So I have two dogs. Two dogs that love to lay on the floor, track dirt all over the floor and even eat off the floor. We also don't have the best luck with dogs. Two more have died at a very young age, one to a brain tumor and the other to lymphatic cancer. I'm still a woman in my twenties so this is not a very good track record. Honestly, it makes you think a lot about if you're doing something wrong. Because of this, I'm doing everything I can to make my house as natural and chemical free as possible. I should also add that I'm full-on obsessed with Pinterest. How are these two related, you ask? Because there seems to be a recipe out there for homemade everything. Shower head cleaner, fabric softener, laundry detergent, dishwasher liquid. The list goes on and on. It occurred to me the other night that I have a little DIY recipe myself. For the last 3 years I have been making an incredibly simple and "eco-friendly" floor cleaner. Going back to the beginning of this post when I said that the mutts love eating off the floor (mostly because my husband insists on throwing the table scraps on the floor instead putting it in a dish, but I digress), I realized that the chemicals that are in the store bought stuff are probably getting licked up while they are eating their food. That can't be good for their system. So I came up with the easy recipe of vinegar, dish soap and water. Told ya it was simple. You get the disinfecting qualities of the vinegar and if the dish soap is good enough to clean your dishes, why can't it clean your floor too? I wish I had a better justification as to why I think this combo works so well, but I don't.
In a large bucket, I take about 2 cups of vinegar mixed with about 1 tablespoon of dish soap. You may have to play with this amount depending on how big your bucket is otherwise you could end up with bubbles galore! A good rule of thumb is to add the amount of dish soap to the bucket that you would normally use for a load of dishes. Any ol' dish soap will work but I love using the Palmolive Pure + Clear. Add hot water to the mix and you're good to go! I've never used this mix with a mop, since I've always been a get down on your hands and knees and scrub it out kinda gal, but I don't see why a mop wouldn't work just the same. I've never had an issue with residue on the floors and while the room does smell like vinegar for a bit, it usually goes away after a few hours. Happy Cleaning!!
