The last spray bottle

I'm not a massive fan of cleaning, and one of the main reasons is that you breathe in and flush away so many chemicals. It can't be good for us to breathe in that stuff. And as all rivers lead to the sea, it also can't be good for the fish. I wouldn't want to be swimming around in Mr Muscle's extra strong grease-buster, would you? 

I've seen a few recipes for easy, effective and eco-friendly (the three e's?) cleaning solutions. I mean 'solution' as in liquid, as well as in 'well that's another thing we don't have to worry about'.

So one morning two weeks ago, my housemate Eve and I put together another bottle of our very own cleaning solution. We've been cleaning the kitchen and bathroom with this for a good couple of months. Everything really does come out all shiny. We're still using a toilet cleaner – albeit and eco-friendly one – so the next step is to find something natural for that specific area. 

Anyway, here is the recipe.

For the ingredients, we went for white wine vinegar for £1.20 from Sainsburys. This is because the first time we started cleaning with vinegar, the only thing I had in the cupboard was white wine vinegar. It smells good (wine!) so it stuck. I think other people might just use white vinegar, but in my opinion, they're missing out. We also picked up some lemon essential oil from the local health shop for about £3. And the final ingredient is just water. 

This is basically all you need – plus a functioning tap. 

As for equipment, we reused an old plastic spray bottle that had previously been filled with cleaning spray. Eve shared her recipe for getting the label off – a recipe within a recipe, what a treat! Fill the sink with water, along with a bit of salt and vinegar, and leave it for ten to thirty minutes, depending on how much you fancy scrubbing it afterwards. Then use nail varnish remover to remove the last few bits of label.

And now onto the main event. 

First, pour your vinegar into the empty plastic bottle.

We used about 250ml – half of the 500ml vinegar bottle.

Next, just add water.

We filled it up almost to the top with water. Next, grab your lemon drops. 

We added about 20 drops of lemon essential oil.

And there we have it! 

If you don't have a spare plastic spray bottle, there are lots of refillable glass ones around now. A quick Amazon search brought up loads, and if you want something snazzier and more Instagrammable, there are some great ones on Etsy, with fancy labels and stuff. Really easy!