Your Favorite DIY Cleaning Recipes

November 26, 2023 1:56 PM

What are your favourite cleaning formulas using any range of ingredients?

I am trying to reduce my cleaning supply closet, and homemade cleaning formulas seem to be the path forward. So, what are you making to clean your streak-free windows? Your wooden floors? What about the other surfaces of your home, including the bathroom, kitchen, and just anywhere?

posted by jadepearl to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

I use basic apple cider vinegar mixed with water for 90% of my surfaces. I use a 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water and keep it in a spray bottle. You can also use white vinegar with essential oils, but I found that it kept clogging the spray nozzle, so I switched to apple cider vinegar which is a pleasant enough scent (to me). Vinegar is fine for windows, counters, and floors. (though a quick search shows the internet is divided as to whether vinegar is ok for wood floors.)
posted by hydra77 at 2:24 PM on November 26, 2023

Each item on this list is something I use by itself. Water, soap, warm soapy water, oil, vinegar, baking soda, and enzyme cleaner.

Add lemon and/or lavender extract to any of these (except the water) if you want 'em to smell like cleaning supplies.

Most are for cleaning. Oil is for removing oil-based stains, e.g., weird fridge smudges. Baking soda is for scrubbing. Enzyme cleaner is for all nature-based odors. This ingredients page may also interest you
posted by aniola at 2:30 PM on November 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I've winnowed, too.
mostly pine cleaner at differing concentrations
dish soap
laundry detergent
window cleaner

that's really about it.
posted by j_curiouser at 2:36 PM on November 26, 2023

For cleaning wood floors -- I found many similar recipes when I searched for "homemade Bona spray." About 24 ounces water, 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol, 1/8 teaspoon dish soap. No suds, no streaks.

Also, microfiber towels really can clean a lot of things with just water.
posted by wryly at 2:43 PM on November 26, 2023

I used homemade products for a long time, and frankly they weren’t very good.

I use Simple Green for general household cleaning, a product with orange oil for adhesive and latex paint, and plain water on a microfiber cloth if it’s not a big mess. Microfiber cloth mostly dry to avoid streaks on glass. Microfiber cloths are also gentle abrasives that replace melamine sponges for most things, mine were sold by the pound in the painting section of a home improvement store. I resisted microfiber for a long time, but it really works. Dish soap, Bon Ami, laundry detergent, and occasional oxiclean round out the list.
posted by momus_window at 3:07 PM on November 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

There's lots of soaps with ingredients I wouldn't use. To be more clear, when I say "soap", I mean the stuff that was made with oil and lye and that's pretty much it. Widely available I think.

You can make soap yourself! A lifetime supply of lye at the hardware store for like $5. Oil from the grocery store. Some plastic containers from your recycle bin. Instructions online. An afternoon. That's basically it. That's all you need to make more soap than you know what to do with.

Sodium hydroxide lye for hard soap. Potassium hydroxide lye for liquid soap. You can also DIY lye from wood ash. I knew someone who did it and said that part is also straight-forward.
posted by aniola at 3:25 PM on November 26, 2023

I have no idea if this is a good idea, so take it with a grain of salt. I have a black glasstop stove, which I dislike because it's hard to clean, since you can't use an abrasive sponge on it; and the commercial glasstop cleaner is expensive, smells weird and leaves streaks. I noticed when I spilled coffee by mistake and wiped it up that the coffee cleaned my stove better than any product I'd used. So, now I brew an extra tablespoon or so of coffee every morning and wipe down my glasstop stove with it while I'm standing there. Again, the stovetop is black, and I have no idea if this is actually damaging it or something but it's so easy and in my house it just works.
posted by ojocaliente at 3:51 PM on November 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

(though a quick search shows the internet is divided as to whether vinegar is ok for wood floors.)

came to say basic white vinegar in general, often diluted with water depending on the task. As for wood floors, all I can say is that it worked for decades for my mom. I doubt her last house (almost thirty years) ever saw soap on its hardwood.

free tip: vinegar (diluted with water of course) also works a charm on a dog that's gotten into something disgusting. You basically replace the horror smell with a vinegar smell that fades in a day or two. Added bonus. I think it annoys the dog. Which is good. The dog that has rolled in something disgusting deserves to be annoyed.
posted by philip-random at 3:55 PM on November 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Denture cleaning tablets work great for cleaning tea stains out of mugs and loosening burnt food spots in pans.
posted by dws at 4:28 PM on November 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I use a squeegee on mirrors with straight up liquid soap.

Any time I need a scrub, baking soda paste works miracles. Especially on those small little ridges in cooking pans.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:07 PM on November 26, 2023

The only kitchen spray I use is white vinegar and dawn dish soap, about 4 parts vinegar, 1 part soap
posted by tristeza at 6:14 PM on November 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I found this recipe from Transl3y in an old AskMe. It works wonders! I make a double batch in a tub when I clean the windows indoors and out. I use a squeegee and also a microfiber cloth to catch drips.

1/4 c. rubbing alcohol
1/4 c. white vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 c. warm water

Combine everything in a spray bottle, and shake well. If you're cleaning outside windows, you can make the job easy by just sponging it on lavishly, since it's so cheap.
posted by Transl3y at 6:30 AM on November 8, 2018 [3 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]

here is a link to the ask.

For cooked-on gunk on the stovetop, I have been experimenting with hydrogen peroxide and baking soda paste. It seems to work pretty well if I leave it on for a while to soften the gunk. I am trying to be careful not to scratch the enamel.
posted by goodsearch at 6:53 PM on November 26, 2023

Hypochlorus Acid is a hospital-grade disinfectant (and now skincare trend) made by electrolyzing water, salt, and vinegar, which you can do at home either completely DIY or you can get kits with the electrolyzer and ampules of correctly-portioned vinegar and salt. You can buy it already made, but that version will have additional stabilizers in it, because otherwise the electrolysis only holds about 2 weeks. The generator takes about 10 minutes.

It's a surprisingly decent degreaser even though it's not a detergent. I originally got it so I could disinfect everything as we travel, but at this point the only purpose-made cleaner I buy is toilet gel - though when my batches of HOCl are getting old I dump the bottle in the toilet and it's quite good at clearing out hard-water rings. It's non-streaky on mirrors and windows, has no scent, and you can bottle it up in the ways that work best for you.

I also use it instead of hydrogen peroxide to prevent fungus/mold when I grow microgreens, to sterilize my microgreens trays between uses, and to treat houseplant soil to prevent fungus gnats.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:56 AM on November 27, 2023

This is more kitchen (and specifically air-fryer specific). I keep a small spray bottle of water, a squirt of Dawn, and a squirt of rubbing alcohol to use on my air fryer tray after it has cooled. Spray liberally and let sit to soak to help take off the residue.

The internet says that's the recipe for Dawn Powerwash - I've never used it but this seems to work well and likely could tackle oven/microwave messes too.
posted by Twicketface at 7:58 AM on November 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I like to use the following in a spray bottle, mostly in the kitchen
1 cup water
1 cup white vinegar
2 - 3 drops Dawn

Works great!
posted by Rad_Boy at 10:54 AM on November 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I use a spray bottle with a very diluted bleach solution to get stains off walls, white furniture, kitchen floor tiles, etc.
posted by Morpeth at 9:08 AM on November 28, 2023