Homemade cleaners that get your home sparkling, according to pros

Household cleaning is definitely not a luxury, so why is it that commercially available household cleaning products can be priced like luxury items? Luckily it turns out that with just a few basic ingredients (think vinegar, baking soda, lemons, rubbing alcohol, and dish detergent, among others), you can make homemade cleaners to tackle every room in your house.

Plus, as an added bonus, not one of these recipes for homemade cleaners uses bleach, which can be an effective cleaner and disinfectant but can also cause some scary chemical reactions when mixed with other household cleaning products, including ammonia.

Also for safety’s sake, please have a waterproof marker ready for labelling your homemade cleaners and the ingredients they contain as soon as you mix them up.

From Carlos Garcia, managing director at the UK-based Total Clean cleaning service, comes this DIY multipurpose cleaning solution that can be used for an array of cleaning tasks all around the house. It has three ingredients and is incredibly quick and easy to prepare. Here’s what you’ll need:

120ml of rubbing alcohol

180ml of distilled white vinegar

400ml of water

Simply pour all three ingredients into a clean, empty spray bottle, and shake well. For a luxurious, personalised touch, add a few drops of your favourite essential oil. You can use this homemade cleaner for just about any surface, though, of course, it’s always a good idea to test it out in a small, hard-to-notice spot, just to make sure. However, we also have a homemade multipurpose cleaning solution that is designed specifically for bathrooms (see “Multipurpose bathroom cleaner” below) as well as one for glass and mirrored surfaces (see “Glass and mirror cleaner” below).

Even if you only have alcohol or vinegar on hand, you can still whip up an effective multipurpose cleaning solution. Here’s how:

If all you have is alcohol, use a 70/30 mixture of alcohol and water mix, according to Abe Navas, general manager of Emily’s Maids.

If all you have is vinegar, use a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water, suggests Diana Rodriguez-Zaba, president of ServiceMaster by Zaba, a cleaning and restoration company. “[This] all-purpose spray is very effective at cleaning and sanitising most surfaces,” Rodriguez-Zaba says. One exception? It should not be used on marble, as it may cause dulling.

Here are 40 handy hints for cleaning every nook and cranny of your house.

Master gardener and home improvement expert Jen Stark, founder of Happy DIY Home, gave us this recipe for a homemade multipurpose bathroom cleaner, noting that with this solution, you “don’t have to use chemicals to get your bathroom sparkling clean.”

350ml of bicarb soda

120ml of warm water

120ml of liquid dish soap (preferably Dawn)

30ml of distilled white vinegar

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Start by dissolving the baking soda in the warm water. Then add the dish soap, white vinegar, and lemon juice. To use, simply spray on whatever surface you wish to clean and allow it to sit for 10 minutes before wiping it off. By the way, even if you don’t have lemon juice on hand, you can still use this cleaner, although it won’t be as effective for cutting through the grime that tends to build up on grout, Stark says.

Pro tip: Don’t use this solution on mirrors or glass, as the lemon juice and/or dish soap could cause streaking.

Cleaning expert Natalie Barrett, the quality supervisor at Nifty Cleaning Services, says you can use the following homemade glass cleaner not only for the everyday wiping-down of glass and mirrored surfaces but also for the removal of water deposit stains on other surfaces. Here’s what you’ll need:

30ml of distilled white vinegar

90ml of bicarb soda

475ml of water

Even if you don’t have bicarb soda, you can still make your own homemade glass cleaner by using equal parts vinegar and water. A word of caution, however, care of Finn Pegler, CEO of  cleaning company: Whatever you do, do not add lemon juice or any other citrus juice to your homemade glass cleaner because that could leave you with streaky glass and mirrors. For a streak-free shine, you’ll also want to use a microfibre cloth.

Learn more with our simple guide to window cleaning.

Nifty Cleaning Services’ Barrett also gave us this recipe for a quick and easy mould and mildew destroyer:

1 cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide

2 cups of water

Simply mix the two ingredients in a spray bottle, apply directly to the affected areas, and allow to sit for an hour before wiping clean with a damp cloth.

Find out more about getting rid of mould.

To eliminate soap scum forever, you don’t need chemicals. You just need a piece of fruit you might already have at home, according to Lauren Bowen, director of franchise operations at Two Maids & A Mop. Here is the recipe:

1/2 a grapefruit

Kosher salt

Take half a grapefruit and pour a layer of salt over the cut side. Then rub the salted grapefruit onto the affected areas and you’ll see the soap scum start to lift away. “The grapefruit’s citric acid and the coarseness of the salt work together to power through stubborn scum,” Bowen explains.

To avoid soap scum build-up in the first place, you can spritz this same solution every day after showering. It also helps not to use a shower curtain, according to Bowen, but if you have no choice, she suggests doing your best to keep the area ventilated (by opening a window or, if you don’t have a window, keeping the fan on during and just after bathing).

There are certain toilet problems you can’t escape. However, you’ll never have to sweat over your clogged toilet with a plunger again with this homemade solution from Jake Romano of a plumbing company. And all you’ll need is dish detergent.

Simply pour some dish detergent into the clogged toilet, and follow up with a kettle of boiling water. Repeat as many times as needed. (It could take several tries, but hopefully, it won’t!) When the water level stops rising, you can flush.

Here are 30 secrets your plumber won’t tell you.

There are plenty of weird facts about Coca-Cola you probably never knew, but this one definitely takes the cake. According to Doyle James, president of a plumbing company, the phosphoric acid in Coca-Cola and other cola-style beverages (which makes your cola taste tangy) is highly effective at breaking through drain clogs. And as James points out, Coca-Cola won’t damage your home plumbing.

To use cola to keep your drains running smoothly, start by allowing a two-litre bottle to come to room temperature. Then pour the contents down the drain. For stubborn clogs, allow to sit for as long as 24 hours. Flush with boiling water, and repeat as needed.

Learn 49 surprising things you had no idea you could do with Coca-Cola.

Every so often, pour Coca-Cola down your drain, as described above, but let it sit for just an hour or two before rinsing with boiling water. An alternate method for maintaining the smooth flow of your plumbing (one that does not involve cola) comes to us from Romano. You’ll need:

1/2 cup of baking soda

1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar

Simply pour these two ingredients down the drain you wish to clean, and let sit for an hour before flushing with boiling water.