Kitchen Cleaner DIY All-Purpose (SIMPLE Make it for Pennies)

What we use DAILY at Farmhouse 181 kitchen to fight mess! My Kitchen Cleaner DIY Recipe is simple, budget friendly, and safer for the family.

Y’all…I can’t believe I’m writing a post on this. I’m almost embarrassed. Why you ask? Because this Kitchen Cleaner DIY that I use most around the Kitchen, and entire home as an all-purpose cleaner, is so stupid simple that it’s literally 2 ingredients. 

BUT I am true to my mission here at Farmhouse 181! So, if that means sharing the so stupid-simple cleaning solution that helps me DAILY, then I’ll risk looking like a moron. I love you all that much.

As a bonus, I am going to give you another DIY cleaner. It’s another all purpose, that is just as…well…stupid simple. It’s just not the one I CONSTANTLY reach for, but just as simple, budget friendly, and safe when you need it! Wins all around, folks.

Why I love using these cleaners so much is really because of my kids. I’m not scared that if I leave something laying around, I will have to call poison control. OR be worried that their sensitive skin will burn or break out in hives from contact of a store cleaner. I CLEAN MORE because IT’S SAFE to clean and use around my kids.

See full recipe card at the bottom of the page with ingredients list and full instructions to make these 2 Kitchen Cleaner DIY All-Purpose Solutions for literal PENNIES! Print to save in your home binder or bookmark this page! Do you need a recipe card for these SUPER simple solutions…probably not, but I made you one just in case because I know you’ll use them again!

Using Less Store-Bought Cleaners

Disclaimer…I’m not a complete health nut. But after suffering from hormone imbalances, likely due to stress at one point, I didn’t want to be making it worse because of the soaps I’m using, or what we are eating. So, our family has been on a SLOW journey of living a more natural and simplified life. 

While we would never trade living in our Capitalist society and are not environmental extremists in any sense, there are some really scary statistics related to hormone health, plastics in body, etc. Many of which are being linked back to items and harsh chemicals in commercial cleaners or body soaps that we come in contact daily. Yikes! Per EWG, Study’s have been completed showing evidence of lower VOCs (volatile organic compounds) being released in cleaners labeled green, or green and fragrance free. Check out this article from EWG referencing this study for some additional info.

Converting to More Natural Cleaners

Simple Ingredients

A castile soap made with ingredients you can actually pronounce, using white vinegar, or even a pure rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, just seem like a better option logically. Other cleaners such as baking soda, washing soda, or borax can even be utilized in homemade cleaning products with great cleaning results. Lemon juice, or lemon rinds, orange peels, and even drops of your favorite essential oil, all have a place in your cleaning cabinet and would make your great, great-grandma Eunice, pretty proud. 

Dish Soap Debate

Again, full disclosure…we have not cut the cord with Dawn Dish Soap, and it is something I still use a lot, for washing dishes, cleaning my shower with another homemade cleaner, and using in this Kitchen Cleaner DIY. Dawn contains some nasty chemicals, but its degreasing ability is really unmatched in my experience. It still has earned a place on my kitchen sink, but I am slowly trying to wean myself off of this cleaning product favorite to the more natural cleaning of castile soap. At least for the things we put in our mouths or touch our food or skin…like dishes!

Cost Comparison of Commercial & Homemade Cleaners

There’s no comparison. End of story. But I will break it down for you. You can get a Walmart Brand all-purpose cleaner currently for $2.77. Today it looks like a 38 oz bottle of Dawn Dish Soap is $5.84. 1 oz equals 6 teaspoons. For about the same amount you would spend on 2 bottles of regular all purpose cleaner, you are able to make 238 bottles of this Kitchen Cleaner DIY with Dawn Dish Soap. 

Wow…238 bottles. That’s a cleaning product that is going to last a super long time and a great way to stretch your precious dollars! 

Save even more by ditching the paper towels and buying microfiber cloth or even cheap dish rags. Spray this Kitchen Cleaner DIY all over and wipe all the things down until your little heart is content!

Kitchen Cleaner DIY Ingredients

• Castile Soap or Dawn Dish Soap
• Water
• Spray Bottle

​Hmmmmmm…yes, that’s it. And it’s more than capable of taking the sticky off of your kitchen island.

As I stated before, I haven’t dove off of the Dawn dish soap band wagon yet, but once I work through what I have and have tested a suitable tub and shower cleaner, I probably will in favor of castile soap. 

Notice that vinegar is also not included in this cleaner. My husband hates the smell of vinegar, so he is happy! But also, if you have granite countertops, vinegar can wear on them overtime and is not recommended for them. Rubbing alcohol is in some homemade cleaners, but 70% is recommended for granite countertops. And when you dilute the alcohol by 50% or more, it loses its sterilization abilities. So why do extra for a daily homemade cleaning solution if just soap and water will get you a good clean? Want to kill more germs…give it a spray with non-diluted 70% alcohol every once in a while.

Kitchen Cleaner DIY Instructions

Find a spray bottle of your choice. I mean any clean spray bottle. I bought some pretty glass spray bottles at one time. They were beautiful. Cleaning felt more luxurious while using them. But they are glass bottles. I have 2 rowdy kids, tile or other hard floors throughout the house and clumsy hands. I can’t handle them and currently don’t want to put forth the effort to try. They all either broke or stopped spraying. I pray that one day I will be the kind of adult who can handle a glass spray bottle, but that day just hasn’t come yet.

What I do for spray bottles that last longer is use old ones I got from the grocery store that had the regular commercial cleaners in them. There’s a certain bottle style I like and tends to hold up really well. Clorox and Lysol use these bottles as well as Resolve. I used an old Resolve carpet cleaner bottle for this one.

My bottle held about 2.5 cups of water. Doesn’t have to be distilled water, or even boiling hot water, or filtered water. I ran warm water straight from the kitchen sink. Fill your bottle, then add .5 to 1 tsp of dawn dish soap. Maybe even 2 for a runnier castile soap like Dr Bronner. I used 1 tsp of Dawn.

Bonus Cleaner

Zero Waste All Purpose Cleaner with Vinegar

Alright…where my pickle lovers at?! You guessed right. This cleaner has vinegar in it. Ready for this jaw dropper?

1 part vinegar, 1 part water. Mind blown? Thought so.

I actually do use my orange vinegar concentrate for this cleaner, but you don’t have to do anything fancy. I find that the infused vinegar does seem to cut the strong vinegar smell by just the slightest amount. 

This is great on your stainless steel and mirrors. You’ll think that you have streaked up your whole fridge or glass, but then it dries completely and poof. The assumed streaks are just gone. Win!

​Summary

I know this post was a very long-winded way to encourage you to make homemade cleaners. Remember:

• They are Budget Friendly
• You never have to run to the store, because you always have dish soap or vinegar on hand
• The fumes and chemicals, or lack thereof, are better for your family’s health
• And Lavendar scented everything stinks 😉

If you want more stupid simple DIY household cleaners to work into your cleaning routine, check out this orange vinegar concentrate, and tub and shower cleaner, coming soon.