This citrus vinegar cleaner is natural, cheap and highly effective at killing germs, mold, mildew and dirt. If you love the cleaning power of vinegar but hate the smell this citrus vinegar cleaner is for you!
I have been making this citrus vinegar cleaner for many years now. Vinegar is somewhat of a ‘miracle’ cleaner and while I was quite happy using distilled white vinegar for cleaning, my family absolutely hated the smell.
I refused to go back to using those toxic chemicals for cleaning our home and buying non-toxic cleaners would quickly send us to the poor house so I had to work on improving the smell.
How to make a vinegar cleaner with citrus peels?
I’m pretty sure it was on Pinterest that I first saw someone infuse vinegar with lemon peels and I just had to try it! Here’s how to infuse vinegar with citrus peels:
- Collect the peels of lemon, lime and orange in a swingtop glass jar
until you have enough to fill it up.
- Once your jar is full of peels, add white distilled vinegar and fill to the top.
- Leave the mixture to infuse for at least 2 weeks.
Does vinegar kill bacteria?
Vinegar is about 5 per cent acetic acid. The acid kills bacteria and viruses, by chemically changing the proteins and fats that make up these nasties and destroying their cell structures. (Source)
It’s important to note that while the low pH and acid content of the citrus and vinegar creates an inhospitable environment for many microorganisms to grow it is not effective against EVERY type of bacteria.
How do you get rid of the smell of vinegar?
Because this citrus vinegar cleaner is infused with lemon, lime and orange the vinegar smell isn’t very strong. But if your family hates the smell of vinegar like mine does you can go a step further and add essential oils to the vinegar cleaner.
Not only will this help neutralise the vinegar smell it greatly increases it’s cleaning power.
The best essential oils for vinegar cleaner
Lemon Essential Oil
Tea Tree Essential Oil
Peppermint Essential Oil
What is the ratio of vinegar to water for cleaning
A 1:1 ratio of vinegar to water should suffice for most household cleaning jobs. You can go up to 2:1 for more heavy duty jobs.
I always keep a bottle of this citrus vinegar cleaner on my kitchen countertop, not only is it pretty it’s just about the only household cleaner I ever need! It’s great for cleaning windows, kitchen countertops and sinks, floors and bathtubs.
Citrus Vinegar Cleaner
Ingredients
- 1 cup citrus infused vinegar
- 1 cup water
- lemon peels
- lime peels
- orange peels
- 5 drops lemon essential oil optional
- 5 drops tea tree essential oil optional
- 5 drops peppermint essential oil optional
Instructions
To make citrus infused vinegar
- Collect citrus peels in a glass bottle with a tight fitting lid
- Fill the bottle up with vinegar
- Leave the mixture to infuse for at least 2 weeks
To make citrus vinegar cleaner spray
- Pour 1 cup of the citrus infused vinegar and 1 cup of water into a spray bottle. Add essential oils if using. Shake to combine.
Hi Krystal, it’s me Dalia, remember from the cruise ships??? You look fabulous, seems like life has been treating you well and that’s sooo nice to see, I always remember you as a hard worker, sweet and quiet. Anyhow, i love your blog!!! I’m all about trying natural remedies, food or products,etc..anyhow i love getting ideas to use on a every day basis (as much as possible!). I love this recipe, I’ve been using just use the vinegar and water to clean but the smell is not the best (even though i’m not used to it), but i love the fact that if I just save my citrus peel it can smell so much better, and love the idea of the oils as well. Can you tell me though how much of each oil do i need to put into the jar??? Thanks. Also if you have a great shampoo/conditioner recipe let me know. Ive been use baking soda and water for shampoo for almost 9 months and apple cider vinegar for conditioner but it gives me too much dandruff and dries it out….just asking in case you know any good ones (mostly for curly hair). Take care….Dalia 🙂
Thank you so much Dalia for your kind words! 🙂 For the essential oils I would say start with a couple drops of each and see how you like the scent. It really depends on how much vinegar/water you have used. I’m thinking of doing a post on my hair care routine but to give a short answer, my shampoo is usually the most ‘natural’ commercial one I can find or I make a shampoo from soapnuts. My conditioner is a homemade concoction of yogurt, honey,acv depends on what I have on hand. If you would like to see a ‘recipe’ for this let me know and I will add it to my list. Take care!
I definitelly need to try this, Krystal! Thank you for sharing it with us 😀
Thank you Lily!!
Hi, I’ve made this recipe and have noticed that after a few weeks my spray bottle stops working. I have tried different brands of spray bottles and each time the same thing happens. I am wondering if anyone has had this issue and how they fixed it? Thanks 🙂
Hi Giselle, this hasn’t happened to me. I use a simple spray bottle from IKEA. Are you adding essential oils ?