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Living Well Mom

I help moms with simple, natural ways to look after their families. Find recipes, fun stuff for kids, and simple DIY ideas. Plus natural solutions made easy peasy!

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Top 10 Essential Oils For Cleaning + 15 Must-Try Recipes

By Thena in Essential Oils

cleaning DIY cleaning products essential oils featured essential oilsThis post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Looking for the top essential oils for cleaning but don’t know where to start? I’ve got all the information you need right here, along with my collection of 15 effective cleaning recipes as well!

Essential oils are your secret weapon for natural living. Plants contain different properties that can aid with all aspects of wellness and even cleaning! In this post, I’m showing you some of my favorite ways to use essential oils for cleaning.

Pinterest image for how to use essential oils for all-natural cleaning. this idea now...

Why Use Essential Oils In Cleaning

Essential oils are the essences of certain plants that can be used for different uses, including cleaning, cooking, and aromatherapy. 

Not only are essential oils great for cleaning, but they also are a natural way to have your home smell amazing without toxic ingredients. More and more people are opting to move away from cleaning with chemicals and towards using natural cleaning methods instead. I’m all for it!  

I’ve been using essential oils for years, and today I’m sharing all my secrets. 

collage of photos of homemade cleaning solutions

The 10 Best Essential Oils For Cleaning 

If you’re wanting to freshen up your cleaning routine, a great way to do that is to use certain essential oils to lend their potent power to your cleaning efforts. Look no further than this list of essential oils!

Each of these EOs is practically guaranteed to leave your home sparkling! Check out my recommendations for the top essential oils for cleaning, and then I’ll include my own recipes you can use for your own cleaning.

Lemon Essential Oil

Lemon is a robust cleaning and disinfecting essential oil that has a bright, uplifting scent. It’s a powerful degreaser and removes sticky substances like a champ. I especially like to use lemon essential oil for cleaning my kitchen and bathrooms.

It’s an all-around effective essential oil for cleaning and blends well with rosemary, ylang-ylang, vanilla, peppermint, bergamot, and other citrus essential oils.

Tea Tree Essential Oil (aka Melaleuca Essential Oil)

tea tree oil bottle on a rock

Another cleaning powerhouse, tea tree essential oil is a terrific mildew remover, which is why it’s my top choice of essential oils for cleaning bathrooms. Pair it with eucalyptus, lavender, rosemary, geranium, clary sage, bergamot, and peppermint.

Thyme Essential Oil

Thyme lends its powerful natural cleaning properties to any DIY cleaning solution. It’s terrific for cleaning the bathroom or kitchen. It works well with rosemary, lavender, lemon, bergamot, and grapefruit essential oils.

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil dish soap in a dispenser besides two natural sponges.

Lavender may be most well known for promoting relaxation and sleep, but many people don’t realize that it’s a secret weapon in your dish soap and laundry. It does an amazing job at preventing mold and mildew buildup.

Pair it with ylang-ylang, lemongrass, lime, orange, grapefruit, bergamot, and peppermint essential oils.

Grapefruit Essential Oil

Homemade dusting spray for cleaning with essential oils.

This oil has powerful disinfectant properties that make it a must-have in your bathroom and kitchen cleaning routines. Its uplifting citrusy scent eliminates bad odors. Pair grapefruit essential oil with bergamot, geranium, rosemary, lavender, peppermint, and ylang ylang.

Peppermint Essential Oil

The uplifting and energizing scent of peppermint essential oil makes it a strong cleaning aid in a couple of different ways. This oil makes the house smell amazing while at the same time effectively repels bugs and kills fungus. 

Pair it with lemon, lavender, grapefruit, tea tree, bergamot, or patchouli essential oils.

Patchouli Essential Oil

Patchouli is a favorite for its sweet, musky aroma and anti-fungal properties. Blend it with peppermint, geranium, bergamot, or lavender oils, and use it in your general cleaning routine.

Orange Essential Oil

Homemade garbage disposal cleaning bombs in a pink jar made with natural ingredients.

Similar to lemon oil, orange essential oil has a wonderful, sweet citrusy fragrance. It’s a natural deodorizer and makes a terrific floor cleaner when blended with tea tree oil. 

Pair it with rosemary, clove, lemon, melaleuca, bergamot, and lime essential oils.

Rosemary Essential Oil

DIY foaming hand soap being pumped into a child's hand.

Rosemary essential oil has an aroma that just smells clean. I especially love using it when cleaning the kitchen.

essential oil pdf download for moms on blue background

Blend it with tea tree, peppermint, thyme, lavender, or citrus essential oils.

Chamomile Essential Oil

A cake stand with essential oil bottles on top and a container of baking soda nearby, for making DIY carpet deodorizer.

Chamomile’s calming, centering scent helps to deodorize terrible odors and leave your home smelling amazing. Pair it with ylang ylang, lavender, clary sage, patchouli, or citrus oils such as bergamot.

14 Home Recipes Using Essential Oils For Cleaning

brown essential oil bottles with body scrubbers

Now that we’ve covered the oils to use in your cleaning routines, here are a few easy natural cleaning recipes that I love and use all the time.

Recipes Using Essential Oils For Cleaning The Kitchen

A spray bottle of produce wash using vinegar and essential oils.

Here are several natural cleaning recipes that I use in my kitchen.

  • Microwave: If you’re ever at my house, you can guarantee that the inside of my microwave is absolutely clean, thanks to this quick and easy microwave cleaning recipe.
  • Dishes: Lavender is the key ingredient for making the best Homemade Dish Soap. 
  • Fruits and Veggies: I’m a huge fan of this DIY Natural Fruit Spray using lemon essential oil to get rid of grime before eating produce.

Recipes Using Essential Oils For Cleaning And Disinfecting Bathrooms

DIY shower cleaner made with essential oils in a spray bottle with sponge and cleaning cloth nearby.
  • Soap Scum: Tea tree oil just happens to make up one of the best DIY Soap Scum removers ever. Because who really has time to spend scrubbing?
  • Toilets: I know that cleaning the toilet isn’t any fun, but at least you can clean it easier with these easy all-natural DIY Toilet Cleaner Fizzies.
  • Showers: This simple DIY Shower Cleaner is one of the easiest essential oil cleaning recipes there is! It’s one of my favorite ways to get the shower squeaky clean and makes it smell so fresh and lovely!

General Cleaning Recipes Using Essential Oils

A blue spray bottle of DIY yoga mat spray made with orange, grapefruit and lemon essential oils.
  • All Around Go-To: If you’re looking for an overall great cleaning recipe for all areas of your home, check out this All-Natural Homemade Cleaner.
  • Workout Equipment: I use peppermint for cleaning my workout equipment, and this DIY Yoga Mat Spray is one of my favorites!
  • Dusting: Grapefruit oil gives your wood and surfaces a wonderful shine. It’s one of the main ingredients for this Natural Dusting recipe that we use on shelves and other wood surfaces.
  • Hand Soap: Clean those dirty hands up fast with this simple DIY Immune Boost Foam Hand Soap recipe.
  • Stain Remover: This natural cleaning recipe for removing stains off a microfiber couch is a lifesaver. It’s brought our couch back to life so many times! Remove ink stains with this homemade cleaner.

Deodorizing Recipes Using Essential Oils

diy wax melts made from essential oils
  • General Fragrance: We love these Homemade Scented Wax Melts because they’re made using essential oils and don’t put chemicals out into the air that we’re breathing.
  • Trash Can Odors: Does your garbage disposal have a bit of a funk going on? All you need is this simple Homemade Garbage Disposal Deodorizer. It’ll replace that bad smell in no time at all with a refreshing orange aroma! 
  • Carpet Deodorizer: Worried that you’re noticing a stench in your carpet? All you need are a few drops of chamomile and the other supplies listed in this Natural Homemade Carpet Deodorizer recipe.

Start Simple Using Essential Oils For Cleaning

Aren’t essential oils amazing? Even if you don’t have oils on hand, you can still take steps to start cleaning naturally in your home. You can purchase one or two oils at a time and gradually add to your collection as you become more comfortable using them.

Are you ready to start cleaning a bit more naturally in your home? The good news is it’s not hard to do at all. With just a few simple changes and additions, your home is going to smell and look great!

More Ways To Use Essential Oils

  • The 18 Best Essential Oils For Acne And Oily Skin + How To Use Them
  • Essential Oils For Immunity: DIY Immune Support Essential Oil Blend
  • 4 DIY Essential Oil Blends For Seasonal Allergies
  • 20 Essential Oil Recipes For Homemade Bath And Skin Care

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    Filed Under: Essential Oils, Natural Living, Natural Solutions Tagged With: cleaning, DIY cleaning products, essential oils, featured essential oilsPublished on June 29, 2021

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    Comments

    1. blosumcbd says

      February 25, 2021 at 10:09 am

      Thank you so much for talking about this. Your article has opened up a lot of wonderful and interesting information for me. I really love essential oils, but I never even thought about how they can be used other than a pleasant smell in your home. Now I understand how wrong I was and that oils have many more uses in everyday life. I think it’s worth bookmarking this article and peeking sometimes so as not to lose many of the uses. Now for me, oils are not only a scent but also a bunch of usefulness.

      Reply

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