I remember the day I sprayed some kitchen cleaner on my counter top and then went to knead bread on the same surface. I paused for a moment before turning out the dough, and picked up the cleaner bottle to read the back.
What did I see? CAUTION: Not for internal use. Eye irritant. Call a poison control center immediately if ingested. Keep out of reach of children. Etc., etc.
I got out a cutting board for my kneading my dough.
But as a non-crunchy, uninformed young girl in my first apartment, I had no idea what to use as an alternative. Natural homemade cleaning products weren’t even on my radar. For a while, I just wiped down my counter with a wet rag and dish soap.
Somewhere along the line, I was introduced to the world of homemade cleaners. What a novel idea! My sister-in-law emailed her recipes, I searched the blog world, and eventually came up with a cleaner that works just fine for multiple surfaces in our household.
I know there are 30 gazillion homemade cleaner recipes out there, but I figured this might help some other first-apartment newlywed who had never heard of a homemade cleaner before either. Here we go:
Fill an old spray bottle halfway with vinegar and halfway with water. Then add about 10 drops of essential oil of your choice. (I like using orange EO for some yummy citrus freshness.) And that’s it.
It’s cheap, it’s simple, and it’s completely safe for food surfaces and kid usage.
If you’re not going to use it for food surfaces, you could also add some tea tree oil for an anti-bacterial effect. Usually, however, I make the cleaner without it, and just add a splash of tea tree in the toilet before scrubbing. That way, my all-purpose cleaner stays all purpose.
Go now, and scrub without worries. 🙂
