Search This Blog

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Homemade Floor Cleaner

There are so many disposable cleaning products on the market today.  It's kind of depressing.  Disposable dusters, mops, toilet bowl brushes, you name it.  Not only are these products wasteful, but they're expensive and filled with chemicals.  I used to buy Swiffer Wet Jet mops back when they first came out about 9 years ago.  Then I realized, how wasteful they were.  You can't refill the cleaner bottle, and the Swiffer pads can only be used a few times, and then have to be thrown out.  Not a good idea.

From there, I switched over to a reusable microfiber mop.  This is a much better concept, with reusable microfiber pads that can be washed in the washing machine.  Right now, I'm using the Scotch Brite microfiber mop.

I also use the Method oMop, but it's a bit smaller and the head tends to flip over a lot while mopping.  Rather than slopping around with a bucket, I was using oMop floor cleaner, and then just spraying it on the floor as I went.  I ran out of oMop cleaner one day, so I decided to make my own.  Since the oMop bottle can be refilled, I made my own recipe and saved some money!  If you don't feel like making your own floor cleaner, Method's product is a good eco-friendly alternative, and it works well and smells very nice.

Here's my recipe:

1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
15-20 drops of lavender or pure peppermint oil

Combine all ingredients in a squirt bottle and shake to mix.  The bottle below is great for mixing up my own floor cleaner, but any squirt bottle will do.


You probably already have these ingredients in your house.  If not, run over to your neighborhood Costco or Sam's Club and buy a huge bottle of white vinegar.  I promise, if you want to make your own cleaners, you'll make good use out of a large bottle of vinegar.  Check out my drain cleaning tips and homemade kitchen disinfectant for other great uses for white vinegar.  If you don't have any essential oils, it's not necessary for the recipe.  The vinegar smell will dissipate after 10 minutes or so after mopping.

If you don't want to invest in a reusable microfiber mop, just use rags to wipe the floor.  I bought a huge bag of plain white rags about 8 years ago, and I use them now for everything.  I rarely use paper towels for anything.  I just keep rags in drawers around the house, and then just wash them in the washing machine with hot water and hydrogen peroxide bleach.  The rags will pay for themselves in about a month!