Homemade Bleach Alternative recipe that uses all natural ingredients found in your home and costs 1/3 less than store-bought. Plus it works great too! Also try using my Homemade Laundry Detergent which is perfect for sensitive skin!
A few big changes happened when we brought our first child home from the hospital.
Of course there’s the obvious: we added a member to the family.
But we also started thinking about putting locks on cabinets (which we didn’t do), figured out how to open and close a stroller with one hand (which deserves an award), and essentially gave up on sleeping altogether.
On a more personal note, I also stopped buying bleach and stopped sorting laundry.
Between Mr. Crumbs and I, there was only a red shirt or two in the house. So I figured as long as those shirts DIDN’T get washed with everything else and Mr. Crumbs wasn’t left wearing pink undershirts to work, I was good to go.
Fast forward 7 1/2 years and while sleeping is still a luxury, it happens on most nights. This now affords me time to reflect on things like what kind of glue is used for the stickers on my produce, why little building blocks that claim “guaranteed to fit 100% with other name-brand building blocks” don’t really fit (yes, I’m talking about you wannabe LEGOs) and how Mr. Crumb’s whitey tighties weren’t as white as they used to be.
Which led me to rethink my ban on bleach.
For like, two seconds.
I didn’t research bleach and whether or not it’s healthy and all that stuff, because I think it’s safe to say that bleach isn’t the best cleaning solution out there. You can’t eat it, it smells awful and it’s dangerous for kids. A triple whammy in my book and in this season of life, I’m kind of ready to find a better, more natural alternative anyway.
In the arena of homemade bleach alternatives, there seem to be a few major key players:
- hydrogen peroxide
- lemon juice
- baking soda
- vinegar
- citric acid
- lemon essential oil
The goal is to find a winning combination that a) brightens your clothes, b) smells good, and c) doesn’t irritate your skin.
All of the items above will gently brighten clothes, but you can’t just mix it all up in a pot and expect success. In fact, mixing vinegar and hydrogen peroxide creates peracetic acid which can be incredibly irritating to the skin, eyes and nasal passageways.
Seeing as I’m not really wanting to burn myself while doing laundry, and not really sure how this combination would affect my clothes in the long term, I scratched vinegar off the list.
Citric acid helps make the cleaning solution more effective if you have hard water, but I don’t keep this on hand and don’t want to buy it just for this recipe. So that got scratched off the list too.
After several rounds of washing our white cloth napkins and Mr. Crumbs undershirts, I’ve come up with a combination that gets the job done!
DIY: All-natural Homemade Bleach Alternative
Supplies
- 3/4 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 10-15 drops lemon essential oil**
- 3/4 cup baking soda
- 7 cups water
*Note: I love Plant Therapy essential oils. You can find their shop here.
I’ve also switched from my homemade laundry detergent to Thieves laundry detergent. I’ve found that it is washing my clothes MUCH better and is also MUCH cheaper!
Method
Combine all ingredients in a container capable of holding 1/2 gallon or more. Shake well.
Use 1 cup per load, washing with the hottest water setting available.
Additional Recipe Notes
Some other recipes call for equal parts hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice, but I thought that was a bit expensive with so much lemon juice. The 3:1 ratio is enough to get the job done and keep costs down.
Hydrogen peroxide should be kept in a cool, dark place and preferably in a dark bottle. I used an old water jug for this solution, labeled it appropriately, and keep it stored in the garage where it’s normally dark anyway. Plus that’s where our washer and dryer are.
The water you add can be plain tap water. No need to use filtered water when it’s only going to be combined with tap water in the washer anyway.
Washing Tips
This is an effective washing technique, but if your clothes are exceptionally dingy, it may take more than a simple wash and rinse to see a significant difference. You have a few options:
- soak dirty clothes and solution in the washer overnight; add detergent and finish the cleaning cycle in the morning
- wash dirty clothes twice in a row before drying
- wash in hot water
Are You Looking For A Cleaner Laundry Soap?
Making your own laundry detergent is a great option for non-toxic laundry. But I get that DIY isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
There are a few brands of laundry detergent out there that have non-toxic ingredients. One that I like is Truly Free. They have a variety of household cleaners, laundry soap, kitchen cleansers, and related products. All are made in America, free from toxins, and sold in reusable packaging!
You can use the coupon code CRUMBS30 to get 30% off anything in their shop. This is a HUGE discount! No subscription is required. Simply order through this link.
Tiffany
I don’t have lemons or lemon juice on me, though I do have lemon EO. Would like juice work the same as the lemon?
Tiffany
Sorry for the typo. I meant lime juice; would this work?
Tiffany
I don’t think lime juice would work the same as lemon – I’ve never heard of lime having any whitening properties. Sorry!
deb
I want to try this. I am always looking for cruelty free vegan. My problem when I try to soak. I have a new digital washing machine. I have tried bleaching drop cloths before it only soaks for 4 hours. I have tried turning the machine off than it empties the water does anyone have a solution. Thanks for your post.
Emy
im pregnant so this bleach alternative is perfect for me! thanks 😉
Esme Brand
What I’m confused about is the price of the peroxide, seems to me the cheapest is about $4 for 32oz? I’m in UK but looking at what you linked to as well. I’m on a budget so don’t want to be spending if it doesn’t end up being cheaper xD
Tiffany
My prices are US based, so I’m not really sure what’s a good deal in the UK. I’m sorry!
Cherie
A way to cut back on the cost if peroxide is to buy the concentrated peroxide used by hairdressers. Developer is simply peroxide, and u cut it with water.
For instance if u have 20 volume developer-
1 cup 20 volume developer 1 cup water mixed is 10 volume or 10% peroxide. Continue until u reach the desired 3%
FYI-it can b perchused at Sally’s in as little as 5% I believe
Tiffany
Oh wow – great tip Cherie! Thanks so much for sharing!
Tiffany
You’re very welcome Tonla! I hope it works as well for you as it does for us!
barbara
is this bleach recipe only for laundry or can i use it in the kitchen as well? i usually used bleach cleaners for the sink and countertops to disinfect.
Heather (contributing author)
You could totally use this in your kitchen! The disinfecting properties of the hydrogen peroxide and cleansing properties of lemon essential oil will clean your counters.
Trevor
Great recipe, I’m just curious if you know how long this will last? If I mix it all up and leave it sitting on the laundry shelf for a few months will it still be good or will things like the lemon juice start to go bad? Also, do you just dump it right in with the clothes or put it into the separate side spout labeled bleach? Thank you!
Tiffany
Hi Trevor – I’ve used it for a few months at a time w/o any issue. And yes, dump it right into the water, before you add the clothes!
Stacy
Would you be able to use this for the shower or general cleaning in place of bleach? Looking to clean the shower of mildew and general scum.
Tiffany
I haven’t tried it in the shower Stacy, but if you do please let us know how it goes. I have heard of using tea tree oil, Thieves (by Young Living) and lemon essential oils for soap scum and mildew.
Andrew
My family and I are moving to more natural homemade products. Currently in our laundry we are using BioKleen liquid laundry detergent (we will be trying homemade in the next few months). Additionally, we also use a color safe/whitening bleach and a fabric softener, which I would like to move to homemade. We have tried Molly Suds Dryer Balls and they are great, and we will continue to use, but we are hoping a liquid homemade fabric softener will help soften the clothes a q bit more in addition to the dryer balls. I’ve been doing quite a bit of research into homemade recipes and my family has decided on the following:
Bleach – hydrogen peroxide,lemon juice,essential oil, water mix
Fabric softener vinegar, baking soda, essential oil
My concern and question is this. I know vinegar and hydrogen peroxide when mixed create peracetic acid. I am unsure of how they would mx in a washer even though one is during the wash cycle and one during the rinse cycle. Should I be concerned? Any other suggestions?
Tiffany
I’m not a pro Andrew, but I don’t think there’s a concern because of the way the washer handles the fabric softener. Like you said, the fabric softener is not added at the same time as the detergent, rather it’s added during the rinse cycle. I think the concern of mixing vinegar and hydrogen peroxide is mostly for the homemade detergent recipes that call for both – because they’re out there!
Andrew
Thanks Tiffany! That is my thought process as well. I may be overdoing it with our detergent, hydrogen perixoide color safe bleach, vinegar fabric softnener and dryer balls, but hey we are learning. 🙂
Laurie
I make a fabric softener of 1 1/4 gallons: 50:50 ratio white vinegar and water mixed in a jug (white vinegar from Costco. The jug is 1 1/4 gallon size. Perfect for storing the softener.) Soak about 10 soap-nuts in the 50:50 solution about 24 hours. Remove the soap-nuts and shake the softener solution. I fill a downy ball up to the top and place it on top of the clothes at the wash cycle. It will open and release the softener into the rinse cycle and so it is not mixed directly with the peroxide in the wash cycle. You can use the downy ball with straight vinegar also. I had problems still with static in some of my clothes with straight vinegar so making the solution and adding the soap-nuts took care of that problem. Clothes come out of the dryer static free and soft. I live in a snowy cold climate during the winter months and most homes here have forced are heat which drys everything out and creates static in clothes.
eva
Hi, the only Hydrogen Peroxide I can get is 6%. So how should I go about amending the recipe?
Tiffany
I haven’t tried this recipe with stronger hydrogen peroxide Eva, but my best non-scientific guess would be to reduce it by half.
David Chambers
In the interest of accuracy….
Your cost analysis omitted the price of using hot water, instead of cold – as well as the increased energy cost of following your recommendation to wash the load twice.
Tiffany
Thanks David – the price comparison is over traditional bleach, which is usually used with hot water (making a moot point). And my recommendation to wash twice is only for heavily soiled items, which you might have to do with traditional bleach anyway. If you don’t, it’s worth the extra pennies to not use the toxic version in my opinion. 🙂
PattieJune
I use only cold water to wash clothes will this work with bleach recipe?
Tiffany
Yes!
Penny
I am highly allergic to lemons and can’t be around them or smell them. Any substitutes that would work? Love your blog.
Tiffany
Hi Penny! Citrus in general will work, but I believe the order of “whitening power” would be grapefruit and then orange. 🙂
Penny
thanks
Elisa
How do you think this would rate as a disinfectant?
mckenna
Hi I was wondering I’m doing cloth diapers and its reccomended to do a bleach soak after a yeast or bacteria infection, and not to use essential oils. I was wondering if you’ve experienced this? Any help would be great. I would love to avoid bleach at all costs as we are allergic! Thank you so much for your time!
Tiffany
I’m sorry McKenna, I have zero experience with cloth diapers. Have you tried Erin from The Humbled Homemaker? She wrote an eBook on cloth diapering that is really good!
Pat Lawhorn
Where do you buy lemon essential oil or any kind of essential oil?
Tiffany
Pat – I prefer to buy my essential oils from Young Living:
dontwastethecrumbs.com/essential-oils
manoj
rub borax powder or baking soda on grouts, it will solve the purpose
Carol
Since lemon juice is supposed to be refrigerated, doesn’t this go rancid sitting in a closet? I made a cleaner once with peroxide and lemon juice and it went rancid. Gross. Then I started storing it in the refrigerator. Do you use the bottled concentrated lemon juice? Lemons are a buck a piece where I live.
Tiffany
I’ve used both fresh (from the fridge) and bottled (from the pantry) and I haven’t had any issue with this going rancid. I don’t make a huge amount at one time – just enough to last 2-3 weeks since it’s so easy to replenish!
Nikolia
Thanks for this! It is fantastic for our whites. My husband wears a white oxford shirt everyday and all his shirts had a ring around the neck that *nothing* could get out. This got it out in two washes!
Tiffany
You’re most welcome Nikolia!