And, at less than a buck for a oz. Read more: How to Clean Your Kitchen Appliances. Your furniture needs cleaning, too, but not all cleaners are easy to DIY. To avoid damaging or leaving a residue on your wood pieces, we recommend buying an eco-friendly wood cleaner. Read more: Go Green in Your Apartment Month-by-Month Infographic.

Courtney Craig is a writer and contributor for the Apartment Guide Blog. She rented apartments for 12 years in 4 cities before buying her first house in Atlanta. Cheap Green Cleaning: The Only 5 Products You Need.

Courtney Craig Updated: December 30, 3 Minute Read. Baking soda This simple white powder is as versatile as it is cheap — a oz. For example: On your carpet: If your pet or kid had an accident on the rug, sprinkle baking soda over the area and let it absorb the moisture.

If a spot remains, gently brush a baking soda and water mixture into the carpet, let it dry, then vacuum. On your walls: Remove marks from walls by wiping with a damp sponge dipped in baking soda. On your stainless steel appliances: Sprinkle baking soda onto a damp sponge and wipe down your appliances.

Then rinse the sponge and wipe again to get rid of the residue. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission.

This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Some makers of cleaning supplies offer general-use products you'd typically buy in spray bottles. All of the brands mentioned here also take additional steps, like offering refills, using simpler ingredients, or shipping without plastic.

The products below all work fine, so go with whichever fits your cleaning style, budget, and aesthetic goals—because, yes, they're all nice to look at. Supernatural's kit is pricey, but it goes on sale a few times a year.

The glass spray bottles are hefty in a good way , and the silicone bottoms keep them in place. The nozzles don't clog or get jammed, though the bottles can leak if you don't twist the lid closed carefully. The glass concentrate vials contain blends of essential oils designed for windows and mirrors, counters and granite, bath and tile, or wood and floors.

The products smell amazing —like fresh botanicals, not artificial or chemical like most cleaning solutions. This set is the only one I've continued to purchase refills for. Blueland's cheap refills come in the form of dissolvable tablets.

Starter kit refills include hand soap, bathroom cleaner, glass and mirror cleaner, and multipurpose cleaner. Blueland also offers laundry soap, dishwashing essentials, and various accessories.

You can mix and match products to suit your needs. Everything I tried smelled great and worked well. The tablets can take a little while to dissolve, so mix the solutions up an hour or two before you plan to tackle your chores.

The starter kit gets you a ounce bottle of sustainable concentrated cleaning solution, spray bottles with fill lines for easy dilution, and a tub of Oxygen Boost powder. You'll get enough concentrate for three bottles each of all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, bathroom cleaner, and foaming wash, plus a load laundry bottle.

The unscented concentrate is powerful and made from simple ingredients. You can also buy it separately and supply your own bottles. Fans of nice-smelling cleaners might find this set lacking, but a few drops of essential oils would liven things up in the olfactory department.

Grove's cleaning concentrates are available in a three-pack. You'll get all-purpose, glass, and tub-and-tile cleaners.

Dump the contents into ounce bottles also on Grove's site and fill them up with water. I especially like the glass cleaner, which works better than Windex—and smells nicer.

This bio-based product isn't sold in concentrates, but I'm including it here because I didn't try anything else like it.

It has no fragrance and no color. It almost feels like you're cleaning with water. If you're really sensitive to fragrances, to the point where "lightly scented" still gives you a headache, this is what you're looking for.

After my testing, I permanently converted to this dish soap. It's made of plant-based ingredients, and the biodegradable formula gets the job done. It doesn't dry out my hands as much as the stuff I used to use. It's available in multipacks online.

This bar is technically meant for cleaning tough stains on your clothes before you toss them into the laundry. Dampen the end of the bar and the stain, scrub away, and then toss the garment into the laundry.

However, the bar effectively doubles as dish soap. These fast-drying biodegradable cloths are made of cellulose and cotton. Unlike typical washcloths, these don't get smelly or mildewy. You can wash them up to times in your washing machine or the top rack of your dishwasher.

The eye-catching designs are a bonus. Mine started degrading after a couple of months of use but lasted longer than similar products I tried. I didn't want to love this extremely popular, cheery sponge, but it lives up to the hype.

The shape and texture make it weirdly effective for scrubbing, wiping, and suds. I use it for everything from doing my dishes to cleaning my floors. It's also more durable than other similarly priced sponges. While the sponge itself isn't especially sustainable, Scrub Daddy products are recyclable , making them a better option than sponges you'd throw away.

These bright cotton flannel towels are durable and really absorbent. They get even more absorbent after a few washes. They also cling together, so you can roll them up on a cardboard tube just like the paper alternatives.

If you prefer more traditional paper towels, these strike a good balance between familiarity and sustainability. They're made of bamboo— no trees. The towels aren't the softest, but they are absorbent and don't fall apart or shed easily.

For gross or quick tasks like cleaning up cat hairballs or cooking residue, I feel less guilty throwing these out than a tree-based paper towel. They aren't as durable as traditional trash bags, but they're made of 90 percent post-consumer plastic.

The other 10 percent is renewable sugarcane. I think the eco-friendly composition makes these a worthy trade-off. These sweeper pads are a sturdier, less wasteful alternative to disposable mop pads.

They work with Swiffer mops and similar systems, and they can be used wet or dry. The thick, absorbent texture makes cleaning the floor easy.

Toss the pads in the washing machine to reuse them. These pods smell fantastic, work with high-efficiency machines, get your clothes squeaky clean, and are made of plant-derived ingredients.

There are no dyes, and shipping is free and carbon-neutral. I tested this plant-based spray on blood, coffee, red sauce, and makeup. It removed them all. It doesn't contain chlorine, dyes, or other common irritants typically found in stain removers.

It does sell out occasionally, but you can sign up for email alerts to know when it's back.

A squeegee would be a good environmentally friendly alternative. Pour a cup of vinegar into a microwave safe bowl, and place it in your microwave. Turn your microwave on and let it heat up the vinegar for about ten minutes.

Let the vinegar cool down for a minute or two before removing it very carefully from your microwave. Now take a kitchen rag and wipe down the inside of your microwave. The hot vinegar has steam cleaned the inside surfaces and that stuck on food is easily wiped off.

You steam cleaned your microwave, and now you have a bowl of hot vinegar sitting on your kitchen counter. What should you do with it? You could pour it down the drain, but wait! Squirt a teaspoon of blue Dawn dish soap into the bowl and mix. Now you have a great budget stain remover that you can use to spot clean the stains on your couch, the rug in your living room, or even the cloth seats of your car.

This tip comes from the amazing cleaning company, Go Clean Co. Follow them on Instagram for more cleaning tips. They recommend mixing a few teaspoons of powdered Tide detergent with about a third of a cup of bleach with a gallon of hot water. This mixture is pure magic!

I was a little skeptical about using laundry detergent to clean more than my clothes, but once I tried it, I never went back to any other cleaner! This is how it works: the Tide lifts stains and dirt while the bleach disinfects. I use this budget cleaning mixture almost everywhere in my home, but here are three specific examples.

The bathroom is an area that needs daily disinfecting, and this mixture works wonders. I use it on my bath tub, my toilet, my tile floor and walls, my sink, and even inside my little bathroom waste basket. I use this mixture on any hard surface floors except hardwood.

This budget cleaner gets them shiny again, not to mention germ free. Those fingerprints, food smudges, and dust will wipe off your kitchen cabinets so easily with Tide and bleach. Now that your cabinet doors are sparkling clean, read this tips for getting the inside of your kitchen cabinets organized.

Baking soda is a budget cleaning super star. Here are two ways I use baking soda around my home. Soap and water can clean almost anything, but sometimes you need a product with a little more grittiness to give you a bit more scrubbing action.

Mixing baking soda into a paste with a few drops of water works great for scrubbing the grime out of the kitchen sink, scrubbing buildup on your bathroom tile, or scrubbing the ring around the inside of the bathtub.

Living in our houses brings along some unpleasant odors, especially if you have pets. I love my basset hound, but sometimes he stinks! I like to sprinkle baking soda on any soft surface that needs a little refresh — my couch, area rugs, or the bed mattress.

Let it sit and do its job for a few minutes, and then vacuum the baking soda up. Last but not least in our budget cleaning kit is hand sanitizer. These days, we all have plenty of hand sanitizer in our homes.

Why not get double duty from it? I use it in my home for one thing- removing stubborn stains from hard surfaces. One box of Magic Erase stain scrubbers costs more than ten dollars, but a bottle of hand sanitizer costs just a few dollars.

Put a little hand sanitizer on a kitchen rag, and the ink wipes right off the wall. It also works on stubborn makeup stains, paint splatters, and red wine spills. Keep your cash in your wallet, and try out some of the top five best household cleaning products I have found to get my home clean on a budget.

Instead, consider buying concentrated peroxide solution in bulk — one gallon can last years for the average person. Peroxide is incredibly versatile.

When diluted in water, it is an excellent all-purpose cleaner. It effectively takes stains out of fabric and even brightens your white clothes. You can add a splash of lemon juice or essential oils to add a pleasant scent, and best of all, you will save tons of time and money. Little things need little tools, and a toothbrush is a great little tool.

So before you throw out your old toothbrush, consider sticking it into your cleaning supplies instead. It is great for brushing little pieces of hardware and in hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.

There are more of those kinds of things around your home than you think, and they can be frustrating to address with just a rag.

If you like, a sturdy nylon utility brush will pack a little more oomph, but for the average person, a toothbrush does just fine. No, not the one you use to flip burgers. A good putty spatula can be very useful for scraping stubborn bits of filth that are stuck to the bottom of your oven, for example.

A metal spatula is best for bigger challenges, but they do scratch, so consider using a wooden or plastic one if you feel worried about scuffing something up. When was the last time you cleaned your toilet? Even if you clean it frequently, you still probably want to avoid being up to your forearm in toilet water.

A sturdy toilet brush is an essential cleaning supply for any bathroom! As with the broom, any toilet brush will do, as long as it has a replaceable head. I prefer ones made from sustainable materials, but pick whatever best fits your budget.

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This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages. Hit enter to search or ESC to close. Blog Cleaning Supplies: 10 Essential Products for Any Budget By Jessica Jankoski May 13, June 9th, No Comments.

Broom Mop Rags Duster Baking Soda Dish Soap Peroxide Toothbrush Spatula Toilet Brush Any Broom Will Do While vacuums are great , a traditional vacuum tends to be bulky, which can make storage inconvenient in smaller homes. A Good Mop At its most basic, a mop is just a wet rag on a stick, period.

Rags Speaking of rags, keep lots of them handy! Duster A microfiber rag is as good of a duster as any on surfaces that are easy to reach, but sometimes you need to get high corners and tops of cabinets.

Baking Soda Baking soda is so good at cleaning that it sometimes feels like magic. Dish Soap is a Degreaser. Use Peroxide Instead of an All-Purpose Cleaner.

Spatula the other kind No, not the one you use to flip burgers. Lastly, a Toilet Brush When was the last time you cleaned your toilet? How To Clean Your Bathroom Sink How to Clean the Bathroom: 5 Easy Ways to Keep Your Bathroom Feeling Clean 5 Best Bathroom Cleaning Products Organization for Bathrooms: 5 Helpful Tips.

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