All-Purpose Cleaner/Disinfectant

"Tea tree oil and thyme essential oils are antiseptic, antifungal, antiviral and are great for use in the home. As the testers pointed out, it's perfectly fine and effective if you use other essential oils with the same properties. Lemon and lavender are favorites of mine. :-) Use only essential oils."
 
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Ready In:
10mins
Ingredients:
4
Yields:
1.25 cups
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ingredients

  • 29.58 ml borax
  • 59.14 ml lemon juice
  • 473.18 ml hot water
  • 1.3 ml tea tree oil (Melaleuca alternifolia) or 1.3 ml thyme essential oils (Thymus vulgaris)
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directions

  • Combine the borax and lemon juice with the water in a spray bottle.
  • Cap and shake well to dissolve the mineral.
  • Add the tea tree (or thyme) oil and shake again to disperse the oil.
  • Use as you would any commercial all-purpose cleaner.

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Reviews

  1. This really is a great recipe. I use 10 drops tea tree, 10 drops lavendar, plus ONE drop of Red Thyme oil, because it is SO strong. I strain the lemon juice through cheesecloth so it doesn't clog up my spray bottle. I've used this in the bathroom to clean mold, to wipe down my yoga and pilates equipment, and to remove red wine stains from beige carpeting. I also removed a crusted-up old carpet stain of unknown origin. I'm consistently surprised at how good this stuff is. For people unfamiliar with Borax, it can be found in the laundry detergent aisle. The most common brand name is 20 Mule Team Borax.
     
  2. This stuff works great, even on dried on junk on the counters! Cuts grease with ease thanks to the lemon juice. I used grapefruit seed oil instead of tea tree just for scent preference, but it still has the disinfectant properties. Thanks Zusie!
     
  3. I have this mixed and on standby at all times now. Since we have a grey water line that empties into nature, I was concerned about the harsh cleaners I used. No more! It works just as well or better & smells great. I used tea tree/lemon oils in the kitchen and tea tree/lavender in the bath. A+, Zusie!
     
  4. This is good stuff. And it smells very nice too!
     
  5. This recipe works great. I really should give it a 4.5 simply because I used thyme EO, my first time trying that one, and I find it to be very overpowering. Next time I will make this recipe using tea tree oil instead. But the recipe works wonderfully! Thanks for submitting.
     
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Tweaks

  1. This stuff works great, even on dried on junk on the counters! Cuts grease with ease thanks to the lemon juice. I used grapefruit seed oil instead of tea tree just for scent preference, but it still has the disinfectant properties. Thanks Zusie!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<a href="http://bp-grafix.net/sitebuilder"target=new><img src="http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i185/glittergus/icons/i.gif" border=0></a> I am a proud mother of three healthy boys aged 15,11 and 5. I'm originally from the tiny island of Bermuda and have been living in Edinburgh since July 2005. I've been collecting recipes since I was about 14 or 15 and been cooking and baking since then as well. I love all kinds of crafts also. In my spare time if I'm not in the kitchen; I crochet, make jewelry, bead, knit, sew, cross stitch, do plastic canvas and quilt. I have a short attention span, so I have plenty of different craft choices when I get bored of doing something. Oh, and I also like to read, listen to music, fiddle with any electronic gadget, collect dvd's and watch them, and I'm an internetaholic! :-) I keep a craft blog at http://hobbyzu.blogspot.com and I sell my crocheted items and patterns at http://hobbyzu.com. I keep pretty busy and being self employed gives me more time to explore cooking! :-) I'm mostly interested in cook books featuring regular old home cooking and favorites. When I moved to the UK I had to get rid of my cookbook collection. I did keep all my Bermudian cookbooks, charity cookbooks and 'The Foods of Israel Today' and Better Homes and Gardens 'Hometown Favorites'. <a href="http://bp-grafix.net/sitebuilder"target=new><img src="http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i185/glittergus/icons/g5.gif" border=0></a> I am most passionate when it comes to my family and caring for them. Getting to feed them is an added bonus! Lucky for me, my boys are steadily growing pigs with bottomless pits for stomachs! lol :-) <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/untitled.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/200_artistrichardneuman-art-prints_.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting">
 
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