Condo Blues: How to Make a Disinfecting All Purpose Cleaner without Vinegar

Monday, January 22, 2018

How to Make a Disinfecting All Purpose Cleaner without Vinegar

I like to keep the recipes to my homemade cleaners as simple as possible so they are easy to make on the fly. That’s why I clean my kitchen counter tops with one part vinegar to three parts water. Because in the world of being me, if I run out of counter cleaner, it is always when I am in the middle of cleaning something. Always!

Some of you tell me you don’t want to use A homemade cleaners made with vinegar. This is particularly true if you have granite or stone counter tops. The acid in the vinegar will damage or eat away at the finish.

I hear you. I have granite in my half bathroom.


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How to Make Homemade Granite, Natural Stone, and Countertop Cleaner




That’s why I make a disinfecting DIY all purpose cleaner using rubbing alcohol as the base instead of vinegar. The dishwashing detergent in this cleaner is the washing agent that attacks the dirt and the rubbing alcohol kills germs and makes it evaporates quickly. Since I have limited storage space I use my homemade granite cleaner as an all purpose cleaner for every surface in the bathroom – even floors!

I know exactly what is in it and it is super cheap to make!

Add the following ingredient to an empty spray bottle and shake to mix the solution (You can buy glass spray bottles here) (Throw me a bone and help me keep the lights on by shopping through my affiliate links if you have a need. Thanks!)

1 part rubbing alcohol – (if you don’t feel comfortable using rubbing alcohol you can substitute it with vodka. Go ahead and use the cheap bottom shelf vodka, save the good stuff for your next dinner party.


3 parts water

3-4 drops of dishwashing liquid (use your favorite. It  doesn’t have to be the blue stuff. I use the plant based washing up liquid under my kitchen sink and it works just fine.)

Optional: Lavender essential oil or another favorite

If you don’t like the smell of the rubbing alcohol in this solution and don’t want to use vodka, you can add a few drops of a non citrus essential oil (citrus based oils may damage the finish of natural stone.) I usually use lavender essential oil because it is both kid and dog safe and I hate the smell of tea tree oil even though it does have some disinfecting properties.

Again, any brand of essential oil will do. I usually buy mine from Amazon because its easy.

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