Welcome to the best science based DIY cleaning guide! A large portion of Chemistry Cachet is sharing DIY cleaning solutions and tips, but over the years, many readers have inquired about a guide that can help them know exactly what to use on what!
All over pinterest and google, you will find a plethora of DIY cleaning guides including easy homemade solutions. You’ve probably also tried many items that were a complete fail too!
The problem with so many homemade cleaning solutions is they aren’t used properly. Most don’t understand there is a very specific science going on even with basic household items like vinegar and baking soda.
Another scary thing is how many of these websites show you to use it on certain surfaces which I know to be dangerous.
This guide is a quick and easy reference for you to have on hand when you want to clean. For thorough and detailed articles on cleaning, please visit our cleaning tab.
For our favorite, researched, and effective cleaning solutions all in one place, please check out our popular eBook.
Science Based DIY Cleaning Guide
To see the exact brands and types I use, feel free to check out our resource page too!
Vinegar
This is a good one to start with because it seems to be the internet’s favorite “natural cleaning product.”
Due to the high acidity of vinegar (acetic acid), this is best to use on things that aren’t natural. It is also important to avoid seals, silicons, grouts, and caulking because the acidity eats away at these types of surfaces. For every detail you need to know about vinegar, read our complete vinegar guide here.
What to Avoid with Vinegar:
- Marble
- Granite
- Tile
- Stone
- Sealants
- Paints
- Grout
What to Use Vinegar On:
- Ceramic
- Plastic
- Metal
- Appliances
- Fabrics
Favorite cleaners with vinegar: dozens from the eBook, microwave steamer, coffee cleaner, bathroom cleaner (can also sub alcohol for natural bathrooms), carpet cleaner
Rubbing Alcohol
My personal favorite because it is so versatile. Rubbing alcohol is affordable, and easy to keep on hand for everything. It has dozens of uses in the home. Here are some things to keep in mind:
What to Avoid with Rubbing Alcohol:
- Thin paints (like craft paint, nail polish)
- Heat sources (like warm burners, hair dryers)
What to Use Rubbing Alcohol On:
- Anything else!
Truly a remarkable invention by science, safe for almost anything besides the things listed.
Favorite cleaner with alcohol: so many in the eBook, lemon infused rubbing alcohol, DIY hand sanitizer, homemade soft scrub, DIY bug spray, other fun things to use rubbing alcohol on
Baking Soda
Another important aspect of a science based DIY cleaning guide is baking soda! Baking soda is a favorite all over the internet too, also known as sodium bicarbonate. This is a salt with unique properties for around the home. We have so many baking soda tips in the eBook too!
The biggest issues my readers have come to me with, is trying out baking soda based scrubs or using it straight after seeing it on a website. The result was a cloudy mess they couldn’t get rid of! The only glass surface I use baking soda on is when I make our homemade soft scrub, which has enough ratio of other ingredients to not leave a residue 🙂 There are also a few in the book, but they are very specific.
What to Avoid with Baking Soda:
- Most glass surfaces (leaves heavy residue, but okay if using to scrub off food particles)
- Adding to a bottle with acids (it dilutes)
- Chrome surfaces (heavy residue)
- Drains! (it will not unclog a drain, it can make it worse)
What to Use Baking Soda On:
- Fabrics
- Bathroom surfaces (when mixed with other items)
- Odor Eliminator (like in homemade air fresheners)
- Pots and Pans
Favorite cleaner with baking soda: all the fun ones in eBook, homemade soft scrub, floral air fresher, fall air freshener, orange rose air fresher, carpet cleaner, remove labels from ANY jar
Chemist tip about vinegar and baking soda: If you read anything online telling you to mix baking soda and vinegar together in a bottle, read this important post first.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Another favorite chemist invention of mine. More fun thing invented by chemists that changed the world can be found here!
What to Avoid with Hydrogen Peroxide:
- Mixing with Vinegar (SUPER dangerous, read more here)
- Dark fabrics (This oxidizer may fade darker fabrics)
What to Use Hydrogen Peroxide On:
- It is safe for all surfaces aside from ones above:
Favorite cleaners with hydrogen peroxide: the ebook is full of great ones, DIY dog paw wipes, carpet cleaner
Sodium Chloride
Salt is amazing! One of my favorite household cleaners! I have gotten so many readers hooked on using it!
What to Avoid with Salt:
- Don’t leave on for a long period of time, it can leave residue
- Natural Stone
What to Use Salt On:
- Anything sticky to exfoliate
- Sinks, tubs, dishes, pans, appliances
- Tools
How to use salt as a cleaner: This post has ALL the details to use salt to make your life easier! Also check out the eBook for incredible rust remover.
Dish Soap
So many of our homemade recipes, especially those found in the eBook, contain blue Dawn dishwashing liquid. I have had some very odd comments from non-readers about using Dawn. There are a few reasons I use it.
- It cleans better than any other dish soap I have tested (and I have tested out all the big name brands).
- It contains the necessary ingredients to tackle multiple types of needs like bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry uses.
- It is gentle and safe. I am sure you have seen all the research about dawn being used on animals, even my vet recommended it for me.
For a complete post on WHY we prefer blue Dawn dish soap, please visit this article.
Note: I always tell readers that they can sub any dish soap they have on hand to make our homemade recipes, but it might not get the same cleaning power, so keep that in mind 🙂 Castile soap can also be used for cleaning, but please know the solutions will not be as strong.
What to use Dawn dish soap on:
- Everything!
Cleaners using Dawn: So many amazing ones from the eBook (like this incredible all-purpose cleaner that works for glass, natural stone and everything else!), homemade soft scrub, removing labels from jars, DIY dog paw wipes
Lemon
If you follow me on social media of any kind, you know I really love lemon! I love it for health, but I also love it for cleaning. You can use lemon to enhance the cleaning power of many DIY solutions.
Lemon peel has just enough acidity to make solutions work better, but it doesn’t have a high dose like vinegar, so it is safe for all surfaces.
How to Use Lemon for Cleaning:
- Add the peel to rubbing alcohol or vinegar , then steep for few weeks. Use these solutions like you normally would in homemade cleaners.
- Make lemon powder to add to solutions like DIY soft scrub (lemon powder is also fantastic for health, so read this post).
Chemist Tip on Using Lemon:
Keep in mind that Lemon JUICE has natural sugars in it, so it will leave a stickiness if you try to use the juice. I recommend using the peel or make sure the recipe calls specifically for the juice. You can also use lemon essential oil if you have it on hand, but it is not necessary. The oils from the peel will infuse into your solution for much cheaper!
Favorite cleaners with lemon: the eBook has multiple ones including a lemon room spray, the best bathroom cleaner, soft scrub, soft scrub
Other Awesome Cleaning Tips
Use Microfiber Clothes for Cleaning and The Science Behind it!
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Alexis is an investigative chemist sharing her expertise in cleaning, skincare, gardening, and home hacks. She personally tests out products like the best skincare products or home products then shares not only the science behind how it works, but also her personal results. She is the mom of two living in Texas with her husband. Find her on Instagram for fantastic videos, tips, and behind the scenes.
This is awesome! I hear so many things on the internet and have tried so many recipes that were bad. I love knowing what I can actually do with homemade cleaning recipes. Thank you!!
So glad you enjoyed it! It is amazing how much science is really behind these natural cleaners and it makes a differences using them right!
Alexis … it’s so great when one meets a wonderful young lady who is willing to share her expertise in her chosen field and help out so many people with cleaning problems/difficulties. I hope you realize that an ‘ole’ 73 year old person is also using your tried and true recipes. Thank you for what you do and did and God Bless.
From … a retired Canadian teacher .
Thanks so much Marilyn! I really love being able to share and help others on this space. So happy you enjoy using our recipes too. Have a great day!
what a fantastic information page … my goodness, you put a lot of research in on this one for sure.. Thanks soo much for making it easy for me to access all this good info , Love ya… your mom
It was definitely a lot of work, but I wanted a post that was easy to access all this important information! And hopefully make it easier for everyone 🙂 Thanks Mom!!!
Alexis this is helpful! It is so easy to read and navigate in one place this this. You put so much work into it, love your website. Thank you!
I appreciate that Mary, thanks! So many readers have wanted a huge post like this with links, so I am glad to finally have it!
VERY good to know about vinegar and granite! Yipes!
Green Fashionista
It can really damage them! Alcohol is the way to go for granite 🙂
This is great! I always hear so many people saying to use vinegar for grout so I had no idea it wasn’t good for it. Glad I know now!!
I know! It’s crazy what people have on the internet. A friend of mine used vinegar to clean her grout for a few months, and it completely ate the grout. She had to redo her entire kitchen and bathroom 😮
Hey Alexis! This is so “over the top” great recap of cleaning products , and so handy. I love your graphic at the end of the post… It can be dangerous what we read/concoct from the internet. If in doubt, I’ll email “my personal” chemist… 🙂 Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Thanks Laurie!! I wanted to create something that would be super handy to reference all the time!
So great learning about the Do’s and Don’ts of different cleaning products. I’ve made so many mistakes before and would hate to mess up my new granite counter-top or ruin the paint on my walls which I have done before. Emily @ Martinis & Bikinis
It is such a bummer when you ruin something in the house from cleaning! I hope this can help you for the future 🙂
Help! I’ve been obsessed with your blog lately and have sent a bunch of people here. So my little guy started having flu symptoms today and threw up all over our chocolate brown microfiber couch, an electric blanket and part of the carpet. I made a baking soda paste and we used our Bissell steam cleaner vac to get it up along with the Little Green cleaning solution it comes with. I was trying to figure out what else to do and I was looking at the rubbing alcohol on your page. I’m just not sure how much to do or if I should mix it with water, etc. Anyway was just wondering what you thought. Btw, a huge congrats on your pregnancy! I look forward to seeing what products you create for baby and kid stuff in the future! ?
Hi Colleen! First, thanks so much for sending people to our website! I appreciate that 🙂 Rubbing alcohol is great for microfiber material among most other types of fabrics. You can make a solution of one half alcohol, one half water to see how that works. But you can make a stronger one too if needed. Alcohol is safe to use on fabrics, so it doesn’t matter how strong you make the solution, it won’t harm anything. If you have the Ebook, the page 13 alcohol based cleaner is another good one. If you don’t, you can just try the alcohol solution with water to see how it works! And thank you, we are so excited! I can’t wait to come up with tips for kids soon too. Let me know know if you have more questions 🙂
Where can I get the ebook without all the ads?
Hi Stephanie! I’m not sure what you mean about the ads for the book? The eBook is sent to your email after purchasing, it’s a pdf book just like a regular one. No ads. Here is the link https://chemistrycachet.com/the-book/ it’s also found throughout this post when you click on eBook 🙂
I found your website brilliant as I am useless at cleaning, my mum never taught me. One question I have which is probably a daft question is when you go around the rooms with a cleaning cloth and cleaner do you spray the cleaner then wipe with a cloth or do you spray the cleaner wipe it with a cloth then use another cloth to wipe off the cleaner and if this is the case is the second cloth dry or damp? Hope you can understand what I am trying to ask.
I just use one cloth to clean 🙂 No need to use another to wipe it off. Thank you!
Do you have a wood kitchen cabinet cleaner that you recommend?
I use Murphy’s oil usually, it is great for wood!
Thank you so much! I’m from the chemistry area too. But to hear so much about mix the sodium bicarbonate and vinegar, I was just think that i’m wrong with my concepts. Kisses from south Brazil. Your work is very important. Thanks.
Thanks so much!!
Do you have a strategy for cleaning grout between marble tile? I’m having a hard time finding something that will be safe for the marble….
For most surfaces, peroxide and a little baking soda will clean grout well. Also safe for marble.
I was curious if orange is a suitable substitute for lemon? So many cleaners are orange based as well. Orange peel is easier to come by in my house, the lemon fruit might go to waste so I might struggle justifying buying them just for the peel. Oranges are loved at my house and are available anyway. Thanks!
P.S. thanks for the scientific info not just the questionable recipes others throw together!
You can use orange also. It’s not as potent, but can be used as a substitute:)
Thank you for this blog you post about cleaning tips. It is very helpful to me because my house is so dirty. It is important to maintain cleanliness at home to avoid bad odor that can harm your health.
DIY “OxyAction” detergents
The “Bicarb and vinegar” myth may well have arisen from a misunderstanding of this genuine cleaner, with which it could be confused by the less chemically literate, Sodium percabonate.
This is a very cheap material that comprises 2 parts washing soda (sodium carbonate, Na2CO3 – not sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3) and three parts hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and is a common component of many commercial washing powders and dishwasher tabs, especially those with “oxy” in their title. The clever part about it is that it provides a convenient way of stabilizing the H2O2, which is otherwise an unstable liquid. When dissolved in water, the two molecules dissociate, yielding a solution of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. Ought it work, and does it? Well, the washing soda bit is straightforward. It dissolves in water to give a pretty alkaline solution (pH ~ 11) that acts as a detergent by converting water-insoluble fats to water-soluble sodium salts of fatty acids. Unlike bicarb, this *can* unblock drains! It’s not mild, except in comparison with its cousin, caustic soda (NaOH). It has the extra benefit that it “softens” hard water, by forming insoluble carbonates with Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions, thereby making any conventional detergent go further. The downside is that, if the water is very hard, and things hang around too long, you might get annoying precipitates. What about the H2O2? At this alkaline pH, H2O2 solutions are particularly unstable, and undergo decomposition to water and oxygen (2 H2O2 → O2 + 2 H2O), producing a satisfying “fizz”. But are these oxygen bubbles any more effective in your laundry than the CO2 bubbles produced by bicarbonate (in your article)? As far as I can tell, not in themselves, no. But in the period that there is still some H2O2 in solution, it can act as a bleaching agent, by oxidizing, and thereby decolorizing, certain organic compounds. It does so indirectly, via the perhydroxyl anion (HO2-), which is generated by H2O2 in alkaline solution. This itself is a weakly oxidizing agent except at temperatures of around 60C or so. For very efficient low-temperature bleaching with percarbonate, the industry has therefore developed “activators” that react with HO2- to generate more powerful oxidizers, peroxy acids (RC(O)O2H). The most commonly used one in Europe, and currently the cheapest and most ecologically responsible, is Tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED), but this does not appear to be available except as a research reagent or in proprietary formulations!
How to unclog a drain?
I have not had success with any DIY formula in drains. The vinegar and baking soda method was not successful, and our plumber said it can form a salt deposit down in the drain which can be harmful. My best luck has been with really hot water and some dish soap down a drain for simple clogs.
This is becoming my go to site for cleaning tips! Have you ever tried bleach tablets dissolved in a spray bottle of water? I have found it cleans absolutely everything and smells great
Hi! So glad you enjoy our website 🙂 I don’t use bleach in my house for cleaning things, but I do sometimes add a bleach crystal or tablet to this homemade cut flower food.