Mocksoup Graves

I have a 28 oz Method Cleanser Bottle that I have repurposed for my own cleaner. It works fantastic and it smells really fresh!

I used:

8 oz of Orange Vinegar (Distilled White Vinegar that I soaked Orange Peels in for a few weeks)
18 oz of Distilled water
1 oz of 92% Rubbing Alcohol
20 drops of Peppermint oil
20 drops of Tea Tree oil
and 5 drops of dish detergent

I am using it on counters, walls, doors, woods, metals, mirrors... and it cleans well! I don't own any vodka or Everclear, but next time I will use something like that instead of the rubbing alcohol. I have to buy some for making cordials/cough syrups anyway and it will be even safer than this one to use.

The Tea Tree Oil and Peppermint Oil are both vermin repellent as well. Mice hate it, and so do other creepy crawlies.

*reposted from my blawg*

Also, it reduces the money you have to spend on other things such as chemical bug sprays. Because the bugs aren't in the house (the pheromone led ones, I believe) the spiders hightail it out of the house because no food supply means no point in sticking around.

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Ramonna Villota

I use just the white but I will be looking for the oils that sounds like something I need.


(( Have you ever noticed how many mops and such on the print tell you not to use Vinegar , and how Vinegar is hard to be found and some stores will not stock it ))

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Mocksoup Graves

My mop was a buck at the Dollar Tree, and it has been with me for over 2 years now. I think it can handle it

But yeah! I used to use just the Distilled but now I soak peels in it for a few weeks, then toss the peels in my compost. I funnel it into a re purposed canola bottle marked "Orange Vinegar" and use as needed.

My house smells fantastic right now. I picked up the Peppermint Oil from the Amish Store. .5 oz for $3.45 and the TTO from the health food store for about 7 dollars.

Cattrina Careless

I have a lot of mint plants, peppermint, applemint, spearmint and a couple of others I cant remember. Is there some way I could use the leaves of the plant instead of the oil. Like I dunno soaking it in the vinegar or alcohol? The oils are the only thing I'm missing from your recipe

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Zoey Jade

Sounds good, I may try this! The vinegar isn't too overpowering is it?

Natalie P.

Will other sorts of citrus do as well for the vinegar, Mock? We go through a lot more lemons and limes in my house than oranges, and I'd love to be able to put the peels to use (though sending them through the garbage disposal is a great way to freshen it up).

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Mocksoup Graves

Nope. When it dries, there is no smell left at all but the hint of orange and mint.

Mocksoup Graves

If i used more lemon and lime, I would be using those peels too! Grapefruit too! I can't convince the kids that eating those peeled are as good of an idea (we go through a dozen oranges a week).

derevaun

Necropost! I made a similar formula that's alkaline instead of acidic, to sort of complement an acidic version. Many household cleansers are variations on a caustic alkali, like ammonia or lye, in a very dilute formula. So I use washing soda and borax, in something like this:

1 quart water
1 tsp washing soda (soda ash, sodium carbonate)
2 tsp borax
essential oils of sweet orange, lavender, eucalyptus, thyme, rosemary and/or peppermint

It's useful for removing residue that an acidic cleanser has trouble with, and for that reason I try to alternate it with an acidic mixture. I leave the dish soap out of the alkaline mixture in fear of leaving an emulsifying residue, but that's just because my kids sometimes slurp their food directly from a puddle poured on the dining room table. Cretins!

I recently started using the Vinegar of the Four Thieves, which has a macabre/timely/apocryphal origin: some people who robbed the homes of plague victims managed to avoid infection by dousing in / drinking / breathing through a concoction of herbs in vinegar. The practice of "plague doctors" breathing through herb-filled masks is the same idea. Most of the ingredients are antibacterial, antiviral, and/or antifungal, and they are effective pest repellents, all of which would have made them useful to repel the plague back then and, possibly, the H1N1 pandemic now.

I found all the herbs in my garden or at a groovy herbally-magicky sort of shop in Tacoma, where I learned that the four eponymous thieves were four gypsies that stole the legs of the arc of the covenant. That would go toward explain the mixture's popularity for gris-gris protection and/or casting, the latter of which calls for the addition of camphor. Cool, I think! In any case, here's the version I went with:

1 quart unpasteurized apple cider vinegar
equal parts, 1/4oz or so, of dried herbs:
lavender
sage
rosemary
thyme
wormwood
rue
peppermint
elecampane (just a little)

Let sit for six weeks, then filter it. Optionally add some crushed garlic, then filter that out after a day. Dilute it and use it on surfaces, in bathwater, but don't drink it!

Elecampane is a totally contemporary addition, but it's apparently pretty good at killing MRSA.

The ideas for much of this came from the OP and from Annie Berthold Bond's Better Basics for the Home, which is full of cheap and clean alternatives to the harsh chemicals found in most commercial products. It's a good reference to have around, IMHO.