DIY: Here’s how to make your own home disinfectant.
Updated: Aug 16, 2021
By ALEXIS ROCHESTER
Last year, many readers came to Chemistry Cachet because they couldn’t find any store-bought cleaners or disinfectants. Everything was sold out as the pandemic began, and it took months for things to get restocked.
Knowing how to make a simple disinfectant at home with a few ingredients is so convenient.
We also share tips like this and videos on Instagram, so be sure to follow us there for some great content.
Ingredients:
1 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/2 tbsp water
15 drops orange essential oil
15 drops lemon essential oil
15 drops grapefruit essential oil
1 tbsp blue Dawn or any dish soap (OPTIONAL, please read details below).
Dark glass spray bottle (must be DARK and glass is preferred).
Directions on mixing:
Pour hydrogen peroxide into the dark spray bottle; add water, then essential oil drops.
If you want to add in dish soap for cleaning, add in the 1 tbsp. now. This is optional.
Give solution a little shake.
Directions for cleaning:
For cleaning, I recommend using the dish soap in the mixture.
The surfactant makes this solution clean well. It will clean without it, but I really love the addition of dish soap. Read the blog post for more details on this.
Spray the mixture onto your surface, scrub or wipe off with a microfiber towel.
Directions for Disinfecting with DIY Lysol spray:
After you have cleaned your surface, now you can disinfect.
Spray the solution (no dish soap needed for the disinfecting) onto surface and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Make sure area is saturated.
This step is crucial for all disinfecting. You can read this on the back of all disinfectants purchased from the store.
After 10 minutes, wipe off with a towel. Be sure to read about cleaning vs disinfecting in this post.
Alexis Rochester is an investigative chemist, blogger and founder of Chemistry Cachet. She shares science-based skin care, cleaning, gardening and health tips. She was diagnosed with RA at age 10, so she has a passion for pain management tips and research, along with sharing her journey through this disease. When she’s not writing for Chemistry Cachet, she is taking Pilates or Barre classes, and also received her Barre teaching certification this year! She grew up in Stephenville and recently moved back with her daughter, husband and bulldog. You can find her posting pictures and fun stories daily on Instagram. Also look for Chemistry Cachet on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn.
