Tired of shelling out $$ of your monthly shop on over-priced cleaning products loaded with toxic-nasties? You’re not alone. Scan Pinterest and you’ll find a growing community of creative bloggers donning the rubber gloves and ‘doing it for themselves’ – making their own potions to scrub loos, clean showers and disinfect floors.
Here are a few of our favourite cleaning DIY ideas plus some squeaky green cleaning products for the time-strapped. Thanks to sprouts.com for the inspiration.
DIY Cleaning
All Purpose Disinfectant Surface Cleaner
- Equal parts distilled white vinegar and water.
- Essential oils (lavender, tea tree oil etc.)
Mix water and vinegar plus 10 drops of essential oil per 2 cups of mixture. Tea tree oil and lavender both have disinfectant properties. Get to work with a sponge!
Mirror and Window Cleaner
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 12 drops lemon essential oil
Pour ingredients into a clean spray bottle. Shake well and use as normal glass spray.
Multipurpose Cleaner
- 1 Tbsp liquid castile soap
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 1 ½ cups water
Pour ingredients into a spray bottle, shake well before use.
Loo Cleaner
- ½ cup baking soda
- 1 cup white vinegar
- ½ tsp. tea tree essential oil
Combine vinegar and tea tree oil in a spray bottle, shake well. Sprinkle baking soda into the loo. Spray on the vinegar mixture, watch the active ingredients get to work. For regular loo seat wipe-downs use white vinegar.
Bath and Shower Cleaner (good for stubborn stains)
- Baking soda
- Castile soap
Sprinkle baking soda on porcelain fixtures and rub with a wet sponge. Add castile soap to the sponge for more cleaning power.
Squeaky Green Commercial Products
The Laundry EcoEgg
If you want to ditch laundry powder all together, try the EcoEgg: a long-lasting, dermatologically-tested plastic egg. The mineral pellets inside the egg create a powerful, but natural, foam to lift all that baby poo and post-rugby mud.
RockinGreen NZ Laundry Detergent
This rock-solid Kiwi product was developed by a mum sick of using chemical-nasties to wash her kids’ clothes. Biodegradable and free from phosphates, SLS and optical brighteners, it also gets to work on tough stains. Use it as a stain-removing pre-wash by adding water to make a paste and rubbing on clothes.
With all this scrubbing and house cleaning, don’t forget to treat yourself as well. At one Konjak Sponge is made from 100% vegetable fibres to cleanse, exfoliate and moisturise encouraging new skin-cell growth. It’s naturally alkaline killing acne-causing bacteria and soft and gentle for infants. Choose between pure konjac, or 12 other gorgeous extracts including rose petal, green tea and bamboo – such a treat.
