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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

{Ten Minute Tuesday} All-Purpose Orange Peel Cleaning Solution


This is gonna be a fun Tuesday project! And a yummy one, too.

I really like cleaning with natural products as much as possible. My general all-purpose cleaner is an all-natural one:

1/2 c vinegar
1 c water
7-10 drops of essential oil (I use lavender a lot- but I'd also suggest lemon or peppermint!)

I found this recipe to bump up the cleaning power of my all-purpose cleaning solution- add orange peels!

Here's how it works. Peel one or two oranges (and well, you'd better eat the oranges, while you're at it) and put the peels into a Ball jar. Then, fill the jar with white vinegar. Leave the jar in a cool, dark place for about a month.

After about a month has passed, remove the orange peel and toss it, saving the orangey vinegar! Then, I make my all-purpose cleaner with the recipe above, using the super-orange-vinegar! I don't use the essential oils, since the vinegar already smells so good and has great cleaning properties with the orangey-ness.

Have a great Tuesday, making your home a happier, healthier place!




6 comments:

  1. Nice! I shall try that since I have oranges and an unused bottle of vinegar...and I love vinegar...for EVERYTHING.

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    1. I'm with you! I should write a whole post about all the ways I use vinegar around my house... I use it all the time.

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  2. I do the exact same thing! And the kids have even started saving their orange peels and sticking them in jars every time they eat an orange :) I mix it with a little dish soap and water and keep it in one of those squirty dish sponge wands in the shower so that I can clean it when I'm in there :)

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    1. Brilliant! I gotta get me one of those!! (I hate cleaning the shower- I always get my socks wet).

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  3. Okay, so I have actually tried this - although with lemons - and I have to say, I was kind of disappointed. I found that things didn't get as clean as they normally do with commercial cleaners and that it seemed to leave a film on things. Did I do something wrong??
    Also, the smell wasn't fantastic. It didn't smell rotten or anything, but it didn't smell "lemon fresh" either, if you know what I mean. It smelled more like pickled lemons - which is essentially what it is.
    I would love for this to work, I just didn't get very good results...

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    1. Haha pickled lemons!

      I've never tried it with lemons... but I don't think that would be a huge difference, right? I don't use this solution "straight," actually- I use about, oh, about 2 Tbs or so, mix it with a little more vinegar (I have a two-cup spray bottle I use, and I fill it about an eighth of the way with vinegar) and then fill the bottle the rest of the way with water.

      Of course, I use a lot of vinegar for cleaning, so the pickle-y smell doesn't get to me much... it was an adjustment at first, though. I think after I cleaned the bathroom with my vinegar solution for the first time, Zeke asked why everything smelled like ketchup!

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