There are three things I consistently use to clean my home: vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils. I have shared ways to clean with vinegar and how to clean with baking soda, so today we’ll look at how to clean with essential oils. I have quite a few essential oil recipes that will naturally clean and freshen your home.
How to Clean with Essential Oils | Recipes for Cleaning with Essential Oils
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There are a lot of cleaning products you can purchase in stores, but if you have ever looked at the ingredient list it is either absent or may contain vague terms like “cleaning agents”, “dye” and “surfectants”. Making your own cleaning products means you know exactly what you’re spraying on your counters or scrubbing your toilets with.
Please note: You can view any of these essential oil recipes (in detail), by clicking on the link below the image.
All Purpose Cleaner Recipe
Vinegar is one of the main ingredients in this All Purpose Cleaning Spray, but as you know, the smell of vinegar can be a bit unpleasant. Adding a few drops of essential oils (like lemon and an immune supporting blend) enhances its effectiveness and covers up that vinegar smell.
Reusable Cleaning Wipes Recipe
I can honestly say I haven’t bought cleaning wipes in years! This recipe is made with an immune blend and is used on everything from toilet seats to light switches to remote controls.
DIY Toilet Bombs
If you want to freshen your toilets between cleanings, these DIY toilet bombs are perfect. They are made with both lemon essential oil and an immune blend.
DIY Dish Soap Recipe
I hesitated to try a DIY Dish Soap recipe, but this one smells amazing (using both pine and grapefruit essential oils) and the suds last throughout the entire load of dishes.
Homemade Shower Cleaner
This DIY Shower Cleaner can be made with a variety of different essential oils, but I always add some tea tree to help with mold and mildew.
Lemon Essential Oil As A Natural Degreaser
Do you ever get stubborn grease build-up above your stove? It’s the worst. I can never get it clean with just soap and water. Enter lemon essential oil. This stuff is amazing at removing greasy grime.
How to Naturally Freshen Your Home with Essential Oils
There are so many products on the market made to freshen our homes: plug-ins, room sprays, candles and reed diffusers… the list goes on. What you may not know is companies do not have to disclose the ingredients they use to make their fragrances because they are considered proprietary. When you purchase a product and “fragrance” is on the list, it could be made with any number of over 3,500 ingredients… yikes! The following recipes naturally freshen your home using essential oils, so you know exactly what’s in the products you’re using.
DIY Wax Melts
I have made a couple versions of these DIY wax melts. For warmer months, I use lavender and rosemary essential oils coupled with dried lavender buds and rosemary. Come fall, I go with a peppermint mocha version using peppermint essential oil and fresh coffee grounds.
DIY Room Spray Recipe
I made my first room spray around the holidays, so I originally used a holiday blend, but you can create a room spray with whatever oils you love. Go floral. Go with fresh herbs. Or create a holiday blend. Your choice.
Carpet & Upholstery Deodorizer
When we brought home a new puppy, potty accidents were a daily occurrence. Instead of a store-bought carpet deodorizer, I made my own using baking soda and a purifying blend of essential oils… and it was amazing! It worked so well at ridding the carpet of odors.
DIY Linen Spray
Linen Spray is considered, by most, to be a luxury item, but you can easily make your own for less than a dollar! Because lavender is known for its calming effect, we used lavender essential oil in our recipe, but you can always switch it out for any oil of your choosing.
DIY Car Freshener
Car smell like old fries and gym socks? Instead of grabbing those overpowering car fresheners from the gas station, try this idea using a “Stress Easy” blend
Freshen Trash Cans
I find the smell of scented garbage bags to be overpowering and unpleasant, so I use essential oils to reduce odors in in my garbage cans, and it’s so simple to do.
DIY Air Freshener
If you’d rather go with a room freshener that doesn’t involve a spray, you can try out this DIY Room Freshener using baking soda & essential oils… or ground coffee 🙂
Freshen Laundry with Scented DIY Dryer Balls
Some people say they miss the scent of dryer sheets when they switch to dryer balls. Adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil to the dryer balls can help freshen the laundry.
Soften Laundry with DIY Fabric Softener
Store bought fabric softeners create a residue that builds up over time, increasing the flammability of clothing. Instead, try this natural fabric softener which uses vinegar to strip residue from clothing and linens, creating softer fabrics naturally.
DIY Laundry Scent Booster
Store-bought laundry scent booster often contain artificial fragrances. Instead, try this DIY version using salt and essential oils.
Looking for More Ways to Freshen Your Home with Essential Oils?
Try our favorite diffuser blends!
Diffuser Blends for Fall & Winter | Diffuser Blends for Spring & Summer
Common Questions About How to Clean with Essential Oils
What Are the Best Essential Oils for Cleaning?
There are many essential oils that work well for cleaning. Citrus oils (like lemon, orange, and grapefruit) are great for cutting through grease and grime while adding a bright, fresh scent to any homemade cleaner. Pine is another great oil for cleaning; you often see it added to store-bought cleaners. We often add an immune blend to our cleaning recipes. This blend combines clove, cinnamon, rosemary, lemon, and eucalyptus to create a pleasant scent, but it also has some powerful essential oils that aid in cleaning. Tea Tree is used for cleaning mold and mildew. It doesn’t have a great smell, but it’s great for cleaning.
Is It Safe to Use Essential Oil in Cleaning Recipes Around Pets?
It is true that certain furry friends don’t do well with essential oils. We have a small dog and I have had no issues using cleaning products that contain essential oils. However, I do take certain precautions:
- As I would with any cleaning product, I store everything out of reach
- When using cleaning products with added essential oils, I make sure our dog is not close by
- When diffusing essential oil, I make sure to do so in an open space where our dog always has the opportunity to leave
With that said, cats are much more sensitive to essential oil, so you may want to take even more precautions if you happen to have any feline friends in your home.
Remember that you get to choose what you feel comfortable doing in your home. The following are some ideas that may help you feel more comfortable using essential oils around pets:
- Use less drops of essential oil than the recipe calls for
- Switch out the essential oil in the recipe to something that is safe for your pet
- Most (if not all) of our cleaning recipes can be made without the addition of essential oil, so you can simply omit it
Here are some additional resources you may find helpful when it comes to using essential oil around pets.
Essential Oils and Dogs | Essential Oils and Cats | Safe & Unsafe Essential Oils for Dogs
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