The cleaning aisle is a wall of brightly colored plastic bottles, most of which are mostly water with a little active ingredient and a lot of markup. A few cheap staples handle the bulk of household cleaning, cost a fraction of the price, and stop a steady stream of single-use bottles from heading to the trash. These are the recipes that genuinely work, not the ones that just sound nice.
The Four Staples
Stock these and you can mix almost anything you need.
- White vinegar cuts grease and mineral buildup and shines glass.
- Baking soda scrubs gently and absorbs odors.
- Dish soap handles general grime.
- Castile soap or rubbing alcohol rounds out the kit for tougher jobs.
Recipes Worth Keeping
A reliable all-purpose spray is one part white vinegar to one part water in a spray bottle, with a squeeze of dish soap for greasy surfaces. For a glass cleaner, mix water with a splash of vinegar and a little rubbing alcohol for a streak-free finish. A soft scrub for sinks and tubs is baking soda mixed with just enough dish soap to make a paste.
What to Skip
A couple of warnings save trouble. Never mix vinegar with bleach, which creates toxic fumes. Skip vinegar on natural stone like granite or marble, since the acid etches the surface. For those counters, use a few drops of dish soap in water instead.
Reuse Your Bottles
Keep one or two sturdy spray bottles and refill them rather than buying new. Label them clearly so no one mistakes the glass cleaner for the scrub. Old microfiber cloths or cut-up cotton shirts replace paper towels for most wiping.
You will not miss the special-purpose sprays. A short shelf of basic ingredients cleans the whole house for a few dollars a year and keeps a pile of plastic out of the bin.