Natural Orange Cleaner

As a friend of mine said, health isn't all about diet. I've never said that it was, (although if your diet is crap, you'll never be truly healthy) and part of a healthy lifestyle is not exposing yourself to toxic chemicals. There's not much you can do out and about, but you CAN control what kind of cleaners you use in your home.

I've not used a commercial cleaning product in my home for over five years. I use only a few simple ingredients, based on what needs cleaning: vinegar, baking soda, liquid soap, water, and essential oils. Vinegar kills household germs just as readily as toxic cleaners, and isn't harmful to you or the environment. And it's inexpensive!

I ran across someone's Facebook post on how to make orange cleaner and thought I'd try a batch. I just put the orange peels in today to start to infuse the vinegar, so will have to do a follow-up post in a while when it's ready to use. In any case, here's what you do:

1) Take a clean glass jar (I'm using an empty spaghetti sauce jar for this batch) and fill it with clean orange peels. To clean the peels (to remove wax and/or pesticides), scrub the oranges with water and baking soda before you peel them. Easiest way. So far I have two peels in there with some vinegar, I will top up the vinegar and add peels as we eat the oranges.

2) Cover with vinegar, put on the lid, and shake it.

3) Store it in a cool, dark place for two to four weeks. Shake it every few days.

4) Strain out the orange peels and discard the peels (you might be able to compost these, I'm not sure). Pour the orange oil vinegar into a spray container in a ratio of 3:1 (vinegar:water).

5) Use it to clean your counter top, stove top, toilet, sink, etc. Might cause streaking on glass and mirrors; try it and let me know.

You can also use lemon, grapefruit, or lime peels. Don't waste those peels!