My Favorite DIY Household Cleaners

If you’ve been following along with our blog for a while, you’ve likely come to see that we desire to live life simply so that we can make room for more of what we truly value. This means reducing the amount of “stuff” we own and consume and being mindful to treat our bodies well– mentally and physically. 

Since beginning our minimalism journey about a year ago, decreasing the amount of “unnatural” products in our home has been something that I’ve set out to do. My goal was not to completely rid our home of every single chemical, but rather provide a more clean, healthy environment that benefits our overall health for years to come. 

But realizing that some natural products come at a higher cost, I wanted to create options that were easy for me to make myself, safe for my family to use, and could even save us more money than when we were buying our usual products from the store. 

Using essential oils and natural products

One simple rule of thumb for health that we follow is to respect the wisdom of history. We look for products or methods that have been used by humans for hundreds or thousands of years. Anything that has stood the test of time has a good chance of being safe and effective, which is why we’ve chosen to include certain essential oils in our home.

Essential oils have been used for thousands of years, even referenced in the Bible many times, to help with body odor, softening the skin, and cleaning purposes. Oils that the Egyptians most commonly used were thyme, lavender, peppermint, cedar, rose, frankincense, and myrrh. 

Any chemicals introduced to our environment in the past 100 years, might be safe and might not have any major side-effects, but we just don’t have that knowledge yet, because of their relative newness. We’re not against modern medicine, but have developed a healthy skepticism for the novel. 

The ingredients that you’ll see us using in the recipes below have been time-tested and have worked well for us. And in almost all cases, they’ve proven to be cheaper than a similar store-bought counterpart. You just have to be willing to invest a small amount of your time into making them yourself. 

I’m usually experimenting with new household cleaners and facial product diy’s, so I’ll continue to add more of our favorites to this post over time. The ones listed below have been recipes we’ve used for months and have found them to be not only very effective, but clean, natural, and a cheaper alternative to buying them in the store. 

Our favorite household recipes

Clean & Simple Laundry Detergent (makes 1 gallon)

Supplies:

• ¼ cup Super Washing Soda
• ¼ cup Baking Soda
• ¼ cup Thieves Laundry Soap (or Castile Soap)
• 2 tablespoons Thieves Household Cleaner
• 12 cups Distilled water
• Empty laundry detergent bottle (make sure the plastic is safe for essential oils, typically HDPE plastic as well as plastics number 1 and 2 are safe to use with essential oils)

*If you’re not a Young Living member, you can find the thieves products on amazon too

Directions:

Pour ¼ cup Super Washing Soda into a stock pot. Add enough hot distilled water (not boiling) to cover the bottom of the pot by an inch, stir until the washing soda has dissolved. Add ¼ cup baking soda into the pot, stir until dissolved. Pour in 12 cups of warm distilled water, stir well to combine. Add ¼ cup Thieves Laundry Soap. Castile Soap may be used as an alternative. I love castile soap for other recipes, but prefer to use the Thieves Laundry Soap for this recipe. 

Add 2 Tablespoons Thieves Household Cleaner. If you want to enhance the smell of your laundry detergent even more, add 5-10 drops of your favorite oil.  Give it a good stir, then using a funnel, pour the cooled liquid into your empty laundry detergent bottle. Use ¼ cup of laundry detergent in each load.

*I always give the laundry bottle a quick shake before using it to make sure all the ingredients are combined. 

*The consistency will be much more watery than regular store bought laundry detergent.

Citrus Fresh Dishwashing Detergent (makes 28 tablespoons, enough for 28 loads)

Supplies:

• 1 cup Super Washing Soda
• 1/4 cup salt (nothing fancy, just regular table salt)
• ½  cup Citric Acid Powder
• 30 drops of any citrus essential oil (I love citrus fresh or lemon)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the washing soda, salt, and citric acid powder. Stir well to combine. Add your essential oil and mix thoroughly to incorporate the oils into the powder so no lumps remain. Use a funnel to pour the dishwasher powder into an airtight glass container (I use a mason jar). Use 1 tablespoon per load of dishes in the dishwasher’s detergent compartment. If you use a rinse aid, try using white vinegar. Vinegar is a great natural rinse agent!

*The powder tends to harden as it is stored in the jar. Just give it a quick shake or stir with the measuring spoon to break it up. 

*If you do not have a water softener, you may experience some cloudiness on your glasses. Try using white vinegar as your rinse aid and/or adding a few tablespoons of table salt to the bottom of your dishwasher. 

Thieves Household Cleaner

The thieves household cleaner is not really a recipe because it’s a product in itself, but I wanted to share it because it’s the best all-purpose cleaner that I’ve used. It’s allowed me to eliminate my collection of different sprays and cleaners because of how effective it is. I use it for basic wiping of flat surfaces, on my windows, in the bathroom, as a floor cleaner, and even on my plant’s leaves to make them shine! 

It’s very concentrated, so you only need to use 1 capful per 16 oz. spray bottle of water. This makes about 29 bottles of household cleaner, which is even cheaper than Mrs. Meyer’s Household Cleaner that I previously used. 

Simply pour 1 capful of thieves household cleaner into a 16 oz. glass spray bottle of water (glass spray bottles, such as the ones in this set I have, are best to use with essential oils), shake it up, and you’re set. 

Foaming Hand Soap (makes 1 – 15 oz. bottle)

Supplies:

• Foaming Soap Dispenser 
• 3 Tablespoons Castile Soap
• 10-15 drops of Thieves essential oil
• 1-2 Tablespoons Aloe Vera Gel or Vitamin E Oil (to prevent dry hands from the castile soap)
• Distilled water

Directions:

In a small glass measuring cup, add the castile soap, thieves essential oil, and aloe vera gel/vitamin E oil. Mix well using a whisk. Pour the mixture into your foaming hand soap bottle. Slowly add cooled distilled water to the halfway mark. Shake it a bit to combine. Continue adding distilled water until the foaming soap bottle is nearly filled, leaving just a bit of room at the top. Give it another shake and screw on the pump.