• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Hello Nest

The Art of Making a Home

  • Green Cleaning
    • Air Fresheners
    • Bathroom
    • Bedroom
    • Kitchen
    • Laundry
  • Natural Living
    • Homemade Recipes
    • Essential Oils
    • Plants & Flowers
    • Zero Waste
    • Organizing & Simplifying
  • DIY & Decor
    • Candle Projects
    • Holiday Projects
    • Sewing Projects
  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

DIY Vinegar + Peroxide All-Purpose Cleaner

67 · Aug 4, 2020 · Stephanie Gerber · 4 Comments

In the past few years, I’ve become become the opposite of a germaphobe. For daily cleaning I wipe counters with just a wet rag and use the world’s easiest homemade foaming soap to wash hands. I’m a cleaner-a-phobe!

But I’ve always wanted a good all-purpose cleaner I could use in the kitchen without worrying about it getting on food or leaving harmful residue. Finally, I found a powerful combo that’s safe around food and kids: hydrogen peroxide and distilled white vinegar.

Hydrogen and Vinegar DIY All Purpose Cleaning Spray

How to use Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar together

Simply spray one right after the other onto surfaces you want to clean – counters, cutting boards, even fruits & veggies. It’s 10 times more effective than using either spray by itself! Here’s how it works:

In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner. (source)

Simple All-Purpose Hydrogen Peroxide + Vinegar Cleaner Recipe

This involves making 2 separate spray bottles (and for nice glass spray or pump bottles, I love Rail19).

DIY All Purpose Cleaning Spray In the first spray bottle, combine:

  • 1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
  • 5 drops tea tree oil
  • 5 drops clove oil

Newsflash – vinegar stinks. I chose clove essential oil because it’s naturally antibacterial and antiviral and easily overpowers the smell. Cinnamon or citrus would also work. Fill rest of way with water.

In a second bottle, add hydrogen peroxide. You need a dark-colored bottle as peroxide starts to breaks down when exposed to light (or just put a spray nozzle on the original bottle).

DIY All Purpose Cleaning Spray

Warning: Don’t put vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together in the same bottle

I did this the first time (oops), but apparently combining both in the same bottle creates peracetic acid, which can be harmful. So it’s best to keep them separate!

And once you have a big jug of vinegar there are about a billion things you can make and clean with it. Here are just a few!

67

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Kitchen all-purpose, green ingredients, ingredients

More Posts from Kitchen

  • 7 Tips for Washing a Lot of Dishes – Fast!

  • Banish Odors with DIY Coffee Garbage Disposal Deodorizers

  • A Simple 4-Ingredient Produce Wash You Can Make at Home

  • How To Clean Your Stainless Steel Sink

    How To Clean Your Stainless Steel Sink

  • 3 Easy Ways to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

    3 DIY Traps for Getting Rid of Fruit Flies

  • A DIY Dish Soap Recipe That Actually Works


Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a ReplyCancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Emerald Mcdonald says

    March 10, 2015 at 11:58 am

    Nice DIY cleaner recipes. Thanks for the great tips.
    I shared this article on DIY best posts.

    Reply
  2. Mary says

    February 5, 2016 at 2:29 pm

    Which one do you use first do you use dry rag wet rag do you spray the other one right away

    Reply
  3. Naomi Jensen says

    June 6, 2016 at 4:39 am

    Such a useful article and tips. I really loved your ideas. It is great to find new ways to clean the house. Thanks for this share!

    Reply
  4. b croix says

    May 11, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    Please check out mother nature network man.com and ewg.com for scientific information on wipes and vinegar usage. They state that they do not kill e-coli or growing bacterias. You are correct about not using antibacterial soap.

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Get updates + more!

Get the exclusive content you crave straight to your inbox.

Featured DIY

27 Green Cleaning Uses for Baking Soda

27 Green Cleaning Uses for Baking Soda

DIY Lemon Lavender Rug Freshening Powder

DIY Beeswax Wood Polish

7 Tips for Washing a Lot of Dishes – Fast!

How to Make Citrus Infused Vinegar + 17 Ways to Use Vinegar for Cleaning

More

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Hello Glow
  • Hello Veggie

Copyright © 2023 · Seasoned Pro