Six easy recipes for DIY green cleaners

Want to be clean and green? These six easy recipes for DIY green cleaning products will have your home sparkling in no time.

This scouring paste is the simplest cleaner of all. Use it for sinks, oven doors, stovetops and inside mugs.

Ingredients

• 60 g (4 tbsp) baking soda
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) water

Directions

1. Mix ingredients into a stiff paste and apply the paste with a damp sponge.
2. Wipe away any residue with a dry cloth.

This is a general cleanser that is safe for use anywhere in the home.

Ingredients

• 5 g (1 tsp) baking soda
• 5 g (1 tsp) pure soap flakes
• Squeeze of lemon or dash of white vinegar
• 250 ml (1 cup) warm water

Directions

1. Mix ingredients and shake until soap is dissolved.
2. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle.
3. Spray onto what you want to clean and wipe it away with a kitchen sponge.

All-purpose and long-lasting, this vinegar cleaner removes grease and dirt. Ideal for use on stainless steel sinks, tiled and wooden surfaces and plastic finishes, such as fridge shelves and telephones.

Ingredients

• 500 ml (2 cups) white vinegar
• 250 ml (1 cup) water
• 25 drops eucalyptus oil

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle.
2. Shake well before use, spray onto a soft damp cloth and rub.
3. There's no need to rinse this cleaner away, so you can just let it dry.

This lavender disinfectant keeps bathroom surfaces safe and smelling sweet. It also makes a marvellous spray when ironing bed linen.

Ingredients

• 25 drops lavender essential oil
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) denatured alcohol or vodka
• 500 ml (2 cups) distilled water

Directions

1. Add the oil to the alcohol in a clean dry bottle and leave the mixture to dissolve for 24 hours.
2. Add water and decant your mixture into a spray bottle.
3. Shake the mixture thoroughly before use.

This cleaner is so useful you may want to make it up in large quantities. It's great for countertops.

Ingredients

• 10 g (2 tsp) borax
• 5 g (1 heaped tsp) pure soap flakes
• 750 ml (3 cups) water

Directions

1. Mix ingredients well.
2. Pour them into a spray bottle
3. Spray and wipe with a damp sponge.
4. Store any unused portion of this mixture in an airtight container.

This slightly abrasive cleaner is good for baths, sinks, counters and stovetops.

Ingredients

• Squirt of phosphate-free liquid detergent
• 125 g (1/2 cup) baking soda
• 5 ml (1 tsp) vegetable glycerine
• Lemon essential oil

Directions

1. Stir enough detergent into baking soda to make a soft paste.
2. Add glycerine and several drops of the oil.
3. Apply this mix with a damp sponge, then rinse.

Give one or all of these six easy recipes for DIY green cleaners a try to help make cleaning your home more earth-wise.