 |
Aromatics have long had history in our kitchens – though they usually find their way into savory dishes and an occasional dessert. With the resurgence of essential oils being used in the everyday home for cleaning and health benefits, those fragrant and helpful aromatics are finding their way onto our counters! |
We searched high and low for an amazing smelling and effective homemade kitchen cleaning spray (that’s good for the bathroom and the rest of the house, too!) and turned to our friend Courtney, who is a Young Living distributor, for the low down. She suggested using a water and vinegar base to mix a custom blend that cleans and leaves an amazing smell behind.
To make your own kitchen cleaning spray, you’ll need white or apple cider vinegar, water, a glass spray bottle, and the essential oils of your choosing. I will freely admit that I picked primarily based on smell – but knowing what each oil does and how it contributes to the health of your home is important! The full recipe is below – but I used thieves (a combination of clove, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary – is excellent at killing viral & bacterial microorganisms), lavender (the smell!!!), lemon (cuts grease, disinfectant, the smell!!!), eucalyptus (grease cutter and the smell!!!), and tea tree (anti-fungal). I might have gone overboard – but my kitchen counters aren’t complaining. Join Courtney in her amazing Facebook Group, Be Well, Naturally to get more helpful hints, ask questions about specific oils, and guidance on which oils might be right for you.
A note about the vinegar: It is an acid, and has it’s own amazing properties – it degreases, deodorizes, dissolves soap scum and is cheap! The vinegar smell dissipates fairly quickly once it’s dry.
There are several recipes out there in blog land that call for the addition of castille soap to the vinegar! That’s a big NO NO! Castille soap is a base and when it’s mixed with the vinegar (and acid) it creates a whole other goopy, not effective for cleaning, mess. Basically the castille soap separates into it’s respective parts and pieces and neither ingredient are useful for cleaning at that point. You could also experiment with using rubbing alcohol in place of the vinegar.
It is suggested that mixtures that include essential oils be stored in glass containers to prevent the oils from corroding the plastic. Not sure where to find a glass cleaning bottle (because, to be honest, after searching high and low locally, I was about to buy one on Amazon and have it overnighted to me for an absurd amount of money because, well, RIGHTNOW! )? Look in your refrigerator or pantry. Many spray bottle tops you have in your home will fit on glass bottles you already have. We tested a Perrier bottle, a Topo Chico bottle and a sparkling lemonade bottle. Bonus – if you go through a lot of kitchen cleaner, the larger container will help with how often you make the cleaner! A simple, recycled, glass spray bottle!
Essential oils can break down in direct sunlight, and that makes them less effective – if your glass isn’t colored, or even if it is, you might like to add a cute label to it. This label was printed on Silhouette Printable Cotton Canvas – it’s self adhesive and requires no special cuts. The image below is sized to print on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of the printable cotton canvas and only needs to be cut in half. If your bottle isn’t as wide as the 11″, just trim to fit!
Just right click and save or right click, click on the image to open in new tab, and save to use this label on your own cleaner! The top is what was used on the large bottle in the picture above. The bottom label might be more suitable for a narrower or smaller bottle.
Homemade Kitchen Cleaner Recipe:
1 part vinegar
1 part water
About 15-25 drops of essential oils (we recommend Young Essentials) per cup of solution.
Combine in a glass spray bottle. Shake before using. Spray on surface to be cleaned (counter, stove, high chair, table, etc.) and let sit for a minutes, then wipe up as you would any other cleaner.
It’s been suggested that vinegar solutions should not be used on marble or granite because of the potential etching that may occur. Please use discretion when deciding what surfaces you’ll spray it on!
Love the combination of scents- it must be wonderful in the kitchen! Love the tip about the glass bottles, too. I’m definitely going to have to do a little “shopping” in our kitchen.
The oils might make it not smell so much like vinegar….which I can’t stand!! :p I’ll have to try this out!! Thank you for the info!
I’m curious about essential oils and it never occurred to me that you can use them for cleaning. How neat! I bet they smell amazing.
I love vinager for cleaning and the glass bottles make them so pretty
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I love using vinegar when i clean!
If anyone is interested in purchasing these essential oils from Young Living, the direct link is here with my sponsor id already filled in: https://www.youngliving.com/signup/?site=US&sponsorid=1624842&enrollerid=1624842
Like Amanda said, more information can be found on my facebook page “Be Well, Naturally” and I am happy to answer any oil-related questions for you there!
P.S. Totally digging the perrier and topo chico bottles! What a fantastic idea for reusing! Very appropriate, too, considering today is Earth Day! ;)
What a great way to clean the house! Love reusing the bottles
How many drops of each EO did you use in your recipe?
Hi Tonya – I followed the “about 10 drops per cup of liquid” rule but just went by my nose for the number of each. I actually added a little more lemon the other day to really cut the toddler dinner mess :) Hope that helps!
These are beautiful! I would love to link to them if you didn’t mind!
Please feel free, Rachel! We’d love that!
I use old Bragg’s ACV bottles. Just put an old sprayer on top and there you go.
I understand that oils break down plastic and should therefore be stored in a glass bottle, but what about the insert that actually sprays the cleaner? Isn’t that plastic?
Kate,
I can’t believe none of us thought of this! I’ve gone and done some research, but from what I can tell, all the glass spray bottles that are manufactured for essential oils have the plastic tube and nozzle. It may just be that you’ll need to replace the nozzle at some point.
I know the glass bottle I purchased through Amazon came with an extra cap. I believe after one uses the cleaner the spray should be removed and the bottle capped to increase longevity of the spray
Shara Lynn, That is a great idea!
You are so right that castille soap shouldn`t be mixed with vinegar. I made this mistake once. I have read somewhere online. Thank you for sharing this article! It is really useful. Best regards!
The homemade cleaner I made was based for 24 oz plastic spray bottle. PET 1 is fine to use or HDPE plastic. Anyways, it’s equal parts water, vinegar and 4 oz alcohol and 2 oz witch hazel (emulsifier) and 48 drops total essential oils. The ones I used are, fighting five, lemon, peppermint, oregano and lemongrass. All of which smell good plus disinfect and clean while we’re all sick! :) I only do 3 drops oregano, cause it’s pretty potent and a little goes a long way. It is 49x more potent as an antibacterial, antiviral cleaner than lysol as a disinfectant! :) the emulsifier was added so I don’t have tk worry about my oils and water based products separating. Vinegar is my go to. But I love hydrogen peroxide the best. It has no smell and it is proven to clean AND disinfect. Still I add lemon, grapefruit and fighting five to my hydrogen peroxide and use it to clean the bathrooms and toilets. I may even sprinkle some baking soda first and then spray the peroxide for added cleaning power. :)
I have already use old Bragg’s ACV bottles. Just put an old sprayer on top and there you go.
Thanks for the nice article ! !
i will gave you a best site of homemade glass cleaner you cannot see like this in the world
http://www.homemadeglasscleaner.org/
Do you have any EO recipes that are safe to use on marble and granite? I just got my YL premium starter kit so I am limited to those oils but would love to replace our counter and bathroom tile cleaners with an EO recipe. Thank you!