Every fortnight, Laura de Barra brings her home maintenance expertise to the Glenveagh Home Magazine on TheJournal.ie – and this week she’s sharing the super-simple make-at-home cleaning products she swears by.

I LIVE FOR a DIY cleaning product. It’s an opportunity to use fewer chemicals, save money and reduce your impact on the environment.

When we use shop bought cleaners we are exposing our lungs, skin and wonderful hands to chemicals that aren’t the best for them as well as flushing it all down our drains for nature to contend with after.

Before I begin, it goes without saying that you should always check if the surface you are going to apply any cleaner to can hack it. Vinegar for example is not a good match for natural stone and wood surfaces. Do some research and get informed, you’ll be glad you did!

Let’s start by looking at the ingredients for DIY cleaners:

Washing up liquid: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is an amazing simple cleaner. It’s readily available, cheap and mild which means its perfect to add to any mix as her grease removing powers are mighty.

Vinegar: She’s an all-rounder! Distilled white vinegar is your girl here as she is not fermented like other vinegars and is instead made in a lab and is super acidic.

This makes her ideal for killing the most common bacteria, deodorising, removing product build up and water marks in bathroom, and grease in kitchens. She even kills mould spores.

Bicarbonate of soda: This alkaline queen is great for cleaning. When in a liquid mix, she can help with odours and dissolving grime. When used in a paste, is abrasive enough to help you scrub away any build up yet kind to most surfaces.

Shutterstock / All About Space Shutterstock / All About Space / All About Space

Scents: While you can add some lemon to your DIY cleaners for a fresh smell, essential oils can be a great way to add a lasting scent to the area or surface you have cleaned. I like lemon for kitchen areas and fridge, tea tree is fab for bathrooms and lavender can be soothing for bedrooms.

These can not only add a great fragrance, almost all have antibacterial qualities. Orange oil, for example, is great for breaking down grease.

Bathroom Cleaner

I find that the product build up in bathrooms can mean a grease fighting cleaner is often needed as well as something a little abrasive to lift away and dirt. This means a DIY paste is perfect!

Mix 50/50 washing up liquid and bicarb of soda in a tub, top up with a small bit of water to make it a little looser and you have a paste that you can wipe all over your shower and sink surfaces. It will lift greasy products and dirt just like a cream cleaner you can buy at the supermarket.

You can add some tea tree oil as this will have powerful antibacterial benefits (hence why we use it in spot treatments) and also smell great.

Kitchen Cleaner

Warm water and washing up liquid is always your friend when cleaning a kitchen as it is mainly greasy stains here.

I find a 500ml spray bottle with 50/50 vinegar and water, a squirt of washing up liquid and a few drops of orange oil can help you cleanse most kitchen surfaces as well as lift grease.

All-Round Cleaner

If you want a general cleaner, grab a spray bottle and add 1/2 a cup of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of bicarb, then fill the rest up with warm water. This will deodorise and cleanse surfaces (don’t forget to check that your surface can take these two!). Vinegar dries odourless you so don’t have to worry about the scent it leaves, but you can add an essential oil for fragrance during and after cleaning if you wish.

Follow @lauradebarra on Instagram for more pro cleaning tips (and plenty of other fabulousness too).