21 Natural Cleaning Recipes + Easy Instructions, Tips & Tricks

Looking for natural cleaning recipes? Wanna say goodbye to toxic chemicals?

We’ve got you covered.

Ditching conventional cleaners is one of the best tips to improve indoor air quality, one of the many reasons we started making our own.

So through books, hours of research, and our own trial and error, we’ve put together a list of our most effective non-toxic cleaning recipes with easy instructions for each.

These recipes are pretty much the only thing we clean with and it’s eliminated the costs and need for those toxic unnecessarily strong conventional cleaners (put the Clorox down!).

And no need to go scouring numerous articles for different recipes! This list has all you need.

Let’s dive in!

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Tips & Things to Know 💡

• While these are low-toxic and safe for the environment, they are not safe to consume.
• Tougher cleaning task? Use hot water
• Label each spray bottle/container
• We don’t use bleach in these recipes but if you do use it, DO NOT mix with anything but water. Toxic gases can form! And especially NEVER mix with ammonia.
• For disinfectant recipes, they are most effective on the first day of use but can be used over a few days.

Materials Needed

Wanna create your own recipes? Check out our other post with a full list of non-toxic cleaning materials and some more tips to make your own. But if you just want the materials needed to make the cleaners below, here is a quick list:

• Microfiber Cloths
• Rubbing Alcohol
• 3% hydrogen peroxide
• Castile soap
• Essential Oil set
• Spray bottle
• Foaming bottle
• Glass Jars
• Baking Soda
• Distilled Water
• Olive Oil
• Washing Soda
• Citric Acid
• Borax
• Vinegar
• Lemon Juice
• Salt
• Aspen Clean Laundry Detergent

Natural Cleaning Recipes 🧽

Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner Spray

We use this one pretty much anywhere in the home for everyday cleaning. Use on countertops, cutting boards, shower walls, and many other surfaces.

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients and shake before each use
2. For stubborn messes, spray the all-purpose cleaner and sprinkle some baking soda. Let this sit for a few minutes, then apply some elbow grease with a sponge.

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Natural Disinfectant spray

Another one that we use all over our home. Leave a light spray on after using the all-purpose cleaner for the most effective clean.

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients in spray bottle
2. Shake bottle before each use.
3. Store this solution in a dark brown or black bottle, as hydrogen peroxide is a light-sensitive chemical. Keeping it in a clear bottle will degrade the chemical and make it less effective.
4. This one is good to leave on surfaces and let air dry after cleaning them with our all-purpose cleaner recipe above

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Natural Hand Soap Recipe

Use this simple homemade hand soap recipe for a non toxic way to cleanse your hands. 🧴

Instructions:

1. Add ingredients together into an old foaming pump bottle and shake

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Cutting Board Cleaning

If you have a dirty or smelly cutting board, rub a cut lemon over it and then sprinkle it with baking soda and salt. Let it rest for about an hour and then use a spatula to scrape it off.

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Cleaning the Microwave

Place a couple of lemon slices in a bowl of water. Heat it up for about 60 seconds (get it real steamy) and then remove it and wipe down the inside of the microwave.

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Stinky Fridge

To rid your fridge or freezer of bad smells- simply place an open box of baking soda in either and leave for 2-3 months. Oldest trick in the book but works like a charm.

Also, you might want to get rid of those moldy mushrooms hiding way in the back of the fridge. 🍄 That might help too 🙂

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Natural Dish Soap Recipe

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a soap dispenser. Shake gently before each use.

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Non-Toxic Granite cleaner

Granite’s porous texture can be damaged with certain ingredients so be careful what you use on it. Acidic cleaners can dull and break down the sealing on granite over time.

The following non toxic cleaning recipe is safe for granite countertops.

Instructions:

1. Put each ingredient in a spray bottle and shake before each use

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Natural Grout cleaner

Instructions:

1. Mix these ingredients into a small bowl
2. Apply this onto grout lines and let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Then scrub with an old toothbrush. Wipe with a wet cloth to remove any remaining mixture.

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DIY Non toxic Dishwasher detergent powder

This easy homemade dishwasher detergent is an easy go-to when you don’t feel like hand washing those dishes. 🧽

*Washing dishes in the dishwasher actually uses less water!

Instructions:

1. Place ingredients into an airtight container and shake to mix
2. Use 1-2 tbsp per load

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Natural Oven Cleaner

Before cleaning, be sure your oven is off!

Instructions:

1. Sprinkle salt over the mess. Then mix ½ cup of baking soda with 3 tbsp water in a reusable jar to make a thin paste and apply as needed to the oven surface.
2. It will work better the longer you let the paste sit.
3. After it has sat for a while, spray our all-purpose cleaner on it (or you can simply use a vinegar spray) and then wipe (or scrub) clean.

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Smelly Carpet Cleaning Solution

If your carpet smells, sprinkle baking soda over it with some crushed lavender or basil leaves. Leave it for 30 minutes and then vacuum it up. Viola, clean-smelling carpet.

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Eco-Friendly Homemade Furniture Polish

This simple mixture will create a natural furniture polish

Instructions:

1. Mix ingredients and store in a reusable jar
2. Rub on the surface with reusable cloth

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DIY Natural Drain Cleaner

For a clogged drain, mix a cup of baking soda and a cup of distilled white vinegar and pour them down the drain. Let’s sit for a few minutes and then flush the mixture down with a pot of almost boiling hot water.

If this doesn’t work, try fishing out all that hair 🥴

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DIY Natural Scrubbing Powder (Comet Alternative)

Instructions:

1. Mix baking soda, salt, and washing soda in a container with holes at the tip or a container you can poke holes in.
2. Wet the surface and then sprinkle the mixture onto it
3. Then take sals suds (or another cleaning mixture spray from above) and apply to a sponge or scrubbing brush and scrub clean.
4. Don’t use this on stainless steel appliances. Stick to using this only on sinks and bathtubs.

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DIY Natural Sink, Toilet, and Bathtub Cleaner

Instead of 3 different cleaning recipes for the bathroom, this all-in-one recipe will clean every surface of your bathroom. 🚽🛁

Instructions:

1. Mix ingredients and put into a mason jar to store for up to 1-2 months.
2. Take paste and spread around the surface and then scrub with a scrubbing brush.
3. Wash away with water

For best results, take our homemade disinfectant spray, spray on the surface, and leave for 10 minutes before cleaning with the mixture.

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DIY Non-Toxic Window/Glass Cleaner

Instructions:

1. Mix these ingredients into a spray bottle and shake to mix. Spray on window
2. Wipe with a microfiber cloth or lint-free rag

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DIY Non-Toxic Floor Cleaner

Remember, avoid any recipes for your floors that involve some type of oil. Walkable surfaces and oil do not go well together. 🤕

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients to a spray bottle and shake.
2. Spray directly on the floor and then wipe with a damp cloth by hand or with our DIY sustainable swiffer below

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DIY sustainable swiffer pads:

Take an old cloth, shirt, or other reusable fabric and attach it to a swiffer using pins or clips. Wash and replace after every clean. We have plenty of old shirts and rags that are put to use constantly for tasks like this- think outside the box!

*We have a no-shoes policy in our house. You track all kinds of things (and germs) in your home with your shoes (yuck). It will help keep those floors clean a lot longer too.

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Non-Toxic Laundry Detergent

Ok, we’ll admit we’re stumped on this one.

We found that Soap Nuts and our own natural recipes were great for most loads, but for those loads that need a little bit more TLC we use Aspen Clean laundry detergent. 🧺

Why?

• Bottles are 100% recycled and recyclable
• Most detergents are EWG verified– Meaning it’s completely free from harmful chemicals
• They clean our clothes very well without leaving that synthetic chemical smell!

Simple as that.

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Natural DIY Air Freshener

Don’t fall for all those synthetic fragrances out there. There are just too many ways you can make your home smell good in the most natural way. We have all sorts of tricks we use.

This recipe will help deodorize and provide a refreshing scent all at once. You can skip the baking soda and alcohol if you just want a smell-good spray.

Instructions:

1. Take ingredients and mix into an upcycled spray bottle
2. Spray as desired

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Natural Home Scents DIY

Wondering what to boil to make the house smell good?

Make a big pot of water and boil the following ingredients until desired. Add as much of each ingredient as you want.

This is my absolute go-to way to make the house smell sooo good. Sometimes I literally just throw random smell-good ingredients together 😊

For a fall/seasonal scent 🍁:

• a few Cinnamon sticks
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp of nutmeg
• Two sliced apples

For a spring/clean house smell 🍃:

• Two sliced pears
• Two sliced lemons
• Handful of cranberries
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 sprigs of Rosemary

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We hope you found our recipes helpful!

Happy Toxic-free cleaning!