"Vinegar or baking soda does work, but you'll need to put more effort in to get the same effect of a commercial product," Dr Musgrave says. "If you have adverse reactions, or don't like the smell of commercial products, [home-made products] can be your go to."
The results of our educational experiment seem to suggest homemade cleaners are less effective at disinfecting surfaces. Or, at least, you need to be especially prudent about your recipe. “My initial thoughts from the homemade cleanser were that it didn't work at all,” said Dr. Renk.
To make it, combine half a cup of distilled white vinegar with 2 cups of water. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil or a squeeze of lemon for scent; since these are in low concentrations, they'll be safe for more surfaces.
Here's how to do it: Combine 1 1/2 cups rubbing alcohol with 3/4 cups water and 15 drops each of lavender and lemon essential oil in a metal or glass spray bottle. You can use this spray to disinfect everything you would typically use Lysol for, including toilets, laptops, bathrooms surfaces, door handles, and more.
1 - Vinegar
It's made up of 95% water and 5% acetic acid, which kills about 80% of germs. As such, it's a powerful, natural disinfectant that can be used to clean your sweat-stained clothes, wash your dishes, clean rusty tools, and remove hard water deposits.
Household natural sanitizers like lemon juice and vinegar reduced the number of pathogens to undetectable levels. Vinegar can inhibit growth of and kill some food-borne pathogenic bacteria. Plus, vinegar's bactericidal activity increased with heat! (Salt helped too.)
Cleaning vinegar or white vinegar – not apple cider vinegar or wine vinegar – is most commonly chosen for cleaning. However, it's important to remember that while vinegar does work as a disinfectant to some degree, it is not as effective as bleach or commercial cleansers when it comes to killing germs.
That being said, most products will work great for at least 3 months after mixing them up. Still, I find it easiest to mix up just the amount that will fit inside my spray bottles. I prefer not to be storing large bottles of excess product in addition to the spray bottle that I'm actually using for cleaning. Good luck!
Some of the items in your pantry (like baking soda and vinegar) work as effective homemade all-purpose cleaners and, even better, cost next to nothing.
Spills and trash get taken care of on an as-needed basis every day or two. Vacuuming and mopping should happen at least once a week. Clean carpets every three to six months. Living rooms and bedrooms should be attacked at least once a week.
Determining how often to clean a house depends on size, how often rooms are used, and the types of furniture and surfaces you have. Some things need to be cleaned every day, while a general clean can be done once a week, and deep clean every few months or annually.
To save money
In many cases, making your own cleaning and personal care products is cheaper than the conventional, store-bought alternatives. That's not always the case though. If your main reason in making homemade products is to save money, you'll want to be sure to add up all the costs before starting.
Ingredients: 🍊Orange Peels ✨Vinegar Place orange peels into a glass mason jar and pour vinegar until peels are covered. Simply store away in a cool, dark place for two weeks. Waiting the full two weeks will result in a strongly infused all-purpose cleaner that will smell so amazing!
Vinegar works well on dirt, mold and mineral deposits as well as on other acid stains including coffee. Therefore, you may have found vinegar did a good job removing your coffee or tea stain. Hydrogen peroxide works differently than vinegar and is better at removing different types of stains.
Rinsing is not necessary! If you're simply using a vinegar and water solution to wipe and disinfect, you won't need to rinse. However, if there's also plenty of dirt and grime you're wiping away, you may also want to rinse with some extra water.
Vinegar and peroxide work well in tandem because they both kill germs but in different ways. They make a good one-two punch because vinegar is good at killing some germs and hydrogen peroxide is better at killing others.
When users spray the aerosol product in a closed, unoccupied room in accordance with the label use-directions, Lysol Air Sanitizer can kill bacteria and viruses in the air and suppress odor in residential and commercial settings, such as homes, schools, hotels, daycare centers, and office buildings.
Bleach is one of the best household cleaners to use with any virus. Most households already have this extremely common item. When cleaning, mix half a cup of bleach with a gallon of hot water.
Vinegar is great for a lot of things, and one of those includes replacing your bleach. It can disinfect, brighten your clothing and even help remove soap residue. It's around 80% effective against viruses and mold bacteria, which makes it a great choice for a natural disinfectant.