Bay leaves also contain volatile compounds that bind to and remove sulfur- and amine- odors (from garlic, onion, fish, etc). Bay leaves are food-safe and non-toxic, and have a pleasant smell, making them great for kitchen cleaning.
- Mint: Mint contains menthol and menthone, which provide a fresh scent and mild antibacterial properties. These compounds are also mildly insect-deterring.
Fill a jar 3/4 full with chopped or blitzed plant material and cover completely with vinegar. Seal loosely for 1-2 weeks. Strain, and use in a recipe below. Fresh plant infusions in vinegar last about 6-12 months.
- Lavender: Lavender contains linalool and linalyl acetate, aromatic compounds that dissolve readily in alcohol and provide mild antibacterial and antifungal activity.
- Eucalyptus: Eucalyptus is rich in eucalyptol, a volatile compound with strong deodorizing and antimicrobial properties that extracts efficiently into alcohol.
- Thyme: Thyme contains high levels of thymol and carvacrol, compounds with well-documented antibacterial and antifungal activity that are highly soluble in alcohol.
- Mint: Mint contains menthol and menthone, which extract readily into alcohol and provide a fresh, cooling scent along with mild antibacterial effects. These compounds also have mild insect-deterring properties.
Fill a wide-mouthed jar with chopped up plant material and cover with 70% rubbing alcohol. Seal for 1-2 weeks, shaking regularly. Strain, and use in a recipe below.
Fresh plant infusions in rubbing alcohol last about 6-12 months.
- Lavender: Can also be used as a linen spray
- Rosemary or Thyme: Can also be used as a room refresher
- Citrus Peels: Can also be used as a room refresher
- Mint: Can also be sprayed on trash cans
- Chamomile: Can also be used as a bedroom calming spray.
These will mostly offer fragrance and mild antibacterial effects. They can be made in small amounts at the time of making a household cleaner.
Steep herbs/peels with hot water for 15-30 minutes. Cool and strain, keep in the fridge for up to a week, and use in a recipe below.
- Antimicrobials (Great for bathrooms!): Tea Tree, Thyme, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Clove
- Mold and Mildew (Also great for bathrooms!): Tea Tree, Clove, Thyme, Eucalyptus, Lavender (mild)
- Deodorizing: Lemon/Sweet Orange/Other Citrus, Peppermint, Lavender, Cedarwood, Fir/Pine/Spruce, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Sweet Marjoram
- Grease-Cutting: Lemon/Lime/Grapefruit/Orange/Tangerine/Other Citrus
- Insect Repelling: Peppermint, Lemon, Eucalyptus, Cedarwood, Rosemary, Citronella
- Calming: Lavender, Chamomile, Clary Sage, Sweet Marjoram, Geranium
Making Your Own Household Cleaners
Making your own household cleaners is one of the simplest ways to reduce toxins in your home, and you can save money while doing so! Here are five versatile recipes: all-purpose spray, glass spray, dishwasher detergent squares, dishwashing soap, and scented dryer balls.
- 1 cup water (optionally infused)
- 1 cup white vinegar (optionally infused)
- ~1 tsp liquid castille soap
- 5-10 drops essential oil (I like rosemary, tea tree, citrus; optional)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk. Pour into a spray bottle and shake gently each use. Use for countertops, tables, shelves, etc.
- 1 cup water (optionally infused)
- 1 cup white vinegar (optionally infused)
- ~1 tsp liquid castille soap
- ~2 tbsp rubbing alcohol (optionally infused)
- 5-10 drops essential oil (I like lavender, eucalyptus, citrus; optional)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour into a spray bottle and shake gently each use. Spray and wipe with a microfiber cloth. No streaks!
4/25/26 Update: I updated this cleaner to my most used version: an all-purpose cleaner with a few tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. I like to put slightly different essential oils in my glass & all purpose cleaners.
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1 cup washing soda
- 1/2 cup citric acid
- 10 drops lemon essential oil (optional)
Mix ingredients and store in a jar. (I blend mine in a food processor because the citric acid can be clumpy.) Add a tbsp to your dishwasher soap compartment per load.
- 1 cup of liquid castile soap
- 1/2 cup water (optionally infused)
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 10 drops of essential oil
Mix in pump bottle, shake gently before use.
- 2+ wool dryer balls
- 20 to 30 drops of essential oil per ball
Drop 10-15 drops of essential oil onto each wool dryer ball. Toss both balls in the dryer with your laundry to tumble and scent. Refresh oils every ten or so tumbles.
I’ve loved lavender and geranium!
Other Everyday Cleaners
- I would love to make my own laundry soap. I’ll think of it as a pending project (it seems the primary way to make your own is to grate a soap bar and mix it with salts). Lately, I’ve been buying lavender Pronounce powder and I really like it. (And, I do not get paid in any way for mentioning their soap.)
- I tried laundry sheets when I wanted to get away from jugs and detergent, but was disappointed when I found that they use a thin layer of vinyl to hold the… detergent together. Double whammy.
- I also tried Molly’s Suds laundry powder, which made me appreciate how easy and light laundry powders are, and the ingredients list met my standards. But,I felt like our laundry wasn’t getting clean, which made sense since there was a lack of soap in the formula. Which led me to Pronounce, which uses soapberries. I saw some concerns on Reddit about this affecting the washing machine or leaving a residue, and I haven’t had any of those problems in the last year+ that I’ve been using it.
Other, Deeper Clean Cleaners
In another post soon, I will compile my favorite recipes for some more specialized household cleaners, like these:
- Floor Cleaner
- Toilet Bowl Cleaner
- Tub & Tile Cleaner
- Drain Cleaner
- Room Freshener (also, I like to just use diffusers)
- Landry Machine Washer
- Oven Cleaner
- Coffee Machine Descaler (spoiler, it’s 1:1 water:vinegar!)
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