Cleaning Up Part 5: Homemade Floor Cleaner

Well, you have all most-assuredly been wanting me to share more homemade cleaners with you.

OK…probably not…as you more than likely have not utilized the last ones I gave.

But I have decided to share yet another one with you. I waited until I had tried it twice before I was certain I could give it a thumbs up.

Two thumbs up actually.

It is a floor cleaner. You have already discerned that via the post title. I don't care what people say about you: you're quick.

You may recall that last year, after Mr. AR installed our laminate floors, my grandma let me have her floor steamer. “It’s not steamy enough.” Great…for me that is.

And I even wrote a post, expounding on the beauty of said steamer.

But now…it has bitten the dust. I thought the same thing happened which had just happened a few weeks ago…water got inside some part that it should not have and kind of messed with the sensor which told it to heat the water...it's all very technical. I was a technical writer in my first job out of college...can't you tell? (Just a quick little science lesson for my readers at home and any homeschoolers who might have happened to stumble upon this: when water is heated, it becomes water vapor…one of the 3 forms of water: solid, liquid or gas. When it becomes this hot vapor, we call that “steam”. This is the very basic definition…for more insight, you’d better Google it. I can’t provide you with EVERYTHING you need to know.)

So…it didn’t know that it had water to heat, let alone heat the water. So I am referring to it as defunct.

But…being the cheap one that I am, I didn’t rush right out and buy a new one. No...I actually had the “spray and mop” contraption from my in-laws. When my MIL moved into her apartment, she no longer had laminate flooring and said she didn’t want the mop. Well…who am I to question that judgment?

I didn’t need it at the time, but brought it home anyway. And it has been sitting in my utility room for almost two years now.

Until a couple weeks ago…when my steam cleaner broke.

Well, the chamber for the cleaning solution was already full...residual cleaner from my MIL, apparently. And I tried it. But it left my floors all streaky. My floors were streaky BEFORE I mopped, so you can imagine that was not the look I was going for AFTER they were cleaned.

So I Googled (imagine that) “cheap homemade floor cleaners” and much to my delight, the one below was included in the search. I looked at some others but did not try them…so there very well may be better ones out there. But I liked the first one I tried so I’m planning to stick with it.

Now, because I am certain you are all ready to get those mops out (any kind, actually…I have one like this, but you can use an old fashioned mop. Or a squeegee mop. Or just whatever. Have at it. Be creative…just like I know all of you are! Send me your photos…I’ll post them on my blog!)

OK…I have digressed enough. Here’s the recipe…for real this time:

Homemade Floor Cleaner
Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup alcohol
• 2-3 drops dish soap (Palmolive, Dawn, etc.)

Optional Additional Ingredients:

• 5 drops lavender essential oil (I used lavender…so I’m always so relaxed when my cleaning is through…)
• 5 drops orange essential oil
• 3 drops tea tree essential oil
• Fine-mist spray bottle - 24oz (of you don’t have a mop which will do the spraying for you, or if you don’t want to put the solution in a bucket)

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients to spray bottle and shake to combine.
• Sweep/vacuum the floor.
• Spray cleaner on the floor.
• Wipe up with a microfiber cloth (it was very clear that it had to be microfiber...these can be found at the Dollar tree for...you guessed it: one dollar).

Note:

• Do a spot test to make sure this will work on your floors…I make no promises that it will work as well for you.
• For a mop and bucket version, try this: For a gallon of water, you could try 1/2 cup of vinegar, and 1/3 cup of alcohol, plus a few drops of dish soap.

Happy mopping!


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