Homemade Deep-Cleaner Recipe

I love a clean house. But I don’t love all the harsh chemical cleaners that are available on the market. This homemade deep cleaner recipe uses common household ingredients. And because you make it yourself, you get to know exactly what is in it. Why is this important?

When I developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity I had to rid my home of many of the commercial cleaning products that I had been using for years as they were adding to the toxic load on my body. I quickly learned that I could use more natural methods of cleaning that were just as effective, cheaper, and much safer for my family.

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Keeping a Low-Allergen Home

Growing up, my Mom taught me how to vacuum, dust and disinfect every nook and cranny of our home. Even though I wasn’t the most enthusiastic protégé. And it was really important to her primarily because she suffered from environmental allergies as well as having asthma. While vacuuming is crucial to ridding a space of dust mites, pet fur and dander, the only way to get something really clean is to give it a good wash.

So it was my Mom that shared this deep cleaner recipe. She was well impressed that the dirt came easily off the cleaning cloth when dipped in a bucket of hot water. And if she was excited about it, then I knew I had to try it.

Simple Ingredients

This homemade deep cleaner has simple ingredients that are available at most grocery or home supply stores. We usually order ours on Amazon.

• Castile soap: Get fragrance free as the essential oils added to fragranced soaps can cause respiratory issues for asthmatics and people suffering from allergies and sensitivities.
• Washing soda: Not to be confused with baking soda. This is sodium carbonate which is commonly used in laundry products.
• Borax: Also a common laundry product. See the safety considerations below.
• water: Distilled is best but I use regular tap water and it has been fine.

Safety Considerations

In researching the ingredients for this cleaner, I discovered that borax has multiple safety warnings. The Environmental Working Group warns that borax can irritate the skin and eyes and in intense exposure may disrupt hormones. So this is not an ingredient to have accessible to children and you need to use safety precautions like gloves and a mask when handling it.

If you want an all purpose cleaner that you don’t have to worry about, try this one instead. I would save this Deep Cleaner Recipe for those grimier cleaning jobs and rinse it thoroughly off surfaces to help mitigate possible health risks.

Specific Uses

It’s especially effective on cleaning floor tile grout in the kitchen and bathroom. I spray the grout lines with the cleaner and then sprinkle baking soda on top and let it sit for a few minutes. Next I work the paste into the grout with an old toothbrush, loosening up the dirt.

At this point, the paste will begin to change from white to a dingy grey or brown, depending on how dirty that particular spot is.

Finally, I wipe it up using a wet microfibre cloth, rinsing the cloth repeatedly in a bucket of hot water. And you know Mom was right? The dirt doesn’t stick at all to the cloth. It all gets released into the bucket water. I keep changing the bucket water periodically and rinsing the cloth to ensure I’m left with clean, residue free floors.

Cleaning Effectiveness

This cleaner works so well on many surfaces. It is excellent in the bathroom, kitchen, inside the car… just about anywhere there is dirt. But I will say that it’s not the best de-greaser. For oily, greasy messes, I much prefer this vinegar based cleaner.