How to make an all-purpose cleaner from a published recipe

The extension services publish four kinds of all-purpose cleaner: a little vinegar, washing soda and castile soap in hot water (University of Georgia, reprinted by Kentucky and Missouri); orange peels steeped in vinegar (UF/IFAS); liquid detergent with household ammonia (UF/IFAS); and baking soda dissolved in water (a Penn State IPM handout). Each is printed below exactly as its source published it, with what it is for, the surfaces to keep it off and what it must never meet. None of these sources tested the recipes for germ killing or claimed it, so treat every one of them as a cleaner for dirt and grime and never as a sanitizer or disinfectant.

Four published recipes at a glance

Choose by the soil and the surface. The vinegar recipes suit hard-water film and light grime on surfaces that tolerate acid. The ammonia recipe is the one that needs the most care, because of its fumes and what it must never meet. The baking soda solution is the mildest. How cleaners work explains why acids and alkalis each lift different kinds of dirt.

The Georgia card: vinegar, washing soda and castile soap

As printed by the University of Georgia (HACE-E-73-1, revised October 2018) [1]:

ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER - 3 tbsp. white vinegar - ½ tsp. washing soda - ½ tsp. vegetable oil based liquid soap - 2 cups hot water Mix ingredients in spray bottle or bucket. Apply and wipe clean.

The same card appears in Kentucky's 2010 set and Missouri's GH201 [2][3]. Georgia names the soap: "vegetable oil based liquid soap (common name: castile soap)" and the soda: "washing soda (sodium carbonate)" [1].

Two notes of ours, which the card does not carry. Vinegar is an acid and washing soda is a base, so part of each is used up reacting with the other when you mix them; the amounts here are small, and the mix still cleans, but adding more of either will not make it stronger in the way you might expect. Combinations that cancel explains the chemistry. And washing soda that has not fully dissolved can dry in a trigger nozzle; Georgia's floor cleaner card tells you to stir "well to dissolve the washing soda" [1], which is good practice here too. If your sprayer clogs, see when a homemade cleaner streaks, clogs or leaves film.

The UF/IFAS orange peel cleaner

As printed by UF/IFAS (FCS3319, Release Date October 7, 2025) [4]:

All-Purpose Cleaner - 4 oranges - White vinegar Put the peel from four oranges in a quart jar and fill with white vinegar. Let the product sit for about one week. Pour the product into a spray bottle and clean away.

This is scented vinegar. The peel adds smell; the cleaning is done by the acid, so it does what vinegar does on mineral film and soap residue and carries vinegar's surface limits (below). Use a jar kept for cleaning, labeled, and never one children associate with food, as UF/IFAS itself says of mixing jars [4]. NMSU gives distilled white vinegar as 5 percent acidity [6]; vinegar gives the strengths and the source for them.

The UF/IFAS everyday cleaner with ammonia

As printed by UF/IFAS [4]:

Everyday Household Cleaner - 2 tablespoons of liquid detergent/soap - 2 tablespoons of ammonia - 1 quart of water Use for all general cleaning jobs.

Our warning, which UF/IFAS does not print beside this recipe: never use this mix with bleach or on a surface that still has bleach on it, and never pour it into a toilet that may hold a bleach or acid toilet cleaner. UF/IFAS's own safety section says "NEVER mix bleach with ammonia" [4], and NMSU says the same combination "creates a deadly gas" [6]. Label the bottle "contains ammonia," open a window while you use it, and keep it away from children. Use a plain detergent with no bleach in it, and remember that NMSU notes that glass, multipurpose and oven cleaners can contain ammonia too [6]. Bleach and ammonia explains what the mixture makes, and household ammonia covers clear and sudsy types.

The Penn State baking soda cleaner and its variations

As printed in the Pennsylvania IPM Program's Greener Cleaner Recipes [5]:

All-Purpose Cleaner Yield: 4 cups - 4 tablespoons baking soda - 4 cups water Mix all ingredients together in cleaning pail or spray bottle. Label the bottle. Spray surfaces and wipe with soft cloth or sponge. Variation 1: Mix 1/4 to 1/2 cup white vinegar and 4 cups water in spray bottle. Spray on surface, wait 30 seconds, and wipe away. Variation 2: Mix 2 tablespoons liquid castile soap, 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup vinegar and enough water to fill a spray bottle.

The base recipe and the first variation are sound and simple. Skip the second variation: baking soda and vinegar react one to one to sodium acetate, water and carbon dioxide [7], so mixing them in the same bottle spends both, and it puts castile soap in with an acid as well. If you want soap and vinegar, use them one after the other with a rinse between, as the castile soap page describes.

Adding scent within the sources' limits

The only published scent amounts in these sources are Georgia's:

• Fragrant Kitchen Cleanser: "2 tbsp. white vinegar," "1 quart (4 cups) water," "4 drops essential oil (lavender, tea tree oil, lemon, lemongrass, or rosemary)," to be used "as a final rinse after cleaning kitchen surfaces," and "Store in a cool, dark place" [1]. Kentucky's card prints the water as "2 pints water," the same amount [2].
• Non-Abrasive Soft Scrubber: "½ tsp. lemon essential oil" in a paste of "¼ cup borax" and liquid soap [1].

So the published ceiling for a spray is about 4 drops of essential oil per quart. Going higher is untested by any of these sources. Whether oils mix into water, what they do to plastic bottles and how they affect cats and dogs are covered on essential oils in cleaners. Tea tree oil appears in Georgia's list as a scent choice; Georgia makes no germ claim for it, and none can be made for a homemade spray (see the last section).

Surfaces to keep these mixes off

Three of the four recipes contain vinegar, so the acid limits apply to all three:

• Marble, travertine and other calcium carbonate stone. A stone restoration specialist quoted by Stone World explains: "When acid touches calcium carbonate, it releases carbon dioxide, and at the molecular level, it etches the top surface," and notes calcium carbonate "is found in softer natural stones such as marble and travertine" [8]. Her recommendation for stone is "a teaspoon of dish soap, such as Dawn, mixed with distilled water" [8].
• Finished wood floors. The National Wood Flooring Association's technical manager says "The vinegar is acidic and can make your finish look dull or even damage the finish," and recommends the cleaner the floor or finish manufacturer names [9]. Floor cleaners by floor type sets out where UF/IFAS disagrees.

For grout, quartz, stainless steel, aluminum, rubber seals and the rest, use the sourced table on matching the cleaner to the surface. When in doubt, try the cleaner on a hidden spot first.

Why none of these can be called a disinfectant

EPA lists "Sanitizes, disinfects or sterilizes" among the claims that make a product a pesticide requiring registration [10], and minimum risk (25(b)) products may not claim to sterilize, disinfect, sanitize or kill germs at all [11]. None of the four sources above made a germ claim for these recipes, and none tested one. When a surface needs germs killed (after raw meat, or when someone in the house is sick), clean it with one of these, then use a registered disinfectant by its label. Cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting explains the steps.

Bottling it, then the other jobs in the house

Pour each mix into a labeled spray bottle that has never held food or drink, write the contents and the date on it, and keep the ammonia bottle well apart from any bleach; bottles and labels for homemade cleaners covers both. From here, most people move on to glass and window cleaner or a scrub for sinks and tubs.

References

1. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (Pamela R. Turner and Sharon M. S. Gibson), *Green Cleaning: Recipes for a Healthy Home*, HACE-E-73-1 (Green Clean Booklet), revised October 2018. https://site.extension.uga.edu/greenway/files/2024/09/10.18_Green-Clean-Booklet_update.pdf
2. University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension (Connee Wheeler, adapted from Gibson and Turner, UGA), *Green Cleaning: Recipes for a Healthy Home*, HHF-CRW.175, January 2010. https://fcs.mgcafe.uky.edu/sites/fcs.mgcafe.uky.edu/files/green-cleaning-recipe-cards.pdf
3. University of Missouri Extension (Pamela R. Turner and Sharon M. S. Gibson, adapted by Kandace Fisher-McLean), *Green Cleaning: Recipes for a Healthy Home*, GH201, 2019 (GH-0201-2019 in the MU MOspace record), adaptation of the 2015 UGA edition. https://extension.missouri.edu/media/wysiwyg/Extensiondata/Pub/pdf/hesguide/foodnut/gh201.pdf
4. UF/IFAS Extension (Amanda Griffin and Randall A. Cantrell), *Homemade Household Cleaners*, FCS3319, Release Date October 7, 2025. https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FY1449
5. Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program (Penn State), *Greener Cleaner Recipes*, undated handout hosted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Entomology. https://extensionentomology.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2011/05/Green-cleaning.pdf
6. New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service (revised by Rick Griffiths and Sonja Koukel), *Green Alternatives to Toxic Household Products and Hazardous Waste*, G-313, revised February 2019. https://pubs.nmsu.edu/_g/G313/index.html
7. Science Notes (Anne Helmenstine), *Chemical Equation for Baking Soda and Vinegar Reaction*, updated August 26, 2023. https://sciencenotes.org/chemical-equation-for-baking-soda-and-vinegar-reaction/
8. Stone World (Jason Kamery), *Stone Care Expert: Chemical Misuse Voids Warranties, Damages Countertops*, December 18, 2025. https://www.stoneworld.com/articles/95388-stone-care-expert-chemical-misuse-voids-warranties-damages-countertops
9. Wood Floor Business (answers by Rusty Swindoll, National Wood Flooring Association), *Q&As: Steam Mops, Lap Lines & Swirl Marks*, October 2, 2013. https://www.woodfloorbusiness.com/finishing/maintenance/article/15125575/qas-steam-mops-lap-lines-swirl-marks
10. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, *Determining If a Cleaning Product Is a Pesticide Under FIFRA*, updated July 6, 2026. https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/determining-if-cleaning-product-pesticide-under-fifra
11. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, *Conditions for Minimum Risk Pesticides*, updated August 31, 2026. https://www.epa.gov/node/64449