Why Make Your Own Floor Cleaner?
Cleaning your floors regularly is important to keep your home looking its best. However, many commercial floor cleaners contain harsh chemicals that can be harmful to your health and the environment. Making your own natural floor cleaner is a great way to clean and disinfect your floors while avoiding these chemicals.
Some key benefits of natural cleaners include:
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Gentle on lungs and airways: Harsh fumes from chemicals in commercial cleaners can irritate lungs and worsen asthma or allergies. Natural cleaners made from plant-based ingredients have mild, pleasant scents.
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Kid and pet friendly: Natural cleaners pose little risk if kids or pets touch or ingest them, unlike commercial cleaners which often require warnings to keep out of reach.
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Better for the environment: Natural cleaners break down quickly rather than lingering as pollution. Their ingredients can often be composted.
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Cost effective: Homemade natural cleaners cost a fraction of commercial cleaners.
Choosing Ingredients For Natural Floor Cleaner
Making an effective natural floor cleaner is simple with just a few key ingredients:
Castile Soap
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Potent cleaning power: Castile soap, made from vegetable oils, can cut through grease and grime without chemicals.
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Low impact: Unscented Castile soap has very few ingredients. It’s biodegradable and gentle for the environment.
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Versatile: Castile soap isn’t just for floors! It can be used throughout the house for cleaning.
Essential Oils
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Disinfectant properties: Many essential oils like tea tree, eucalyptus, and lemon have antibacterial and antimicrobial powers to sanitize floors.
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Pleasant aroma: Essential oils smell naturally fresh and invigorating, not synthetic and harsh like commercial cleaners.
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Variety: There are many essential oils to experiment with for your own custom natural cleaner scent.
Baking Soda
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Deodorizing: Baking soda absorbs tough odors like pet messes rather than just masking them.
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Gentle abrasive: Baking soda has just enough grit to scrub floors without being too harsh.
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Multipurpose: Like Castile soap, baking soda has many uses around the house for cleaning and deodorizing.
My Go-To Natural Floor Cleaner Recipe
For a simple but highly effective homemade floor cleaner, my personal recipe includes:
- 1/2 cup Castile soap
- 1/2 cup white vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 gallon hot water
- 15-20 drops essential oil (tea tree, lavender, lemon etc)
- 1/4 cup baking soda (for scrubbing)
I put the Castile soap, vinegar/lemon juice and essential oil in a bucket first. I then add the hot water, stirring to mix the solution. For scrubbing tougher spots, I sprinkle the baking soda directly on the floor and scrub with a brush or sponge mop.
The vinegar helps the soap dissolve and cut through grease. It also counteracts soap scum building up. I prefer white vinegar for a odorless cleaner or lemon juice for a fresh citrus scent.
For essential oils, tea tree and eucalyptus offer the strongest sanitizing effect. Lavender provides a calming aroma and lemon brings a clean, energizing fragrance. I suggest experimenting with different oil combinations to create your own signature cleaner.
This natural floor cleaner leaves my floors shining without any chemical residue or harsh fumes. I feel good knowing I’m not exposing my family and pets to harmful ingredients or releasing toxins into the environment.
Tips For Using Natural Floor Cleaner
Here are some of my top tips for getting the best results from natural floor cleaner:
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Use lukewarm water: Hot water can strip floor finish. Warm water is sufficient. Avoid cold water as it won’t dissolve cleaner well.
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Mix a fresh batch weekly: Natural cleaner ingredients can start to grow mold after a week. Mix up smaller batches to save your cleaner.
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Shake before use: The Castile soap concentrate can settle on the bottom. Give your bottle a good shake to remix.
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Use a sponge mop: A sponge mop avoids streaks and cleans floors efficiently in less time.
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Rinse well: Especially if using vinegar, rinse floors thoroughly so no residue remains to dull the shine.
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Air dry: Let floors completely dry rather than walking on damp floors to avoid streaks or slipping. Consider a “wet floor” sign.
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Reapply baking soda: For stubborn spots, sprinkle baking soda directly on the area and let sit before scrubbing again.
With these tips, your natural homemade floor cleaner should effectively clean and shine your floors while avoiding any unwanted chemicals. Maintain the integrity of your home and health with an all-natural cleaning solution you control.
