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States, provinces and local governments are gradually loosening Covid-19 restrictions across the US, Canada and other countries of the world. Regardless of how much you plan to take advantage of opening shops, bars, restaurants, and parks, you should continue social distancing, using a mask when near others outside your home and maintaining the same cleaning habits.
Corona virus isn't going away anytime soon, so you need to keep up your defenses against it, no matter how much warm weather and semi-bustling streets may lull you into feeling like life is returning to normal.
Due to a potential shortage of hand sanitizers and home cleaning disinfectant products in stores, people are looking for alternatives to keep their homes clean and free of harmful chemicals that can often be found in disinfectants. So, folks are asking – are there ways to make safe and effective products at home?
The good news is – YES – there are some great options for making safe and effective cleaners and disinfectants at home.
How To Make Your Own Disinfecting Products At Home
What ingredients do you need?
Making your own hand sanitizer is easy to do and only requires a few ingredients:
1 part aloe vera gel or glycerin
Household bleach
Hydrogen peroxide
2 part isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) with a concentration of 91 %
Essential oil, such as lemon or lavender (this is an optional ingredient for scent)
Clean containers for mixing and an air-tight container for storage
Spoon or whisk for mixing
How To Make Hand Sanitizers
Combine the aloe vera gel or glycerin with the isopropyl alcohol in a clean container. To get one cup of sanitizer, combine ⅓ cup of gel or glycerin with ⅔ cup of rubbing alcohol.
Mix thoroughly with your spoon or whisk to ensure that the alcohol is evenly distributed throughout the gel.
Stir in five drops of an essential oil, if you're using it. This is entirely optional and is only meant to improve the scent of the sanitizer.
Store the sanitizer in an air-tight container. Alcohol evaporates with time, so an air-tight container will keep your sanitizer effective for longer. A pump or squeeze bottle can minimize evaporation while keeping your sanitizer easily accessible — just make sure the container for your sanitizer is clean and air-tight.
The key to making an effective, germ-busting hand sanitizer is to stick to a 2:1 proportion of alcohol to aloe vera. This keeps the alcohol content around 60 percent. This is the minimum amount needed to kill most germs, according to the World Health Organization.
How To Make Disposable Disinfecting Wipes
If your store is sold out of Clorox wipes, you can easily make your own.
Start with a roll of paper towels and cut it in half horizontally so that you’re left with two toilet paper-like rolls.
Mix 2 cups of water with 2 tablespoons of bleach.
Place one paper towel roll flat into an airtight container and pour the solution over the top. The container should be large enough to hold all the liquid while ensuring the paper towels are fully saturated.
Take out the cardboard center roll and pull out fresh paper towels from the middle.
How To Make Reusable Disinfecting Wipes
Instead of relying on single-use (and hard to find) disinfectant wipes, you can make reusable ones instead.
Start with an old T-shirt or other cotton fabric.
Cut it into squares, about the same size as a commercial wipe.
Soak these cloths with your bleach solution or a mixture of 2/3 cup 99% isopropyl alcohol and 1/3 cup water.
Store your used wipes in a sealed container until laundry day, then wash them using the hot water setting before re+soaking them in your solution and reusing
Summary
Homemade disinfectant cleaning products can help prevent the spread of germs when soap and water isn’t available. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can help keep you safe and reduce the spread of the new corona virus.
If you’re having a hard time finding disinfectant cleaning products at your local stores and hand washing isn’t available, you can take steps to make your own at home. You only need a few ingredients, such as rubbing alcohol, aloe vera gel, and an essential oil or lemon juice.
Although disinfectant cleaning products can be an effective way of getting rid of germs, health authorities still recommend hand-washing whenever possible to keep your hands free of disease-causing viruses and other germs.
We hope this article will help you make your own sanitizing products at home, so that you can keep germs and viruses away.
We wish everyone an amazing week. Stay safe and healthy.
Best,
Romy & Peter :)