Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner (Citrus or Pine Scent)
This is my favorite homemade all-purpose cleaner, and by all-purpose, I mean all-purpose. You can use this on your countertops, sinks, windows, wood floors, vinyl floors, mirrors, pretty much anywhere in the house.
Equipment
- 2 Mason Jars with lid
- 16 oz Glass Spray Bottle
- Fine Mesh Strainer
- Large Bowl ideally with a pour spout
Ingredients
For Citrus Cleaner
- 4 to 5 citrus peels lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit
- 2 to 3 cups vinegar enough to cover the peels
For Pine Cleaner
- pine or fir needles to fill the quart-sized Mason jar 3/4 full
- 3 to 4 cups vinegar enough to cover the needles
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients. Whether you’re using citrus peels or pine needles, you’ll want to really pack the jar with the peels/needles. Packing them in also helps release some of the natural oils, which will help the vinegar to pull out all those properties.
- Add vinegar to completely cover the citrus peels or pine needles.
- Slap a lid on that bad boy and put it in a dark, cool cupboard. If you remember to shake it every few days, that’s great, but if you forget, no big deal.
- Let it sit so the essential oils can infuse the vinegar for 2-3 weeks (minimum), 4-6 weeks (ideal) and up to 6 months (if you forget about it like me!).
- Strain your vinegar out into a clean Mason jar. This is now your citrus or pine vinegar concentrate.
- Dilute your vinegar concentrate with water. For my homemade all-purpose cleaner I like to dilute with a 4:1 water to vinegar ratio. I use a 16 oz. glass spray bottle, so I add 3.2 ounces of vinegar to 12.8 ounces of water. If you want a stronger cleaning solution, you can use a 3:1, 2:1 or even 1:1 ratio of water to vinegar. Just do a test section on whatever surface you’re cleaning to make sure it’s not too harsh.
Notes
Why You’ll Love This Homemade Cleaner:
- Safe – After having chemical burns on my skin as a teenager using store-bought cleaners, it’s super important to me to only use natural cleaners in my home. I don’t want my kids or myself exposed to any more chemicals than necessary. I mean, have you read the warnings on those bottles? Yikes.
- Natural – I want a clean home, but I want to use natural ingredients when possible. Enter this natural vinegar cleaner that leaves our homes sparkling clean, without the chemicals or the fumes that you and your family will breathe in with other cleaners.
- Effective – You may be wondering, as I was if vinegar really is the cleaning powerhouse some people talk it up to be. I mean, don’t we need to sanitize our surfaces with bleach for them to be truly clean? Not according to this study on the effectiveness of acetic acid!
- Scent – With two variations (and countless other options if you opt for essential oils) you can enjoy a nice pine scent or a citrus scent! Let’s be honest, no one wants their home to smell like a pickle, and I’m happy to report that I’ve been using this homemade cleaner for over a decade now and will never go back (and no, my house does not smell like vinegar!).
- Grease Fighter – With the added benefit of either the citrus or pine oils, this homemade all-purpose cleaner cuts through grease and works incredibly well.
- Less Waste – By using a reusable glass spray bottle and either the peels of citrus or pine/fir needles from the yard, you’re drastically reducing the amount of one-time plastic use bottles you’d have to purchase from the store for how many bottles of cleaner this homemade all-purpose cleaner concentrate gives you.
- Skip the step of steeping citrus peels or pine needles in vinegar and use your favorite essential oils instead.
- Simply add 4:1 parts water to vinegar (5%) to a glass spray bottle and add 10-20 drops of essential oil.
- Shake well before each use to make sure essential oils are well distributed as they'll float to the surface.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!