Homemade Cleaning Paste
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This Homemade Cleaning Paste is an easy and super frugal non-toxic cleaner for so many surfaces in your home. You'll love the simplicity and you'll love the results!
I love making DIY everything–from spice blends, to kitchen substitutes, to beauty products–and home cleaners as well. Basically, if there's something I need, I often wonder if there's a way to make it cheaper and make it cleaner / healthier.
This homemade cleaning paste is such a great recipe–you're sure to want to use it for so many things in your home.
The Origin of This Homemade Cleaning Paste
This cleaning paste is actually from the maker of the cleaning paste herself: Wendyl Nissen of Green Goddess. A guest writer on my blog got permission from Wendyl to share her much-loved recipe here, in addition to her recipe for homemade baby laundry detergent.
Ingredients
- baking soda
- castile soap
- cream of tartar
- water
- essential oils (optional)
Tips
If you plan on storing some of this cleaning paste, make sure to keep it in a very air tight container so it doesn't dry out.
You also might wish to leave some air space at the top in case it does dry, since that will cause it to expand. It's no fun having a container break–especially if you use a glass one!
How to Use
Scoop out 1-2 Tablespoons of the paste (more or less, depending on the job) and apply with a sponge, scrub brush, or cleaning rag, and scrub. Rinse thoroughly–warm water will make rinsing easier.
Ways to Use Cleaning Paste
- Clean, polish and protect chrome, stainless steel, porcelain and similar surfaces
- Remove label residue off of glass containers
- Kitchen and bathroom surfaces, including the tub and shower, sinks, hardware, and even the toilet)!
Homemade Cleaning Paste
Ingredients
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) liquid castile soap
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) water
- 10-20 drops (about 0.5 – 1 ml) peppermint essential oil (or other essential oil of choice)
Instructions
- Combine baking soda and cream of tartar in a small bowl.
- Mix soap and water together in a glass, then slowly pour into the bowl.
- Stir until mixture forms a paste.
- Add essential oil and stir.
- Add more water, a little at a time, as needed to form a paste.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
Other Non-Toxic Household Products
I plan to have more natural homemade cleaners in the future, but for now, here are some others from the blog that you might wish to try!
- Sensitive Skin/Baby Laundry Detergent
- Non-toxic Laundry Detergent
- No-streak Window Cleaner
- DIY Dishwasher Rinse Aid
- Best DIY Fly Trap
- Homemade Soft Scrub
I'd love to hear what you think about this cleaning paste
and how it worked for you!
Note: This post was originally published on October 10, 2013. It was rewritten and new images were added in February of 2020. Following is the original image for reference.
Works great and smells terrific! I have shared this recipe with many friends.
Hi Bernadette! That’s so great to hear! I’m so glad it’s working well for you. Thanks for sharing with others. That means so much to me! Hope to see you around again!
Thanks!
I just made this. I think your measurements are way off…..I had to use 1 Tbsp of castile soap, and 5 Tbsp of water to make a paste. (It may have come together with 4 Tbsp of water…) I used 20 drops of Lemongrass.
With 1 cup of baking soda, the liquid amounts were just not enough to make a paste…
I haven’t tried it yet, but it is similar to a goo gone recipe which calls for baking soda and coconut oil…and that works great!
What is the purpose of the cream of tartar?
Hi Carol! First of all, my sincere apologies for the late reply. I have a backlog of comments and am getting through them as I have time. I guess better than publishing and not answering them!
The cream of tartar is a mild acid which helps address stains.
Actually I am going to update the recipe for more efficacy. I can’t get to it right now because I have a deadline but I will! Stay tuned.
About the thickness, that could be the type of castile soap, the consistency of the baking soda, and also user expectation but I’ll address that in the post. I hope it works better for you next time and thanks for reading!