Find more than 10 tried-and-true recipes for simple DIY cleaning products you can make at home in minutes!
When it comes to cleaning my home, there are times when convenience and practicality win out (I’m always going to use bleach for my towels and rags). There are other times when it’s so satisfying to mix up a simple homemade cleaner with a few pantry ingredients for pennies on the dollar.
If you share my all-things-in-moderation approach to cleaning products, but love the idea of keeping a handful of simple DIY products on hand for the majority of your cleaning needs, the recipes below are a great place to start.
Each recipe is quick to make, easy to customize, and uses ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice that often have multiple uses around the house.
You don’t need to overhaul your entire cleaning routine or commit to making every product from scratch. Even swapping out one or two cleaners can be a simple way to save money and reduce unnecessary waste.
Sometimes the simplest solutions really are the best!
1. DIY All-Purpose Cleaner
This one-ingredient all-purpose cleaner couldn’t be simpler… and it’s extremely frugal too.
It’s the vinegar-based cleaner I use for almost everything — tables, high chairs, toys, bathrooms, wood floors, tile floors, and almost any other hard surface. I have one bottle mixed up under our kitchen sink, and another in our Bathroom Cleaning Bucket.
The basic recipe:
- Mix equal parts white distilled vinegar and water in any spray bottle.
- Use to clean and wipe down most hard surfaces.
NOTE: The vinegar smell goes away in less than 5 minutes.
Related Reading: More than 100 Uses for Vinegar
2. DIY Window & Glass Cleaner
More often than not, I use the MysticMaid window cleaning cloth to clean our windows, mirrors, or any type of glass. Just get it wet, thoroughly wring it out, and wipe down the mirrors — no cleaning solution of any type necessary.
I’ve been using the same cloth since I got married — so it was a good investment!
However, if you’re looking for a window-cleaning spray, I recommend the recipe below.
The basic recipe:
- Mix 1 c. water, 2 T. vinegar, 2 T. rubbing alcohol, and 1.5 t. cornstarch in a small spray bottle.
- Shake well.
- Spray on windows, mirrors, or any other glass surface.
- Wipe with a soft cloth or paper towel
Related Reading: The Easiest, All-Natural Window and Glass Cleaner
3. DIY Shower Cleaner
I was skeptical about this shower cleaner, but it really does work. I even asked one of my friends who is a professional cleaner, and she says she uses this recipe on all her client’s showers!
The basic recipe:
- Pour 1 c. white vinegar and 1 c. Blue Dawn dish soap into a spray bottle.
- Gently shake.
- Use in all your showers!
Related Reading: The Easiest Homemade Shower Cleaner
4. DIY Chrome Cleaner
Seriously, this “cleaner” works miracles on my chrome shower fixtures — and it takes me all of 3 minutes to complete.
The basic recipe:
- Rub the cut side of a lemon on your chrome fixtures.
- Rinse and dry with a soft cloth.
Related Reading: How to Clean Chrome with Lemons
5. DIY Granite Counter Cleaner
When we had granite counters installed in our new kitchen, we were told we shouldn’t use a vinegar-based DIY cleaner as the vinegar could eat away at the granite. So I set out to find another homemade cleaner that would be suitable for my new counters.
It didn’t take long to find one that worked really well, and I’ve been faithfully using this recipe ever since.
The basic recipe:
- Mix 1/4 c. rubbing alcohol and 3-4 drops of dish soap in a 16 oz. spray bottle.
- Fill the bottle the rest of the way with water (about 1 and 3/4 c.).
- Use to clean any granite surface.
Related Reading: Read more details about this cleaning method here.
6. DIY Stainless Steel Cleaner
Along with our granite counters, we also installed stainless steel appliances in our kitchen. I was originally hesitant to get stainless steel because I hate all the fingerprints. However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how low-maintenance our appliances are.
That said, I still wipe them down on a daily basis with one of 4 simple DIY cleaners.
My favorite method is using a damp microfiber cloth. However, vinegar, dish soap, and a little oil are all great options as well.
Related Reading: Read more about my favorite stainless steel cleaners.
7. DIY Drain Cleaner
I’ve been successfully cleaning my sink, shower, and tub drains with this DIY mixture for years — even before I had my own house. It’s so fast and effective, and really frugal compared to the expensive (and super smelly) drain cleaners you can buy in the stores.
The basic recipe:
- Dump 1/2 c. of baking soda and 1/2 c. salt into the drain.
- Pour 1 c. of vinegar down the drain (it will bubble and foam up).
- Slowly pour an entire kettle of boiling water down the drain (it will bubble and foam again).
- Use a plunger or a drain snake for heavy clogs (when necessary).
Related Reading: How to Clear a Clogged Drain
8. DIY Garbage Disposal Cleaner
If you’re looking for a great way to clean your garbage disposal, sharpen the blades, and put some of your citrus rinds to good use, I’ve got JUST the recipe for you!
The basic recipe:
- chop citrus peels (or whole citrus fruits) into small chunks
- place chunks into ice cube trays or mini muffin tins
- pour vinegar over peels until compartments are full
- place trays in the freezer until completely frozen
- store tabs in trays or in a zip-top bag in the freezer until you’re ready to use
Related Reading: How to Make Garbage Disposal Cleaning Tabs
9. DIY Fabric Softener
We installed a full-house humidifier on our furnace a few years ago, but even still, our house tends to get dry in the winter months, which means more static cling on our clothing.
Wool dryer balls are my go-to for reducing static cling, but there are so many other useful methods too — like safety pins, aluminum foil, vinegar, and simply using less detergent or drying on a lower temperature.
Related Reading: 10 Easy Static Cling Fixes
10. DIY Foaming Hand Soap
If you’d like to save a TON of money on hand soap, make your own foaming hand soap (it’s so easy!)
I first learned how to make my own foaming hand soap when all our kids were little. The foaming soap was much easier for them to use. Even though we now have teens, we still use DIY foaming soap in all our soap dispensers.
The basic recipe:
- Squirt 2-3 Tbls. of liquid hand soap (or dish soap) into a foaming soap dispenser.
- Fill the rest of the bottle with water.
- Swirl to mix.
Related Reading: How to Make DIY Foaming Hand Soap
11. DIY Makeup Brush Cleaner
If you can’t remember the last time you cleaned your makeup brushes, it’s probably time! Luckily, the DIY recipe I use is super quick and easy, and it just uses 2 ingredients.
The basic recipe
- In a large bowl or small sink, mix hot water and vinegar (baby shampoo also works well).
- Swirl your brushes in the mixture until they come clean (you may need to refresh the water several times).
- Gently squeeze out excess water.
- Reshape brushes and let them dry on a clean towel.
Related Reading: DIY Makeup Brush Cleaner.
Pretty simple, huh?
I know there are many more DIY cleaning products, but I’m not interested in recipes that require expensive ingredients or time-consuming processes — I’d rather buy from the store!
The recipes I’m sharing here are the most basic, tried-and-true, SUPER simple recipes I’ve used to successfully clean my home for nearly 2 decades… so I know they work and I know they are doable for busy lives.
More DIY cleaning resources:
These are my favorite microfiber cleaning cloths. They are so inexpensive (only $10.89 for 5 cloths), and I order a bunch at once to save on shipping.
If you’d rather not spend money on rags, try making DIY t-shirt rags. They’re super soft, they’re free, and they don’t leave any lint behind! I often use these for really grubby jobs, and then toss the rags when I’m finished.
Here’s the link to ALL my cleaning posts from the beginning of my blog!
After you simplify your cleaning cabinet, read this post on 8 tips to simplify my weekly cleaning routine. Who knows, you might actually even enjoy cleaning once you have a simple routine… or maybe not! 🙂
What are your favorite DIY cleaning products?
Ann says
What squirt bottles do you use? I am frequently disappointed with ones that stop working.
Andrea says
I like the glass spray bottles on Amazon. They are usually a 2-pack, nothing fancy though. I’ve had good luck with them over the years. If they do stop working after a couple of years, I figure they are cheap enough to replace 🙂
Dolores says
When I ran out of swiffer cleaner, I went online for ideas. The first was vinegar, a solution. The other was Windex. Being a Costco shopper I buy everything and big lots, I have found that the Windex goes a long way, cleans my vinyl wood-look flooring, and doesn’t smell.
Some of the ingredients in your laundry detergent seem quite harsh; however, I have no idea what’s in the stuff I buy.
Roisin says
Andrea I have Been reading your blog for many years now and love it
This might be a silly question when I make these DIY cleaners how long are they good for? Just the one time or can the keep under the sink and for how long?
Thanks
Andrea says
Hi Roisin!
These cleaners should last a while — several months for sure! Happy Cleaning!
Margaret says
I use Clean Mama’s recipe for laminate floors–equal parts white vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and distilled water in a spray bottle, and use a flat-headed microfiber mop. It’s fast and does a decent job.
For when the yard (and the dogs’s feet) are really muddy I still use a bucket of hot water and either vinegar or Shaklee Basic H with a microfiber cloth and a deck scrubber to push it around. These arthritic knees don’t do hands-and-knees scrubbing.
Diana says
Dish soap plus baking soda makes a super scrubber for nearly anything I’ve tried to scrub.
Andrea says
yes!! especially Dawn dish soap!
Barb says
Andrea, I’ve been using your vinegar and water solution for years now for basic cleaning and love it. But it caused the skin and some of my fingers to dry out and crack. So I tried mixing one part vinegar in three parts water and it works just as well! No cracked fingers and work and more economical !
Andrea says
good to know — thanks for sharing Barb! Glad you figured out a solution to your dry hands!
Chris says
My mom bought me a knock-off Norwex brand of cloth for mirrors and windows similar to what you mentioned. I absolutely love it! All I need is water.
I also recently found out that you can use just a little Dawn dish soap (not too much or you’ll have suds) in the laundry. 1 tsp. for small loads, 2 tsp. for medium loads, and 3 tsp. for large loads.
Andrea says
hmmm… Dawn can do everything!!
Stacey says
One other trick for the Fels-Naptha soap in the homemade laundry detergent – instead of grating, I microwave one bar at a time for around a minute and a half until it’s all “puffed up.” Let it cool completely and you can just crumble it with your hands – down to almost a powder if you want. I found this to be easier than using the grater.
Andrea says
Thanks Stacey, a few others have shared this tip and I did actually try it the last time! It worked great!!
Lee Cockrum says
For some reason this post has not come up in Bloglovin today
Just figured I would let you know in case you have made any changes b
Andrea says
Thanks for letting me know! I was actually just noticing that there was very little traffic to my post today — I wonder if something is messed up or not working properly?? I just sent an email to my tech people now.
Thanks again!
Katie says
I use 1/2c. vinegar, 1/2c. rubbing alcohol and 1c. water in a spray bottle to clean almost any hard surface; including mirrors and stainless steel. Also works on finished wood. The rubbing alcohol helps it dry quickly. I notice it is very similar to your window cleaner.
Andrea says
yes! Vinegar and rubbing alcohol is a great combo for so many things!
Christine @ The (mostly) Simple Life says
My multi purpose cleaner is about half vinegar, half water with a few drops of dish soap and a few drops of lemon essential oils so our house smells super good when the vinegar smell goes away.
Lydia Senn says
I made your granite cleaner last week and it’s like a dream. NO MORE STREAKS!!! Thanks.
Andrea says
yay! Glad it’s working well for you!
Evie Dawson @ Defense Soap says
The good news is that adding just few drops of natural remedies are best (Tea tree oil) to prevent and treat common skin infections.. Thanks for sharing
Brenda says
Hi, Does anyone have anything that works good for dirt/grass stains? My sons play baseball and all their white pants have stains from the brown sand/dirt they use in the infield. I have tried lots of different store bought stain removers, soaking in bleach, and scrubbing with my homemade laundry soap double strength- all with little success.
Also, chocolate, the boys love it and all their shirts have stains.
Help! :~)
Andrea says
Hi Brenda,
I’m personally a fan of Oxi Clean — but I know that’s not “homemade”. I posted your question on my Facebook wall and you can read any responses here 🙂
Christina says
I would suggest brown shirts!!! 🙂
Julia K says
I have been using the following all purpose cleaner for years. I mix it up in an empty 2 or 3 litre milk bottle and then decant into a spray bottle as needed.
40ml dishwashing liquid
40ml eucalyptus oil
2 dessertspoons washing soda
200ml vinegar
1 litre water
I put this in a spray bottle to use for all those “spray and wipe” situations – countertops, marks on walls, toilets etc. I pour a splash into a bucket of super hot water and use to mop floors etc. I hope you can buy Eucalyptus Oil there in the US – but it is a great natural disinfectant and cuts through the vinegar smell.
Another thing I do to save dollars is that I use the “two bucket” method when mopping floors. I fill one bucket with hot water and my home made cleaner – the second bucket with plain hot water only. After I mop a stretch, I rinse the mop in the clean water bucket before dipping in the cleaning solution bucket to mop the next stretch. This keeps the cleaning solution water a bit cleaner. If I am doing loads of mopping, I can empty and refill the rinse bucket several times saving the need to tip out my cleaning solution water all the time.
Every little bit helps.
Cloudy Ammonia is another gem – it is a brilliant grease cutter. Great for cleaning ovens and when my husband wore greasy overalls (coveralls in the US ?) I used to add a cup of Cloudy Ammonia to the wash and ran the machine on the soak cycle – saved a fortune compared to all those expensive spray pre-washes.
Shantel says
Does anyone have a great place to find spray bottles? Sounds like a silly question, but Walmart and Target have ones that are HUGE and (1) seem top heavy if they weren’t completely full I would be knocking them over all the time, and (2) the trigger is too wide for my hands to comfortably grab. I bought some smaller ones (only 8 oz) from the travel section but they are breaking on me after about a month – not good! Thanks for any help!
Rebecca says
There are several choices of spray bottles on Amazon.com.
Karen @ Abundance on a Dime says
Andrea, I love using vinegar for cleaning, too! To make it smell more pleasant I make citrus vinegar, which involves nothing more than throwing your lemon rinds in vinegar and letting them steep for a while – more detailed instructions here: http://abundanceonadime.blogspot.ca/2012/09/a-re-use-it-project-citrus-vinegar.html Since I would have just pitched the lemon rinds in the compost bucket, it doesn’t cost any more and smells a lot nicer 🙂
Andrea says
Sounds like pretty simple solution!
For some reason, I dont’ mind the smell at all so I’ve never bothered with essential oils or any other scents. I know, I’m weird!
lyss says
So…silly questions about your shower cleaner. Do you rinse the cleaner off?
And, does it work on preventing and/or removing mildew? I hate tile for that reason. I can’t get the black mildew off of white grout, and I refuse to use tilex.
Andrea says
Yes, rinse it off — I usually spray it on before I get in the shower, then scrub and rinse while I’m in the shower. It works well for us, but I do have to scrub the grout 🙂
Jen says
I have switched almost my entire cleaning arsenal to DIY / natural products and haven’t looked back. I use the vinegar and water mix that you mentioned to clean just about everything. To clean our toilets, I just sprinkle baking soda around the bowl and spray it down with white vinegar. LEt it sit for a few minutes and then scrub with a toilet brush. Works great and it’s very cost effective!
ShellyL says
Awesome! Love this one. I used to use natural cleaners but when I got into couponing, I began using coupons to get the chemical stuff again. After reading this, I think I may switch back. Even with coupons, this must be cheaper or at least equally cheap. Also, I like the idea of non-toxic healthy cleaner. Thanks for these recipes!
Jen says
I use a vinegar and water mixture for my all-purpose cleaner, too. I also add 20-30 drops each of lemon and tea tree essential oils, which are both antiseptic. But we have laminate counter tops, so I can use it on them. I use the same spray for mirrors, our dining table, and the bathroom sinks, too.
Lydia @ Five4FiveMeals says
Love it! I really like using homemade cleaners because when you have little ones that put EVERYTHING in their mouths you don’t want cleaners “harmful to humans and domestic animals.”
I have used your degreaser cleaner for years, but I cannot get over the vinegar smell. I still gag. But at least my counter tops are clean.