Homemade Orange Enzyme Cleaner

I had a duh moment, and it involves this orange enzymatic cleaner that's been circulating on Pinterest.  Every once in a while I see an idea, but I drag my feet because the effort doesn't seem like it is worth it.  We finally had a whole bunch of oranges which, of course, generate orange peels, and I decided to give making my own homemade orange enzymatic cleaner a shot.  Reusing something and it's natural. Two bonus points! 

Most of the recipes I had seen were fairly complicated.  Most involved using white vinegar, and some went so far as to add yeast and sugar to this mixture.    I decided to take a different route, using clear ammonia instead, and I was thrilled with the results. 

This stuff cuts grease like nothing I have ever seen.  It's especially great for things like stove tops, vent hoods, and I have also been using as an additive it in my mop bucket to mop my floors.  I thought my floors were clean until I started using this!  You can literally see the dirt start to rise up and separate before you wipe or mop it away.  My mom is so in love with it, that I started her a batch, and she has shared the recipe and great results with others.  Here is my version of this awesome cleaning solution: 

Homemade Orange Enzyme Cleaner

Takes 2 weeks to make but worth it!

1 empty jar, the larger the better (I use a 1 quart canning jar)
Orange peels enough to fill the jar at least halfway
Clear ammonia

Place orange peels in jar and cover to rim of jar with clear ammonia.  Cap jar and allow to sit in a warm, dark area for 2 weeks.  Then, strain orange peels out and put remaining liquid back in jar.  (The orange peels will be a gelatinous consistency, and the liquid will be the consistency of syrup.  Throw orange peels away.)

To make cleaner:

Use ¼ to ½ cup orange liquid
1 generous squirt of dish soap
Water to fill squirt bottle

To mop floors, in mop bucket use:

Use ½ cup to ¾ cup orange liquid
Generous squirt of dish soap
Fill with water

Mop as usual.  No need to rinse. 

The orange cleaner is *excellent* at cutting grease, especially on stove tops!  Plus, it’s a great way to be “green” when you clean. 

Homemade Glass Cleaner

I rarely, if ever, buy glass cleaner.  Actually, I can't remember the last time I bought it.  Instead I make my own.  It's much more economical, and it's easy to make a batch whenever you want.  Every time I make glass cleaner, I am baffled at how expensive it is in the store compared to how inexpensive it is to make at home. 

You can either use an old glass cleaner bottle that's been rinsed out or pick up a couple of spray bottles at the dollar store. I have two different recipes I use.  One is for harder to clean stuff (like doggie nose slobbers), and the other is for mild cleaning just to freshen up the windows. 

Here are two recipes: 

Fake Windex 

2-3 tablespoons nonsudsing ammonia*

1/2 cup (4 oz). rubbing alcohol 

Water

1 drop dish soap, no more, no less (can omit but solution doesn't clean as well)

Put ammonia and alcohol in a spray bottle.  Fill almost full with water.  Leave about 1/2 inch of space below the top, then add the 1 drop of dish soap.  Put sprayer on the bottle and tighten.  DO NOT SHAKE.  Instead, tilt back and forth about 20-30 times to mix.  It might be temping to dump all this in the bottle, but if you begin to add water, the dish soap will foam up, and your ingredients will start spilling out of the bottle.  You will recognize the smell of this, as it will smell just like Windex.  You can even add a drop or two of blue food coloring, just for fun.  

Window Cleaner Recipe #2

Approximately 1/2 cup white vinegar*

Water

That's it!  Put the vinegar in a spray bottle and add enough water to fill the bottle.  Cap with the sprayer mechanism, then shake to combine.  This works great but can smell like vinegar while you're using it.  The vinegar smell leaves once everything dries.

I currently use the vinegar solution with microfiber cloths.  These work great because they only require a small spritz of cleaner to clean a whole  window, and they're very absorbent, so you only need one cloth to clean many windows.  Combine the two, and you only need a small squirt of cleaner, and the windows come out clean, shiny, and streak free. 

*Keep in mind that if you have hard water (i.e., water that contains a lot of minerals or metal particles) you may need more ammonia or vinegar.  These recipes are flexible enough that you can adjust them for your cleaning needs.