Spring Cleaning: DIY Toxin-Free Cleaners

Do you worry about using toxic chemicals to clean your home? When I bought my RV, I hated the idea of using chemical cleaners. So many of the cleansers had warning labels about avoiding skin contact and toxic fumes. How could I possibly avoid the fumes when I was going to be living in a 300 square foot tiny home? I decided that I needed to make toxin-free cleaners using essential oils and other natural ingredients. That way I could rest easy knowing that the cleaners I used were healthy and I could clean my tiny RV home and be safe. 

Since this is the season of spring cleaning for those living north of the equator, I decided I would share some of my DIY cleaner recipes with you.  These recipes are all-natural so you don't have to worry about nasty toxic chemicals when you clean.  These cleaners are easy to make. You probably have many of the ingredients in your home right now. So, let's gather up some ingredients and start making awesome, wonderful smelling, and toxin-free cleaners.

Basic DIY Cleaning Recipe Ingredients

• Young Living Essential Oils, variety
• Baking Soda
• White Vinegar
• Castile Soap
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Epsom Salt
• Distilled Water
• Witch Hazel
• Citric Acid
• Borax (I do not use on surfaces I touch)

* I only recommend using Young Living Essential Oils (YL) because they are Grade A therapeutic quality oils. Not all oils labeled as pure are 100% essential oils. Many other store brands are only 5% essential oils and 95% carrier oils or the water leftover from the distillation of pure therapeutic oils. For cleaning and aromatherapy, you only want to use oils that are 100% pure oils with no fillers. Quality matters when it comes to you and your family's health and wellness.

DIY Glass Cleaner Spray

This all-natural glass cleaner works great on windows, mirrors, shower doors, the outside of the microwave and other hard surfaces. 

1/2 cup distilled water, less 4 Tbsps.

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

1 Tbsp. rubbing alcohol

8 drops orange essential oil

8 drops lemon essential oil

Mix all ingredients and shake well. Put into a glass spray bottle. Label your DIY container. (Honest, you won't remember a month from now what it is.)

Spray glass surfaces and wipe with a lint-free cloth.

I love these NatureO amber bottles. I bought mine on Amazon. These bottles have settings for mist and stream spray. I like that they are dark glass, so they help the oils stay fresher. 

Toilet and Black Tank Cleaning Mix
One of my least favorite RV jobs is cleaning out the black tank. In case you don't know what that is, think of it as sewer tank mounted under your RV that needs to be emptied and cleaned out. Yuck. What I really hated were the chemicals you were supposed to put in the tanks to clean them. After you put the chemicals in the tank, you were supposed to vent the space and leave the area for 6 to 12 hours. That might work for some people but not for me. I live in my RV! So, I found this great natural toxin-free toilet and tank cleaner. Now, I don't hate cleaning my black tank as much as I used to. Really, I only hate cleaning the toilet a little bit.

1/2 cup Baking Soda

1/2 cup Citric Acid

1/2 cup Borax

10-15 drops Young Living Essential Oils: Purification Blend and/or Thieves Blend

1 tsp. distilled water (Use 1 ½ tsp. if making cleaning bombs)

Directions for Black Tank Cleaning Mix

Mix the baking soda, citric acid, and borax together in a large bowl. Add your essential oils and water. Continue to mix. SLIGHT fizzing is normal. The ingredients should remain as dry as possible.

I store my mixture in a glass jar (mine is a reused pickle jar). I add ½ cup to the toilet bowl and then flush it down about twice a month when the tank is about half full. If you want to get a good scrub, add some on moving day and let the movement of your driving slosh the fizzy mixture around in your black tank.

Notes for Making Cleaning Bombs

Add 1 ½ teaspoons water to the mixture if you want to use molds to make little cleaning bombs. Once the mixture is just barely wet, but sticking together, press the mix tightly into bomb molds. Let the molds dry overnight, then pop them out and store them in an airtight container until you need to use them. Based on the size of your molds, put two bombs in your toilet before flushing.

Sink Drain Freshener and Declogger

1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 cup white vinegar

8 drops YL essential oils (Rosemary, Eucalyptus, and/or Tea Tree)

2 cups hot water

Pour baking soda down the sink drain. Mix vinegar and essential oils. Pour vinegar and essential oil mixture down the drain. Close the sink drain with a washcloth or the drain cover to seal the pipes and contain the reaction. Let this mixture foam and sit for about 15 minutes. Follow up by pouring 2 cups of hot water down the drain. 

Many online recipes for natural drain fresher use lemon oil, so why don't I use it in this recipe?  I have plastic pipes and I find that lemon oil can "melt" plastics. I'm not 100% sure there would be a problem, I just decided not to take a chance.

Orange Creamsicle Homemade Air Freshener

This is my favorite room freshener, and I've shared it with you on this blog before. I love how the orange and other oils help to elevate my mood. The smell just makes me so happy. Somehow everything feels cleaner and brighter.  If you don't like citrus smells, once you make the basic spray mix, you can add whatever oils you want. 

Basic spray mix:

1 oz. Witch Hazel

½ cups Distilled Water

Funnel (or measuring cup with a spout)
Small Aluminum Travel Spray Bottle 

Oils for aromatherapy and air freshening:

2 drops of YL Orange Essential Oil

2 drops of YL Tangerine Essential Oil

2 drops of YL Lemon Essential Oil

2 drops of YL Grapefruit Essential Oil

2 drops of YL Spearmint Essential Oil

3 drops of YL Stress Away Essential Oil

In a bowl or measuring cup with a spout if you don't have a funnel, mix essential oils with the witch hazel.  Add the water and pour the mixture into an aluminum spray bottle.  Print or write a label so you remember what you made.

Here is the link to the bottles I bought on Amazon (http://a.co/3rgr7tL). After two years, the spray nozzle needs to be pulled up each time you spray. I am looking for replacements. Any ideas?

Carpet Freshener

Do you have a stinky wall-to-wall carpet that needs to be freshened up? Mix up this easy to make powder and let it freshen your carpets for you.

1 cup baking soda

5 drops YL Thieves Essential Oil blend (or - 1 drop YL cloves essential oil, 1 drop YL cinnamon essential oil, 1 drop YL rosemary essential oil, 1 drop YL lemon essential oil, and 1 drop YL eucalyptus oil)

Mix the baking soda and essential oil and allow it to dry overnight. Then it is ready to use. Sprinkle the mixture on your carpet, let it sit 15 minutes and when you vacuum it up you will be left with a fresher smelling carpet.

Hard Water Residue Remover Scrub

1 cup Epsom salts

½ cup baking soda

¼ cup Castile soap

2 drops YL essential oil (your choice, but don’t use citrus oils on plastic or granite surfaces)

Mix all the ingredients together in a small container or bowl right before you want to use it.  Put a small amount of the scrub mixture on a damp cloth and rub in a circular motion on shower doors, bathtubs, tiles, drains, and faucets. Let the mixture rest on surfaces for a few minutes then lightly rub again to remove hard water residue. Rinse with warm water and dry with a lint-free cloth. This scrub works best on dry surfaces.

Mold and Mildew “Killer” Spray

½ cup of water

½ cup of white vinegar

20 drops of tea tree oil

Mix all ingredients and put into a glass spray bottle. Spray over areas prone to mold or mildew (showers, under sinks).  This spray won’t remove pre-existing mold or mildew stains so treat stains with hydrogen peroxide to naturally bleach away the marks before spraying the space.

Honestly, What Do I Use Most Often When I Clean?

After sharing all these wonderful DIY cleaning ideas, I am almost ashamed to admit that what I use the most to clean my house, clothes, and dishes are Young Living's Thieves cleaning products. There are three reasons for this. First, Young Living's Thieves cleaners work amazingly well. Second, they are made with essential oils, so I know they are safe to use. Third, sometimes I just feel too lazy to make my own DIY cleaners. 

If you want to learn more about Young Living and how to buy their products, contact me at caminoturtle2016@gmail.com 

I love sharing what I know about essential oils and how I use them in my RV life.

Do you have a favorite DIY cleaning recipe?

Type your recipe, questions, or general comments in the chatbox below. Thanks. I love learning from all of you. 

I really want this blog to be a place where we all share what we are learning about the journey to self-improvement and a better life. So, don't be shy. Add a comment to this post. Thanks.

PS: Just for a giggle

I thought I would show you how I wash my RV floors. I mix my Thieves cleaner (2 capfuls in a pail) and then put two of my Norwex car mitts on my feet. I put on some dance music and then dance to clean my floors. I just take off the mitts and rinse them out. No worries about my feet; I think they are actually cleaner, too. Because Thieves is all-natural, I'm not worried about any chemicals!