Homemade cleaning products can be inexpensive and effective. The Optimist isn’t in business anymore, but their formulas are still great.
For the last decade, I’ve kept an ugly, industrial-looking spray bottle of diluted white vinegar under my sink. I use it mostly as a simple, non-toxic countertop spray that’s good for quick clean-ups during meal prep. While it’s been effective enough, both the look of the spray bottle and the unadulterated scent of vinegar leave something to be desired.
Enter The Optimist Co. Founded by Devin Donaldson after conventional cleaning products left her with a nasty asthma attack, they focus on simple, effective, non-toxic cleaning products that will help you keep your home spotless without compromising your health or the planet.
Devin sent me The Optimist Co.’s Make Your Own Cleaning Products Kit to try out a few weeks back. It comes with two amber-colored spray bottles with the cleaning formulas printed on the labels, a small bottle of castile soap and three small bottles of essential oils to make your custom scents.
Add some white vinegar and flat club soda* from your pantry to the mix and you have everything you need to build both an all-purpose spray (Time to Shine) and a glass and surface cleaner (Bright Side).
I made up both bottles the same day that the kit arrived. I followed the suggested recipes almost exactly, making only one change to the Bright Side. It suggests that you use plain white vinegar but instead, I used some of the lemon-infused vinegar I’d made during my Meyer lemon frenzy back in January (that’s what’s in the smaller measuring cup in the picture above). Bolstered with the enclosed lemon essential oil, every spray of that cleanser is an olfactory pleasure.
I’ve been using these sprays exclusively since they arrived and could not be more pleased with their effectiveness. I use them without worry around food, because I know that if a few droplets land on the contents of the fruit basket, no one will be harmed. Plus, they are far prettier than my old bottle of watered down vinegar.
*When we talked, I asked Devin what the flat club soda added to the mix and she said that it helps the cleaner wipe away streak-free, particularly on stainless steel appliances. So clever!
Disclosure: The Optimist Co. sent me the make your own kit at no cost to me for review and photography purposes. No additional payment has been made and all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
how clever!! I tend to clean my cutting boards with lemon halves after I’ve used them in an effort to keep the wood chemical free 🙂
Some really cool ideas in the comments. I am definitely going to try the ground citrus rinds as a tub scrubber. And the citrus vinegars! Awesome.
We never have used paper towels much, mostly just for greasy clean-ups. I should research cleaning greasy cloths and then that could change also. I do a lot of baking soda and vinegar cleaning, but also have a bottle of the Williams-Sonoma grapefruit all-purpose cleaner in the house because I love the smell. I really should try to concoct a replacement; the WS stuff is really pricey.
Cloth baby wipes and homemade solution. They work so much better, too!
I bought the shop rags you recommended in this post: https://foodinjars.com/2015/02/best-cheapest-cloth-napkins/. We use them for cloth napkins, but they’ve also replaced paper towels for cleaning around the house, mopping up spills, and wiping down the counters. They’re great! It would be neat to use them with these cleaning products.
I have used a lot of essential oils, vinegar, and baking soda to replace quite a bit of my commercial cleaners
I use Bi-o-Kleen products which are highly concentrated, environmentally friendly, and refillable at many places in my city!
We use white vinegar and have started using essential oils as well to keep our house clean and odor free.
i use old towels that has gotten holes in them and trim them down and hem to make cleaning clothes. also use the vinegar spray
I have my husband do the cleaning. That’s sustainable for me.
We are finished with cloth-diapering, so we use all the old flats for cleaning. So great and no lint!
Salt and lemon on the cutting board.
I saved all of the burp rags, washcloths, etc from my babies and now use those for cleaning.
Citrus vinegars are the best! I make mine with clementine peels each winter for surface cleaning (and salads).
We switched our tub cleaner out for some homemade cleaner using baking soda, dish soap and tea tree oil. So much better.
I use Crafty Betty’s suggestion of using dried citrus peels, ground up, as a tub cleaner. Mixed with borax and put into a shaker.
I have been using white vinegar for most of my surface cleaning. I don’t even mind the smell. 🙂
I use cloth wash cloths, napkins and vinegar and cornstarch for cleaning. This giveaway is a great product to use. I also use a bin for all my compost items.
My grandmother taught me to use clean cloth diapers or newspaper to wash windows instead of paper towels, and I switched years ago to using a vinegar mixture instead of windex. Baking soda is a great mild abrasive kitchen cleaner, too. Thanks for the giveaway!
I’ve been using the watered down vinegar thing for a long time. I’ve found that since my stove top gets pretty warm when I’m running the oven and if I clean it while warm then everything comes off so much easier.
The other favorite is baking soda to clean foggy glass baking dishes or remove stuck on food residue in pans or the crockpot.
With some DIY cleaning solutions, I’ll make a batch and then revert to store bought (dish detergent, laundry soap, glass cleaner), but I have stuck to a baking soda-based gritty bathroom scrubber with dried herbs rubbed in there. I think it’s the fact that I can scrub the tub while standing in it and not be worried about icky chemicals. Who doesn’t like cleaning their tub and combining it with a shower after?
I too have been going the vinegar spray route, but I’d like for it to smell better.
I’m a big fan of baking soda – for scrubbing dishes and cleaning sinks.
This weekend I made my own reusable cleaning wipes from some old tshirts. Mixed up some water, soap and oils and threw in a jar with the wipes.
Been doing the diluted vinegar thing for a while – and cheap vodka for glass and metal!
For the past 5 years, I have made my own cleaners. I started out more complicated, but eventually switched to just a spray bottle with vinegar, water, and a squirt of dish soap. It works really well, but this looks like such a fun option to try out!
Vinegar and Baking soda are my go-tos. But I love the idea of adding essential oils…On it!
I love this! I have recently gone down the essential oil rabbit hole, so even if I don’t win I can put this to work in my home. Just need to find a glass spritz bottle—I am currently using the same old off-brand Windex bottle with Mrs. Meyers+Vinegar+Water in it to clean just about everything in my house.
And I love it for some of the same reasons as you—if a little spritz ends up on something on the counter I don’t have to worry about chemicals, etc.
I’ve also recently moved towards more sustainable shower products, using essential oils in unscented Dr. Bronner’s to make custom soaps, and I have been using this AMAZING henna-based shampoo from Henna Color Lab in Portland (https://hennacolorlab.com/) smells great and just a little makes this great micro-suds.
And I took your advice and bought a bunch of those auto towels! They are great. They are even great stand-ins for cheesecloth in a pinch!
I try to use washable rags as much as possible, but have not explored home-made cleaners yet. I am excited by this possibility.
I have these little shaker jars (I think they were “cheese shakers”) that I got at the restaurant supply store. I keep them filled with baking soda and use them for scrubbing jobs in the kitchen and bathroom.
Washable rags and vinegar based solutions are the way to go.
i make my own laundry soap, we don’t use dryer sheets and I use my husband’s worn out tshirts as rags.
I’ve been trying so hard to use cloth towels instead of paper towels. But it’s tricky!
I’m the vinegar-bottle lady. I never thought about trying to add fragrance. Searching cabinets now for the orange and rosemary I know are here somewhere!
I’ve switched to mostly Seventh Generation products, rather than other commercial brands.
I’ve been swapping out paper towels for washable microfiber cloths whenever possible. Now if I could just get my husband to do the same…
I use cloth napkins, use baking soda and vinegar to clean my stovetop, and use knitted cotton dishcloths for cleaning up countertop messes. I want to limit my use of paper products by getting some shop rags for the ickier kitchen clean ups!
Oh, I have also phased out my use of dryer sheets by using wool balls in my dryer and use a non phosphorus laundry detergent!
My husband has a (really nice!) obsession with wiping down the kitchen entirely every day, so we bought him a few packages of cheap washcloths to use instead of the massive quantities of paper towels he was using. They don’t really add much to the laundry and we are saving a lot of money!
I’ve been using baking soda and vinegar to remove stains from my countertop and some bottles.
We’ve switched to microfiber clothes instead of paper towels and I use vinegar and baking soda for many of my cleaning needs.
I make a cleaning solution by steeping citrus rinds and herbs in vinegar. It works so-so. I plan to try using cheap vodka instead.
I use baking soda and vinegar regularly on my drains so that I won’t need to rely on Draino for big clogs.
I use vinegar and water combo in an ugly spray bottle too!! Actually all of our cleaning products are homemade except the toilet bowl cleaner because in my research I didn’t find anyone with a great alternative with great results. We use Dr. Bronners and lemon essential oil as well. And I bought a big pack of microfiber towels on Amazon which are spread throughout the house for easy cleanups.
Use washable shop rags/towels for kitchen cleaning. Newer ones work great. Older ones are used when disposal is preferred to re-use. Also, old single socks, ripped t-shirts etc. Paper towels are gone from my house.
I switched to lint-free towels and re-used newspapers for cleaning, and have mixed up a new homemade cleaners, but haven’t landed on just the perfect formula yet!
I have been using microfiber cloths instead of paper towels, when cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom. I don’t think I really realized just how many paper towels I was using in a month! It’s so easy to have cloths around that I can re-wash. I want to start making my own cleaning solutions, too!
We use different variations of vinegar, baking soda, and castile soap to accomplish most of our cleaning. The castile soap we use has a lovely peppermint smell and I appreciate how it “hides” the straight vinegar smell in some of our concoctions.
We have stopped using the Clorox surface wipes and opted for good old soap and water with a washcloth that can be reused for years.
We’ve gone to washable cloths and microfiber sponges to cut out disposable paper in our cleanup routine.
I’ve almost completely stopped using paper products for cleaning. The paper towels are reserved for extra icky things, like when the dog barfs on the floor. Otherwise, it’s old towels and kitchen rags. Now to implement cloth napkins!
I have been using a local cleaning product that is made from plants and it 100% chemical free. I love it. It smells so much better then something like 409 and it cleans my house better too!
I’ve been using Dr. Bronners, and I am obsessed!