DIY Natural Cleaning Products
In addition to being a holistic nutritionist and health enthusiast, I’m a mom of two boys and now a little puppy, so having a clean home is really important to me. Little bodies are impacted much more by chemicals!
Generally, living in a cold climate (Canada) you spend a lot of your time indoors and what I have learned is that a lot of the cleaning products that are available on the market today contain many chemicals that can be harmful to our health, especially if used long term. They can be irritating to our skin – many cleansers say that you have to wear gloves or that you have to rinse the area with water after using – so that’s the first indication that they probably are not the best choice if our health is a priority.
And, they contain ‘fragrances’ which is really just a blanket term for hundreds of chemicals to hide under. When we are breathing ‘fragrances’ in, it can be very irritating and may cause issues with respiration over the long term.
Also while doing research, I came across a really interesting fact that you’ll want to know about about. It was found that women who work from home were 55% more likely to get breast cancer and I believe that just speaks to the fact that our our homes’ inner pollution is worse than the pollution outside of the home.
So cleaning up your cleaning products is definitely worth the effort.
Essential oils and some basic products we may already have at home are incredible for cleaning. Quality essential oils, like doTerra, contain cleansing properties, anti-oxidants, anti-fungal/anti-bacterial and also ‘repelling’ properties which take the odour out of the air while killing bacteria and other bugs. The best oils for cleaning contain phenols (thymol, carvocal), alcohols (linalool, menthol, terrine 4 ol), alkenes (limonene, beta-pinene), ethers, and ketones.
Household items that are great for cleaning:
- Vinegar is anti-fungal/bacterial so works well in cutting grease and cleaning mineral deposits.
- Castile soap is also a great one to remove dirt, grease and stains
- Salt and baking soda are great as scouring agents
- Essential Oils are great to add a natural scent AND to ramp the anti-bacterial/viral effect of your household products
- Witch hazel helps to emulsify the oils in the water so that when you spray, it it doesn’t leave a residue
- Coconut Oil or olive oil is great for a dusting agent or for polishing surfaces
- Citric Acid is also great for removing some mineral build-up and hard water stains
So let’s talk about the oils. So my favourite essential oils for cleaning are the ones that are already blended well for me – the proprietary blends by doTerra. The two blends that I love the most for cleaning are “on guard” and “purify”. I like anything that’s fast so these are great because on guard, as you may know, contains a lot of the oils that have the properties that I mentioned earlier and same with the purify except the purify also takes odours out.
My All-Purpose Cleaner Recipe:
- in a glass or aluminum spray bottle
- add a few drops of on guard
- a splash of vinegar (optional)
- fill the rest with water
It’s fantastic for cleaning counters, floors, bathroom, toilets anything and you could imagine!
Let’s talk about containers:
- ideally you want to use dark glass bottles so that the oils don’t get damaged by the sun over time
- aluminum is also a great, light option
- you can also save your used Perrier bottles and just purchase the sprayer nozzle on Amazon
- also save your little glass pasta jars or canning jars which work great for your dry carpet cleaner, or bathroom scrubs
- avoid plastics because the oils are so potent and may break down the plastics or leach them into your cleaning solution
Another great option is to use the ‘ready made’ doTERRA cleaning products. The on guard cleaning concentrate is great for somebody who really doesn’t want to spend a lot of time on cleaning. This goes a long way, all you need is:
- 1-2 tablespoons of the doTERRA on guard cleaning concentrate
- a large spray bottle filled with water
This is great to use on pretty much anything!
My Glass Cleaner Recipe:
- splash of lemon
- splash of vinegar
- fill the rest with water
Cleaning glass with lemon is incredible, it pulls off that gummy residue.
My Air-Freshener Recipe:
If you would like to make a Febreeze type spray to freshen up a room, use oils like purify or lavender and maybe a bit of witch hazel with water. This is a fantastic spray for your cushions, your couches, you can spray it your closets, it just freshens the air, kills any lingering bacteria or dust mites and makes everything smell fresh and clean.
You can also use your oils to repel bugs! I like to have a spray ready to use around the doorways of my house in the springtime. I like peppermint, rosemary and cedarwood and a little bit of water. This keeps away bugs and ants and you don’t have to worry about your pets or kids picking up chemicals through the soles of their feet.
There are so many things you can do with your oils and it can be really simple to make these cleaning products yourself at home using the products you already have. The basic oils to have are lavender, lemon and peppermint. (we have a kit of these for sale at the office or here) These oils, refresh, clean and purify the air.
My tip for busy people who don’t love cleaning – spot cleaning!
I don’t like to invest a lot of time cleaning so I have one of these spray bottles in every single room in my house so that it’s ready to grab and use quickly.
Do purchase a fantastic starter kit, click here to access my store and select ‘join now’ to get the. Essential Collection Kit. Want a diffuser too, select the Home Essentials Kit. Not sure where to start, book a Free Essential Oils Consult here.
Check out our YouTube Video on DIY Natural Cleaning Products for more info!
Linda Ljucovic, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Essential Oils Enthusiast, Oakville