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Tips & Advice 8 min read

How to make your own cleaning products

December 22, 2020

Whether you’re saving money or saving the environment - or indeed both - one cunning tactic is to have a go at making your own cleaning products. Easily conjured up using simple, cheap ingredients, many of which you probably already have lurking about in your kitchen cupboards, homemade cleaning products are a satisfying way to get your home spick and span. Here are some of our favourites.

For cleaning the kitchen

You can’t go wrong with good ol’ bicarb when it comes to keeping the kitchen clean and sparkling. Simply combine four tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda with a bit of warm water and use the solution to scrub worktops, get the fridge smelling fresh or get rid of those revolting drain odours. You can even mix it into a paste and use it to get stainless steel or ceramic sinks looking all shiny again. You can use the stuff you have in the baking cupboard, or try Dri-Pak for a bigger pack if you don’t want to exhaust your supply of cake-making ingredients.

For cleaning windows

Get your windows and mirrors gleaming with a simple homemade window cleaner. Simply combine two cups of water with half a cup of vinegar (cider or white) and a quarter of a cup of rubbing alcohol and pour it into a spray bottle. You can even make it smell nice by popping in a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil.

 

We love the Fushi Ylang Ylang oil for adding in an essential oil scent.

For cleaning brass

If you have brass on your door knobs, around your fire grate or anywhere else in your home, you’ll want to know about this simple homemade brass polisher. Simply put lemon juice or white vinegar onto a cloth, sprinkle the brass surface with table salt and get polishing. When you’re done, use water to rinse it thoroughly and then dry it off with a soft, dry cloth. Et voila!

For cleaning just about anything else (except granite!)

You name it, you can clean it with a homemade all-purpose cleaner. Mix one part water with one part white vinegar, pop it in a spray bottle and add a rind of lemon and a sprig or two of rosemary. Give it a shake, leave all this to infuse for a week and then you’re good to go. Use it for getting kitchen worktops and bathrooms sparkling, for getting rid of marks on the wall, for cleaning rubbish bins and for just about anything else - but a word to the wise: don’t use this cleaner on granite.

It couldn’t be easier to make your own household cleaning products, but if you don’t have time, don’t worry - our huge range of cleaning products will come to the rescue!

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