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Great Recipes for Making Your Own Cleaning Products with Essential Oils

Going Natural with Cleaning Products

Let's face it, cleaning products aren't high on anyone's list of exciting topics. Not only do they damage our environment and pollute our water, but they are also dangerous to our delicate outer layer, our skin.

It seems those big plastic bottles are everywhere, even natural food markets. There's hand soap, dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent and you need one of each, right? So what did our relatives do 80 years ago when few of those options existed? They still managed to get things pretty clean.

On top of that, what wise goddess wants to spend any more time than necessary on such a mundane subject as cleaning?

Fact: clean is associated with good health. Fact: we want to be clean and healthy.

The standard-issue supermarket cleaning potions that make up of the fluorescent and strong-smelling cleaning products aisle, the stuff they call detergent, could just as easily be labeled poison for the known carcinogens those unpronounceable chemicals and fake smells contain. Many of our so-called soaps and detergents are simply bi-products of petroleum waste coupled with harsh cleaning chemicals to magically be converted into high profit margin cleaning products.

Taking a trip down the cleaning aisle of your nearest natural foods market yields an equally perplexing and wide array of plastic white bottles and kraft paper boxes. Even if they are less toxic (which most are, but not all) you're still filling your recycling bin to bursting and spending money unnecessarily on redundant products.

How did we get the point where someone convinced us we need all these different (and expensive) products? How can you stop the insanity? Here's how: by making your own cleaning products. It's simple, inexpensive, and environmentally sound and you can do it all with a few products and about 15 minutes. No need to spend time and money and fake pine smells that mask toxic chemicals, or their equally boring counterparts, the unscented, ineffective soaps and detergents. You can save the environment and spend our money on something meaningful, like chocolate.

Ready? Let's go shopping. At the market, buy some baking soda (3 packages, aluminum- free), a box of borax (about 4 lbs), and a gallon of unscented castile soap (preferably organic, why not). Your natural foods market will special order these things at no extra charge and you will be set for at least a month (unless you are really dirty!). You will need containers for your cleaning products, and a few therapeutic grade essential oils for their cleaning and happy-smell-making abilities. Have an extra 10 minutes? We're almost done. *important: borax and essential oils should be stored out of reach of pets and children. Even naturally occurring plants and minerals can be toxic if ingested.

The RECIPES:

Laundry detergent: 1 part baking soda, 1 part borax. Essential oils: equal parts lavender and eucalyptus (roughly 10 drops per 4 oz.). Optional: 1 part liquid castile soap. Mix ingredients together gently in a 32 oz.-ish glass or metal container (take care to avoid breathing in powder) with a secure lid. Washing time!

Hand soap: Liquid castile soap: like Dr. Bronner's 'Baby Mild'. Essential oils: 2 parts cedarwood, parts tea tree, 1 part peppermint – up to 20 drops per 8 oz. container. Optional: 1/2 part aloe vera gel (for dry skin and compulsive hand- washing). How to: Find a nice pump bottle. Fill with soap and essential oils. Because you aren't using thickening agents, it will be thin and just as effective. Done!

Dishwashing soap: Liquid castile soap. Essential oils: tea tree, lemon and peppermint are luscious disinfectants, 20 drops or so. How to: Fill bottle with soap and oils.

Dishwasher detergent: 1 part baking soda, 1 part borax. Essential oils in equal parts: lavender and eucalyptus (20 drops or so per cup). Optional: distilled vinegar can replace rinse agent. How to: Mix carefully. Done!

Air freshener/disinfectant: Distilled water. Essential oils: 20 drops tea tree, 20 drops cedarwood, 10 drops peppermint for a large pump spray bottle. How to: Fill the spray bottle with water; add oils and shake. Spray and be happy!

You can modify every one of these recipes with great results. Choose what resonates for you and your sense of smell, not what large companies say smells clean. Aligning with plant medicine, even with cleaning products, means refining your natural sense of smell, and bringing health and happiness, even to the simple task of cleaning!

The writer is a researcher for The Ananda Apothecary, and uses essential oils therapeutically on a regular basis.

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