Homemade Cleaner Recipes

Go 'Clean & Green' - Tara's homemade cleaner recipes

You may not realise it but often the key ingredients for home made cleaners will already be in your cupboards! - by Tara Dennis

Bicarbonate Of Soda

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is a naturally occurring substance. Baking soda is used in homemade recipes to fight against dirt, grease, and odours.

Olive Oil

Natural polish and timber restorer

White Vinegar

Distilled is best as it stays fresh for longer

Water

Yep, sometimes hot water is all you need. Its too tempting to use a spray and wipe when just water will do.When making homemade products, clean tap water may be used for temporary storage; for long-term storage use distilled water or boiled and then cooled water to limit the possibility of bacteria growth.

Salt

Salt can be used to soften hard water and clothes, and even used as a natural scent booster. And its abrasive properties can be used to scour dirty surfaces, particularly when paired into a paste with a lemon or lemon juice.

Lauren Mancke

Lemons

Fresh citrus, particularly lemons and lemon juice, are amazing natural cleaners. Lemons contain antibacterial properties which aid in fighting unwanted germs and bacteria in the home. Lemons also work to help brighten dull linens in my homemade whitening recipe. Plus, citrus provides an amazing fresh scent to homemade cleaners. Orange and lime peels can be added to vinegar for a fresh antibacterial cleaner.

Essential Oils

For added fragrance and antibacterial such as tea tree.

DID YOU KNOW

Microfibre cloths and other plastic type cleaning scrubbers may seem a great cleaning cloth however they have an invisible pollution side. They shed micro-sized plastic: At approx. $2 a standard cloth they aren’t super cheap or super kind to our oceans.

Bicarb of Soda & Vinegar Tips: Quick & Clean Paste

To make a thick paste, mix 3 parts soda to 1 part water. For cleaning only a few small stains, start with 1/8 cup of soda. Slowly pour in water and mix as you go.

Apply to baking dish/oven leave to dry. Then spray with white vinegar. Wipe off.

Deodoriser

Add to a small bowl or jar and pop a piece of netting over the top, (this helps in case it gets knocked in fridge and spills) with an elastic band to secure and place in your fridge.

Tara Dennis

On Channel Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens, Tara Dennis shares her interior style and design secrets, showing viewers how to transform their homes for less.