Tuesday, September 4

Simple, fragrant homemade cleaner

I love simple cleaning techniques, don't you?

One of the simplest I've found is to use rubbing alcohol (that's right, 70% isopropyl alcohol that you can  buy at any drugstore or megamart) as a household cleaner.  It's remarkably good at cutting through greasy dirt and it's a great disinfectant.  Its only drawback?  Its smell.  It smells like. . . rubbing alcohol.

I like fresh, clean smells.  Like citrus, for instance.  Especially orange.  Something about the smell of a freshly-peeled orange just makes me happy.

And so one day it occurred to me that I could infuse rubbing alcohol with orange peel.  Eureka!


I dropped the peel from an orange into a container of rubbing alcohol.  I then left it alone for several days.  The alcohol took on a bit of the orange color and a lot of the orange fragrance.

I poured my infused alcohol into an old spray bottle and voila!  A fragrant all-purpose cleaner!


I've used this straight and I've combined equal parts alcohol and water with a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid added.  Both work well for cleaning countertops, etc.

An inexpensive, good-smelling cleaner that cuts through grease and disinfects?  Yes!

Do you have any cleaning tips?  Please share!

I'm joining Beth at Home Stories A to Z for Tutorials and Tips.

13 comments:

  1. I love a good homemaking/housecleaning tip! Thanks for sharing, Richella. :)

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  2. What a great idea...and way cheaper than those expensive good smelling cleaners:) I always want to clean with vinegar but the smell is just so bad! I wonder if this would work with vinegar too?!?

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  3. This is such a great idea. I might try it with lemon.

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  4. What a great idea, Richella. I use water and white vinegar on my hardwoods but, like Kelli W said, the smell is less than fragrant. Any ideas? Other than that, the vinegar and water work well on the wood.

    My other nifty trick is to use non-gel toothpaste to get rid of scratches on DVD's and CD's. It won't mend deep, deep grooves but it has fixed some of the kids' favorite ones.

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  5. What a great idea, Richella. I use water and white vinegar on my hardwoods but, like Kelli W said, the smell is less than fragrant. Any ideas? Other than that, the vinegar and water work well on the wood.

    My other nifty trick is to use non-gel toothpaste to get rid of scratches on DVD's and CD's. It won't mend deep, deep grooves but it has fixed some of the kids' favorite ones.

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  6. Richella- GREAT idea. I wonder if will still clean windows/mirrors without leaving a residue from the orange? xo Diana

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  7. I didn't know that you could clean with rubbing alcohol! I remember you posted some cleaning formulas a while back. I printed them and never made them but I still intend to do so.

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  8. This is such a great idea. I have heard of using vinegar but not rubbing alcohol. I will have to give this a try... with the good smelling fruit added.

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  9. I love the smell of citrus for cleaning! I use a similar recipe for granite/stainless steel/countertops and love it.

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  10. Great idea!!
    I use a 50/50 combo of rubbing alcohol and vinegar...it sure makes the bathrooms shine purty :^)...I will add the orange peel!!

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  11. Great idea!!
    I use a 50/50 combo of rubbing alcohol and vinegar...it sure makes the bathrooms shine purty :^)...I will add the orange peel!!

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  12. I just started using rubbing alcohol, Richella, and you're right ~ the smell does leave a lot to be desired! I love this idea and will have to try it with either orange or, as Heather said, lemon.

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