*Post-publishing preface!* If you stop by my blog on your own volition, then you likely already read this post since I originally published it on April 3, 2020. I thought back then that I wanted to share more of my clean swaps stories, like this clean surface spray, but I didn’t really get the push to make it a series of posts like I have this week until I recently had repeat convos about these topics, like I said in my first “clean swaps” post here. So! If you’ve already read this post, thanks for hanging in there with me today, and welcome to all you first-timers, if this is your first time hearing this swap story. 🙂
Don’t know about you, but I’ve cleaned my house a few times in the last few weeks (read: ALL I DO IS CLEAN)! Haha, but really, between our crew being together constantly (read: the house has been messy) and, well, thinking about the lethal virus out there that’s waiting to land in our house and on all of our surfaces, yes, I’ve been up to some cleaning. For those reasons, and because I’ve been transitioning to cleaner, safer products for myself and my family this year (one of my 2020 goals!), I’m excited to share that I’ve been using an awesome, effective, and clean (as in “toxin free”) all-purpose cleaner, and it’s high-time I shared it with y’all. Read on for the magical concoction’s details, and to see it makeover my kitchen sink… 
DIY CLEAN + SAFE + ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY THAT WORKS!
— One glass spray bottle (the solution will stay potent longer in a glass bottle)
— 1 cup distilled water (you can use tap water, too, but distilled water also helps with potency)
— 2 Tbs Castile soap*
— 10-15 drops of an anti-bacterial essential oil, like tea tree (this is my go-to brand; I snag it at Whole Foods)
— Pour the water and soap in the bottle. Shake. Spray!
*Have you heard of Castile soap?? It is the most incredibly versatile, green, and effective soap. You can use it to make your own hand soap (which I do!), for a safe fruit + veggie soak, in laundry detergent, as shampoo — my favorite bar soap ever is Dr. Bronner’s peppermint bar soap (I professed my love for it here) — the stuff is the Mary Poppins of soaps. I stumbled upon castile soap a couple years ago after finding a little bottle of Dr. Bronner’s lavendar soap at Target, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve gone through bottles of the citrus, lavender, and peppermint scents, and I’m currently using the eucalyptus bottle above, which I’m loving. Get some castile soap!!! You’ll be so glad you did.
That said, back to the all-purpose cleaner. Now that you’ve whipped up a bottle for yourself, let’s put it to work! Come see it in action in my kitchen sink. 🙂 First, I sprinkle baking soda all over the sink for some extra oomph, then I coat my sink with the all-purpose cleaner, I scrub…
And I watch my sink turn from this…
To this.
And from this…
to this!
And to THIS.
And to this! The cleanest sink ever, just shining like the top of the Chrysler Building.
I use the spray on my counter tops, my computer keyboard, our kitchen table, in our bathrooms (sink, toilet, tub), to clean my phone — everywhere. I love it. I love that it’s not toxic. Fun story: last December, we had an air-quality inspector here due a mold issue we had in this rental house, and as we were working through my bathroom, I told her that I was worried that the mold (which I thought was in the caulking around my tub – so gross, I know) was giving me headaches, and after she examined the tub (she found it was eroded caulking! Phew!), she asked me, “What cleaner do you use?”
“Lysol,” I told her.
“Well that’s why you get a headache when you clean. That stuff is awful. Are you ventilating your room when you clean? Because you should be. Or you should just find a different cleaner entirely. The chemicals in typical household cleaners like that are health hazards.”
Deer in the headlights = me. After that conversation and learning more about toxic chemicals in our products, I switched entirely to using our clean, safe all-purpose spray and I haven’t looked back. I went through a similar logic process as I did with changing my deodorant: the cost between the mainstream cleaning products I was using and this clean surface spray were comparable, meaning making the switch wasn’t going to come at a great financial cost to me. I went through an additional process of wondering if I’d miss my Clorox – like can you kill germs without Clorox?? – but then I realized that the ingredients in the Castile Soap and the EO’s and the baking soda — they do effectively clean. And without the extra expense of harming the body’s systems, whereas Clorox has been scientifically proven to cause cancer. I realized that I could keep Clorox wipes on hand (like for wiping door knobs during a pandemic 😉 ), but for daily, weekly, consistent use, did I need to use Clorox? No. The greater cost to me, ultimately, felt like progressively screwing up my family’s bodies with continued toxin exposure, so yep, I made the switch. I’m so happy (and relieved, honestly) with how well our surface spray here cleans and that, yes, we are getting closer to being SAFE in this house. Super grateful for that one.
Happy cleaning, friends! Let me know if you make the all-purpose cleaner, too. I so hope you do! I’ve said it once and I”ll say it again, you’ll be glad you did. 😉
See you here tomorrow for one more “clean swaps + stories” post all about feminine hygiene products and food!
