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A hardwood floor can either send the signal of a clean house or it can instantly alert people if you haven’t cleaned them in awhile. There are many store bought hardwood cleaners but many of them contain toxin chemicals.
Did you know that cleaning products don’t even have to list their ingredients? It’s shocking!
I don’t want to use toxic products in my home and quite honestly, I like the penny pinching properties of this natural hardwood cleaner recipe that I developed because I’m frugal like that!
Did you know that you can clean your hardwood floors with vinegar? Yes, vinegar that wonder of wonder kitchen staples. Is there anything vinegar can’t do? I doubt it!
Want to clean your hardwood floors with something that is completely non-toxic and that you probably have gallons of? I’m assuming you have gallons of it… it seems to be THE crunchy staple! Who doesn’t may vinegar by the truck load?
Hardwood Cleaner
1 cup white vinegar
1 gallon water
For smaller batches just use a 1:16 ratio.
Directions:
Use this mixture to mop your hardwood floor.
As with any hardwood cleaner you want to not saturate the floor. Therefore, you want to use as little cleaning solution as possible and if you do have a lot of water still on your floors, you should get a dry towel to soak some or all of it up. Leaving water on hardwood floors may cause the wood to swell and crack.
Alternatively, if you aren’t into the whole bucket and mop thing. You can mix this solution in a spray bottle, spray it on the floor and then clean it up with a terry cloth type mop or towel if you are the “Cinderella” type.
I am even lazier then this and just use my all-purpose cleaner solution (which is a 1:2 ratio). Now I won’t recommend you do this as that is probably too much vinegar (at least according to the “experts”) but I figured I might as well tell you what I actually do.
In all honesty, I would use the proper ratio but I don’t want to mix up another solution when it’s almost the same as my all-purpose cleaner. Once again, do as I say, not as I do.
Similarly, I end up using my vinegar rinse (half water, half vinegar) in the spray bottle when I clean the floors… 🙂 The area in our house that has hardwood is pretty small (just the foyer area), and I don't wash it constantly (which I've heard you really shouldn't anyway). It's just not worth it to me to make a bucket-full for such a small area. It takes just a couple minutes to wash with the spray bottle and a rag… I also like that it doesn't get too wet this way. And that's how I clean the kitchen/dining room floors, as well (not hardwood), so it's a lot simpler for me. 🙂 Works just fine.
I've had neighbors that use purchased cleaners and clean their floors all the time ask me how mine are so nice and shiny. I just smile and let them know I use the vinegar rinse and don't wash it too much (and then enjoy how surprised they are). 😉 Works great!
You can also add Basil Leaves and Peppermint oil to repel Spiders, Rodents, and Cockroaches, Smells awesome too !
What a great idea. We are just doing renovations atm and for the first time (in almost 40 years) we have huge cockroaches, bull ants and earwigs creeping out of crevices everywhere.
I will certainly give the peppermint oil a go, and any other suggestions are most welcome.
I thought of setting off one of those bombs, but we have a very frail 27 yr old cat that I doubt would survive it.
T.I.A.