Homemade All-Purpose Cleaning Spray With Infused Vinegar

crunched by Crunchy Betty on August 30, 2011
filed under Household

This homemade all-purpose cleaner would make Alice from the Brady Bunch proud.

I just asked Skip to help me with inspiration to introduce this homemade all-purpose cleaner, because it’s refreshingly effective and so easy to make. It zips away grease and stuck-on grime like a magician disappearing a rabbit.

I really wanted some zingy, excitement-building intro, because this is the best all-purpose cleaner I’ve made yet. But I was lacking inspiration.

So I turned to Skip.

“Honey, help me think of a way to introduce that cleaner I made that you just used after dinner.”

He sweeps his gaze from the television to my face, eyes peering just over his glasses, and thoughtfully flicks a toe on the foot resting on his knee. There’s a pregnant 3-second pause, and I wait for genius. He exhales:

“Vinegar.”

(Wait for it!)

“Period.”

Then poker is back on, his eyes take all of a nanosecond to glue to the screen, and the moment is over. Sigh.

But the thing is. It’s true! Vinegar. Period. That’s almost all you need to know. And vinegar(period) is pretty awesome as a cleaner itself. Let’s just add a few more things like: herbs(period) and essential oil(period).

And then we have this homemade all purpose cleaner that rivals … anythingyoucouldbuyinthestore. I figure that can be one word at this point, since we say it so much around here.

Herbal Infused Vinegar For Cleaning

This is something you’ll want to do over a couple of weeks, and consists of two easy steps.

Infusing the vinegar.
Mixing the infusion with more vinegar and essential oil.

The second part is even optional, if you don’t have essential oil. Here’s the first part.

1. Infuse Your Vinegar for Two Weeks

First step - infuse the vinegar with herbs for two weeks (not two months, like Ms. Forgeteverything over here).

All you need for this part is:

Distilled white vinegar
Disinfecting herbs of your choosing (rosemary, peppermint, thyme, lemon balm, pine needles, lavender, orange or grapefruit or lemon peels)

I used peppermint and rosemary for this one.

Measure out 1/2 c. dried herbs into a clean jar. Cover with approximately 1-1/2 c. white vinegar.

Put the lid on it. Shake it. And store it for two weeks (shaking it about when you remember, every day or every couple of days).

The story of mine goes like this: I started infusing these herbs on July 9, 2011. And then I forgot I was doing it, so my infusion is SUPER strong (and darker than yours will be). Two weeks is plenty.

Once your two weeks are up, here’s what you do:

2. Mix Your Infused Vinegar

Everything you need to make your own homemade all purpose cleaner. Get to it.

First, strain all the herbs out of your vinegar using a fine-mesh sieve or a coffee filter. Then, gather all your ingredients:

Ingredients for Vinegar-Infused All Purpose Cleaner

Infused vinegar from step 1
More distilled white vinegar
Essential oils of your choosing (one, two, three …. or none at all – it’s up to you)
An empty spray bottle

Pour all of your infused vinegar into the spray bottle and add 1 c. regular white vinegar (this is just to add “new” and potent vinegar to your cleaning).

Put in some essential oil drop by drop:

Lemon is especially good at cutting grease. And smelling like sunshine.

Good “Cleaning” Essential Oils: Lemon, orange, pink grapefruit, rosemary, tea tree, eucalyptus, peppermint, lavender.

So you drop in about 30-50 drops of essential oil (I used 15 each of lemon, rosemary, and tea tree).

Shake up your homemade all purpose cleaner. Use it whenever something needs to be wiped off a counter, out of a sink, or even in your bathtub.

That’s it! Done!

This will keep for months and months, and it’s disinfecting, antimicrobial, and all around GREAT on grease, stuck-on foodstuffs, and other icky messes.

Skip's hand, cleaning up after dinner. (Period.)

Guess How Much This Costs?

For 2-1/2 c. cleaning solution – just like I made it – guess how much it cost?

Herbs: $0.67
Vinegar: 0.24
Essential oils: (approximate) $0.15

Total: $1.06

And do you know how close to FREE that would’ve been, if I’d have dried my own mint and rosemary that’s out growing in the garden (which I plan to do soon)? Like, so close to free, you could almost fly.

Yeah, That’s A Glass Jar

Guess how I did this?

Can you figure out how this works? It's ... unexpected.

Guess how I turned a glass jar into a spray bottle.

I’ll tell you tomorrow.

**PS: I’d like to thank More Than Alive for providing the Beeyoutiful Lemon and Rosemary essential oils I used in this homemade all-purpose cleaner. :)

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kylieonwheels

Yes! I’ve been hanging out for an excuse to go and rustle up the pine needles fallen behind my yard – this is perfect!

(and how did you know that the first thing in my brain was “bottle…jar…how did she do that??!!”)
- Lisanne
  
  Haha! That was my first thought as well!
- Crunchy Betty
  
  That’s the next batch I’m doing! But it’ll be a couple of months until I’m ready for it, so you have to let me know how they work for you. Fingers crossed for a good report!
  - kylieonwheels
    
    Update!
    
    I carried my shears and secateurs around the back into the reserve yesterday afternoon, hoping I didn’t look too much like I was about to chop someone up. Came back with a branch of pine tree, which once back in the confines of my kitchen suddenly seemed a whole lot more than I needed. I’ve shoved as many needles as would fit in a jar, and filled it up with vinegar.
    
    It is currently sitting on the window sill, getting a shake every time I’m in the area, and so far it still smells like vinegar, and hasn’t given any colour to the liquid yet either. It’s been all of half a day though…I’ll hold out for the rest of the fortnight and report back then :)
Crunchy_Mama

Nice! I use lemon infused vinegar for glass cleaning and dusting, and I use vinegar with tea tree oil, peppermint and rosemary EO’s plus some water and lavender castile soap as an all purpose disinfectant. It smells fantastic and works great. Gotta love vinegar!!

Can’t wait for the “how to” on the glass spray jar!
- http://twitter.com/#!/NatalieInCA NatalieInCA
  
  Crunchy_Mama, how do you infuse with lemon? I have a very productive lemon tree in my backyard and would love to use the fruit/peels instead of essential oil.
  
  For now, I will make one with dry lavender as I have plenty left from last month harvest and set a Google event in my calendar for Sep 13th so I won’t forget about it.
  
  Cannot wait to see how you made this glass jar/bottle spray.
  - Crunchy_Mama
    
    I just soak lemon peels in white vinegar until the peels start to disintegrate and the vinegar smells nice and lemony. A week or so should do it!
    - http://twitter.com/#!/NatalieInCA NatalieInCA
      
      Thanks, I’ll try it!
      - jamie
        
        mine too a lot longer but had excellent results FYI
      - http://twitter.com/#!/NatalieInCA NatalieInCA
        
        Yes, it took a bit longer. I have already my second batch on the way. I love it! :)
http://vanessasmith.webs.com Vanessa

Hm… you cut a hole in the lid large enough for the straw of the sprayer and then glued/taped the larger unit down to prevent leaks?

This looks like so much fun. I would probably forget about it though, and end up with an atomic bomb after finding it again after six months, lmao.
- Crunchy Betty
  
  Tee hee … Can’t wait for you to see what I actually did. (Yes, I tried glue first. And then ended up with a dropped jar. :(
- noodle
  
  The vinegar simply pickles the ingredients so I think after 6 months it would be fine. I did mine for 4 months and they turned out great.
http://lisepunch.blogspot.com/ LisaLise

Ooh, love Kylieonwheels pine needles idea! Crunchy Mamas lemon-infused scent sounds lovely… I’m getting straight to work on this.. now, which scent to choose? Ah, heck with it, I’m making both!
Scarlet

I can’t really be bothered to infuse my vinegar, though that does sound nice. I just use too darn much of it to keep my clear shower curtain clear to go to the trouble. I’ve been on a lavender eucalyptus kick lately but lemon eucalyptus sounds pretty nice. I am just so short on spray bottles! Guess I need to start pilfering through the trash.
- Crunchy Betty
  
  Short on (empty) spray bottles is always my problem, too! After discovering how to make bottles from jars, though, I’m now asking a couple of friends/neighbors to give me their empty spray bottles when they’re done with ‘em, so I can make a bunch of my own here to keep … forever!
Julie

Okay, I’m actually growing rosemary and lavendar this year. How do I dry it properly so that I can use it for this recipe? And can anyone living in cold weather climates give me some idea on how to winter these plants? I’d like them to survive through to spring if possible.

Thanks!!!!
- Ali
  
  i have found this site http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/lavendercareandtips.htm to be a really helpful lavender resource.
- http://twitter.com/#!/NatalieInCA NatalieInCA
  
  I just hung my lavender in bunch, upside down. Once dry, the flower fall off very easily. I don’t know about rosemary, I always use mine fresh year round – I am in CA, so no cold weather here.
- http://makeitbakeitbuyitfakeit.blogspot.com Stephanie
  
  Julie, dry your rosemary the same as Natalie suggests for the lavender. Hang it up somewhere until it’s very dry, preferably out of the sunlight, then strip the leaves off and keep them in a jar in the cupboard. If not absolutely dry, the herbs can mildew.
  
  You don’t specify about your how cold your climate is… frosts, freezes, or full-on sub-zero temps? Once they’re established, your lavenders will be quite hardy. Young ones though, you might want to cover when a freeze is predicted.
  - Julie
    
    Thanks for all the advice, everyone.
    
    As to my climate, yes, yes, and yes. It gets very cold and can stay that way for days/weeks at a time.
http://ramblingsofahappyhomemaker.blogspot.com Pam M

I use vinegar with lavender essential oil and agree with you in that it cuts grease better than anything I’ve ever tried. When I have citrus – I infuse the empty rinds with vinegar for use in cleaning. That works really well, too. But, it never occurred to me to go snip some of the herbs from my yard and do the same thing. I even have lavender. Duh! Thanks for the idea. :0)
- http://twitter.com/#!/NatalieInCA NatalieInCA
  
  Pam, do you dry the peel first? Thanks.
  - http://ramblingsofahappyhomemaker.blogspot.com Pam M
    
    Nope. I simply stick the fresh citrus rind (lemon, orange, grapefruit, whatev…) in a mason jar and cover with white vinegar until it get nice and citrusy – giving it a good shake every day. I even add to it as I use more fruit.
    - http://twitter.com/#!/NatalieInCA NatalieInCA
      
      Thanks Pam.
- Laura
  
  Maybe a weird question, but I have a lemon squeezer that takes the juice out but leaves most of the pulp in the lemon. I’ve been collecting enough lemon halves in a ziplock bag in my freezer for a month now, and finally have enough to fill a half gallon mason jar. My question is do I have to remove all of the pulp from the lemon peels??
Karlita

This looks great! You are the best ;)
Ali

if you have the fresh herbs, do you need to dry them before doing the vinegar infusion?
- Crunchy Betty
  
  This here page (http://www.prairielandherbs.com/herbal%20vinegars%20to%20the%20rescue.htm) says that herbs for infused vinegar can be fresh. I’d just keep smelling it (and shaking it very often) to make sure it’s not going rancid. I think it’ll be okay – and it will definitely be okay if, after you strain it, you just add more fresh vinegar to the mix!
http://makeitbakeitbuyitfakeit.blogspot.com Stephanie

I’m dying to know how you did that with the jar lid! I’ve been using 50/50 vinegar and water for cleaning, and adding EO to it to cut the vinegar odor. You’ve just saved me a step (and the expense of EO).
Susan

Hey Chickie! Last year during Apple season I made Apple Sauce, Spiced Apple Rings, Apple et al : including my own Apple cider Vinegar! I made several gallons and I still like to open my pantry and show off my preserves (peaches, pears, tomatoes) and say when pointing to the strange golden jars (urine samples – just in case – just kidding – they are my own cider vinegar). Not hard to make and the very best when used for stomach upset.
- Crunchy Betty
  
  I must know how you made these spiced apple rings. I just found a recipe for baked apple chips, but I’m in the market for something a little more exciting than that particular recipe. Share!
http://twitter.com/#!/NatalieInCA NatalieInCA

My lavender infused white vinegar has turned a pale pink, then pink, then a pretty raspberry color in a few hours. Is that normal? It is getting darker by the hour. Kids thought that was a science experiment!
- Crunchy Betty
  
  Haha! I love how quick you are. Talk about immediate gratification. Yes, that’s normal (and SO pretty in your picture). Let me know how it turns out! I’m guessing by now, it’s stopped infusing so much color in, yeah?
  - http://twitter.com/#!/NatalieInCA NatalieInCA
    
    It is more of a cherry color now. I hope it won’t stain… would defeat the purpose of a cleaner! 9 yo daughter suggested she could then use it for rinsing her hair – hoping it will give her red highlights. LOL
KarinSDCA

I have infused water, honey, and oil. Why not vinegar? Sounds like fun!

I, too, am very curious about your spray jar…That was the first thing I noticed in the picture!!! LOL
Maria

Ditto to Ali’s comment above, I have a big ‘ole lemon balm plant and have been looking for ways to use it. Any estimates on how much fresh herb to use? I know in cooking the rule of thumb is to triple the amount when using fresh, but 1.5 cups herb in 1.5 cups vinegar seems like it would be too much. Thoughts?
- Crunchy Betty
  
  I’ll toss you the link I just shared with Ali: http://www.prairielandherbs.com/herbal%20vinegars%20to%20the%20rescue.htm – There it says to fill up your jar with ‘em and cover them with vinegar. I betcha lemon balm will make some amazing, amazing cleaner. Keep us posted!
  - Maria
    
    Thanks for the link! I had a feeling I was over-thinking it. Ok, I’m gonna go hack off a chunk of my plant, shove it in a jar with vinegar, and see what kind of magic I can make! Hooray for haphazard concoctions!
Gala

Hmmm this could make a great toner recipe. Instead of white vinegar you can use apple cider vinegar.
btw do you have a recipe for crunchy nail polish?
Tashi

What is the purpose of infusing the vinegar?
You suggested using a ‘disinfecting’ herb, does the infusion process really transfer the disinfecting properties of the herb to the vinegar? Is vinegar not a disinfectant on its own? Or is the purpose of infusion just to add a nice smell?

Also, for the essential oils, are they just added to give it a better smell?

I’ve cleaned with vinegar and water before and it was really great at cleaning but left a terrible vinegar smell that my family couldn’t live with, so I’ve stopped. But does the addition of oils get rid of that vinegar smell? If so, I’m totally giving vinegar cleaning another try!
Tanis

Be careful about using vinegar on natural stone surface (counters and tiles), as the acids will break down some minerals. I would love to find a natural cleaner to use on my granite counter tops!
mary beth

Hi Thanks for the great idea. I have quite a few green pinecones on the lawn. I used these and some green pine needles in the infusion today. The green ones had a much stronger pine scent than the brown dried cones. Do you think this will work out ok???
Also I love citrus, and hearing everyone’s citrus infusions gave me more ideas. Thanks so much.
http://litasworld.com Jen @ LitasWorld

Ahh yes, Vinegar…my favorite all-time cleaner…I’ve never added the herbs to it, but now I will…great idea!! It’s so easy the I think it scares people..otherwise everyone would make their own cleaners and all those nasty chemical ones would be OFF the shelves in the stores…aahhh a girl can dream :)
Amy

Quick question: do the herbs have to be dried? I have a rosemary plant so I never buy dried…& I have some fresh lemons in my kitchen. Can I use fresh lemon peel?

Just found your blog today & am loving all the helpful cleaning recipes, will have to browse somemore. Thanks!!
- Crunchy Betty
  
  Yep. Fresh lemon peel would work perfectly. Have fun with it!
Christina

I finally finished making my DIY cleaner today and I love it!! I let it infuse for about 3 weeks because I was away and even after adding the fresh vinegar it smells delish!! I used rosemary, thyme and lemon peels and then added tea tree oil (the only EO I currently have. I just sprayed down almost every conceivable surface in my house because I was so excited. Thanks Crunchy Betty!!
- Hannah Schneider
  
  I came across this blog post as I had a random thought at three in the morning – ‘I wonder if you could make a cleaning spray with vinegar, lemon rind and herbs? Thyme and rosemary might be nice…’ And here you are with the same idea! I’ll be making it tomorrow first thing!
Leah

I have just started infusing vinegar for cleaning. I LOVE IT! I have been using assorted citrus (lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit), but I am wanting to add something else… like a herb or an essential oil. What could I use? What would go great with grapefruit? I’m stumped. Please help! =] Thanks!!
- Shannon
  
  Try Sage! I made some citrus/sage infused vinegar and loved it. It reminded me of my favorite Yankee Candle scent :). I have also used lavender, rosemary, mint (all fresh not dried) Alas I no longer live in Cali so i don’t have my plants anymore :( I’m stuck with citrus for now. They wanted WAY to Much$$ for fresh Sage in the grocery!! One of these days I’m going to try Just lime. Has anyone tried that???
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1675780538 Lisa Cousino

Hi Crunchy Betty, just found your web site and I’m loving it!!
I want to try and make this cleaner and i have a question.
I would like to use lemon and orange peel to infuse my vinegar with. Do I need to dry them out first or do I use them fresh?
http://twitter.com/angierice Angie Rice

Can you use fresh herbs to infuse or must they be dried first?
- Guest
  
  Its best to used dried herbs, the moisture in the plants can cause the tincture to spoil. It is possible to use fresh herbs, but its a bit more work
KawaiiWriting

This stuff is AMAZING. I used lemon thyme for my infusion and lemon essential oil. My kitchen is the cleanest it has probably ever been. You need to put a disclaimer on this recipe though… “Warning: May induce pickle cravings.”

Thanks for the awesome idea!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jennifer-Gifford/725427269 Jennifer Gifford

I have tons of lemon verbena growing in my garden. Can I use fresh lemon verbena leaves instead of the dry herbs to infuse the vinegar?
noodle

Even though this is an old post, I found it a few months ago and tried it with a batch of orange peels and a batch of lavender. I only made a small amount since I didn’t have big Mason jars, but I did have some working glasses with lids from Crate and Barrel and they worked well.

Even with adding essential oils and diluting it with distilled water, it still had a strong smell. The lavender retained its vinegar smell a lot more than the oranges, so If I do this again, I think I’ll stick to oranges. Besides, orange peels are a lot easier to come by!

I was surprised to see how great vinegar is as a glass cleaner. I just squeegee it off and it streaks at first, but becomes crystal clear after a few moments. Not as fast as Windex but so much safer. Also, it’s been doing great as a daily shower spray. I was coughing up the dough for Method daily shower spray but the vinegar spray ends up being cheaper AND more effective.
Hannah

Is it OK to use white vinegar, not distilled? No one seems to sell distilled vinegar around my ways! Anyway, I read somewhere that white vinegar is better to use for cleaning than distilled, something to do with acidity levels…would appreciate any ones advice :)
Carolee

i love this infused vinegar! I infuse a gallon with dried lavender for a couple weeks and use it straight like that as fabric softener!
http://www.facebook.com/amanda.moraleslarson Amanda J. Morales Larson

i am tryin this out today. gettin it started with what i had. but i think i wanna try to make this glass jar spray bottle!! :-)