Keeping the floors clean is a necessary evil that none of us necessarily want to have to deal with.
And when it comes to the commercial floor cleaners available, there are other “evils” in the form of dangerous chemicals that are less than environmentally friendly, not to mention unfriendly to you and your families health.
Especially if you or someone in your family is already as a pre-existing allergy or sufferers from asthma.
There is also the issue of toxic residues that can be left behind on your floors after using commercial cleaners. Residues that you do not necessarily want your babies getting on their hands which will inevitably get into their mouth.
The good news is you probably already have everything you need in the house to make your own homemade floor cleaner. Not only make your own, but make a better version then you can get from The big box store.
Table of Contents
Here is a list of 6 of my favorite homemade floor cleaning recipes.
1.”All Purpose” homemade floor cleaner
The first homemade floor cleaner is super awesome for cleaning linoleum. It is also great for cleaning vinyl flooring, laminates, tile, and hardwoods.
Ingredients:
- Two cups of warm water
- Half a cup of white vinegar
- A quarter cup of rubbing alcohol
- Three drops of non antibacterial dish soap. Don’t use Castile soap. Castile soap is oil-based and will leave your floor full of streaks.
And 5 to 10 drops of essential oil. (Peppermint is my favorite)
Simply mix it all together and pour it into a spray bottle. Or you can also just put it in your mop bucket, but I prefer a spray bottle because when I’m done I can just put the rest under the sink instead of dumping it out.
To use it simply, spray it on the floor or directly on your mop.
2. Homemade wood floor cleaner
This recipe has two versions one with vinegar and one without vinegar.
Homemade hardwood floor cleaner without vinegar
This recipe doubles as a floor polish that will leave your hardwood floors with a gorgeous all natural luster.
Ingredients:
- A gallon of hot water
- 3/4 of a cup of olive oil
- Half a cup of lemon juice
Mix all the ingredients into a bucket.
And with a wrong out mop, apply the solution to your floor. Allow your floor to completely dry.
And you’re finished. There’s no need to rinse it, the water and lemon does the cleaning, and the olive oil leaves polished Sheen.
3. How to clean hardwood floors with vinegar
A lot of people don’t want to use vinegar in their homemade floor recipes because of the acidity. But when you mix it with water it becomes a great additive to help cut through dirt and grime. Also Vinegar, like it does as a windshield cleaner, will leave a streak free appearance to your floor.
Ingredients:
- Half a cup of white vinegar
- A gallon of warm water
- Three drops of essential oil (if you’re trying to emulate a household cleaner like pledge, try lemon essential oil to get a similar aroma effect)
That’s the full mop bucket recipe. If you want to put it in a spray bottle or use a refillable mop, reduce the water down to 16 oz and the vinegar down to about 3 tsp.
No need to rinse as the vinegar will give it a natural shine.
4. Homemade disinfectant floor cleaner
This recipe is not only a great bathroom floor cleaner, it also works great as a all-purpose bathroom cleaner they will not only clean your tiles and shower, will disinfect your bathroom is well.
Ingredients:
- A gallon of hot water
- 1/4 cup of Borax
( if you never heard of Borax, it has an amazing amount of household uses besides homemade floor cleaner. You usually find it with the clothes detergent in the supermarket)
Fix the ingredients together and mop and shine your floor. In my opinion this is one of the best recipes for cleaning a marble floor.
5. Homemade laminate floor cleaner
Though laminate is one of the easiest types of floor to take care of, if you use the wrong cleaner to do the job, you can mess up the finish.
Ingredients:
- 5 oz of white vinegar
- 5 oz of rubbing alcohol
- 5 oz of distilled water
- Three to five drops of essential oil
( lemon makes a great household scent, but you can also get a great spice smell from mixing lemon with orange and peppermint!)
Using this mixture and a spray bottle is a great way to be able to store it later.
6. Homemade vinegar floor cleaner
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp of white vinegar
- 1 and 2/3 cups of baking soda
- Half a cup of dish washing soap (liquid)
- Half a cup of warm water
Mix the ingredients together. It’s a little more to mix than some of the other recipes because of the addition of dish soap and baking soda but it’s well worth it.
This homemade vinegar cleaner is not just for floors. It is equally effective at cleaning the toilet, the shower, and your mucky countertops.
It’s also a great stain remover for carpet.
Remember to rinse the floor well after using this DIY vinegar floor cleaner.
7. Strong homemade floor cleaner
7. Strong homemade floor cleanerIf you find that all natural ingredients in your floor cleaner are not quite living up to your expectations, there is a version, that may be right down your alley.
Ingredients:
- Water
- Rubbing alcohol
- Vinegar
- A few drops of dish soap
This recipe mixes equal parts of the vinegar, water, and rubbing alcohol.
As you can imagine it can be quite strong to the nostrils.
You can also be very aggressive with certain surfaces.
The best ideal is to test it out on a small area before diving in.
You would not want to take the color out of something or take the finish off either.
Homemade floor cleaning is easy and convenient. And it gives you the Peace of mind of knowing that you don’t have harsh chemicals in your home they can make your family sick.
