Homemade Plastic-Free Cleaning Spray
Spilled juice on the floor, a greasy kitchen stove, or stains from the coffee mug. Your first habit is to use a commercial cleaning spray from the supermarket, right?
There is nothing wrong with it, we’ve been “brainwashed” with TV ads since the 70s. However, such cleaning products are full of hardly pronounceable ingredients that are not good for us if we overuse them.
Furthermore, they come in single-use plastic bottles. While you can recycle the plastic bottles themselves in the curbside recycling bin, the nozzle cannot be recycled and ends up in landfill. Quite a bit of plastic right, considering that usually 80% of your cleaning products are made of water. Did you know?
Today we are going to show you an amazing recipe to make a non-toxic ingredient and plastic-free cleaning spray. By plastic-free, we mean that you can repurpose a plastic spray bottle and continue to reuse it to make a DIY spray cleaner.
What are the benefits of making your homemade cleaning spray?
First of all, it is perfectly safe for your children and the environment. When you use a chemical-free cleaning spray on your kitchen table or bench, your baby chair, etc you have that peace of mind to reduce the chemical load in your household. Traditionally, cleaning sprays contain chemicals that are hard to decompose with water. Over time, this can affect ourselves, our wildlife, and our environment. Lastly, it is cheaper than buying all those different cleaning products advertised on the web and largely available in grocery stores. We have been brought to believe that we need a different cleaning product for each area of the house but these are simply great marketing techniques. The money we save can be spent on other items.
Before we get started, there are two tips:
- Do not combine products containing ammonia with chlorine bleach because it will be released poisonous gases.
- Please label all ingredients on your homemade cleaning spray in case children or pets drink it by mistake.
Related: 10 Best Zero-Waste Cleaning Products
Homemade cleaning spray recipe
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lemon – Use the peel only
- 1 orange – use the peel only
- 2 cups of white vinegar
- A handful of fresh thyme
- Pre-boiled cooled water
THINGS YOU WILL NEED:
- A glass jar that can hold up to 3 cups of liquid
- A glass spray bottle is better as the acids can erode the plastic, but if you don’t have any, simply reuse a plastic spray cleaner you had already in your household
- A strainer
METHOD:
- Peel your lemon & orange, we are using the peel only for this recipe, the more white flesh the better as well!
- Pop your peels into your glass jar.
- Next place the thyme sprigs into the glass jar.
- Fill the jar up now with the white vinegar.
- It’s now time for the infusing. Try and wait for 10-14days for this to happen, you will be so pleased with the result, the scent that comes from the long infusion time is well worth the wait.
- Once you are ready to start using your infusion, strain your vinegar mixture removing the orange, lemon & thyme pieces. Throw them on the compost as they have done their job for now.
- This is where your spray bottle is now needed. Decant a 1/2 cup of the infused vinegar mix into your spray bottle & combine with 2 cups of cool pre-boiled water and off you go! Time to sparkle with your very own infused cleaning spray.
- Any leftover infused vinegar will keep in the glass jar until you need to refill your spray bottle, or you can make a 2nd bottle up and give it as a gift. It will be well received because after all, handmade is best!
We hope you enjoyed reading our homemade cleaning spray recipe. Our mission is to help people reduce their plastic waste and at the same time live more sustainably & healthy. Small steps, with no overwhelm, and you’ll build new healthier habits.
Don’t have time to make your own cleaning products in order to avoid nasty chemicals & plastic?
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