Make your own seasonal infused vinegar cleaning spray with herbs, citrus, and spices. Natural, easy DIY cleaners that leave your home smelling fresh and sweet.
Natural cleaning sprays are easy to make with just white vinegar and distilled water. But don’t stop there.
Infuse your vinegar with herbs and other ingredients as in this post and create a rotating bank of naturally infused vinegars to choose from each season.
Making my own seasonal infused vinegar is a fun way for me to express my creativity in something as mundane as cleaning, and I hope you’ll be inspired to do the same with these recipes.
I love to bring a little of my garden into my home. No matter what season it is, something is growing out there.
And every season in the garden has a special scent. Maybe bright and citrusy in the spring, floral in the summer, warm and spiced for fall, and fresh and clean for winter.
Each jar smells like a little snapshot of that moment in the year.
These simple combinations that I’m sharing today use herbs, citrus, and spices you may already have on hand in your garden or in the kitchen.
It’s easy to make, completely customizable, and make it fun to clean with.
(If you’ve never made infused vinegar before, start with my step-by-step guide to making natural infused vinegar cleaners first.)
Let’s take it season by season.
Spring: Lemon and Lilac Vinegar Cleaner
I don’t know about you, but lemon and lilac make me think of spring. Spring, to me, deserves a scent that feels just as fresh
as the season itself.
To make lemon and lilac vinegar, combine:
- peels from half a lemon
- a big handful of fresh lilac blossoms
- white vinegar
These two scents together are bright with a floral sweetness. The perfect pick-me-up after a long winter.
Lemon also helps cut through grease giving your DIY cleaner more cleaning power.
Make sure to pack in the lilac blossoms so that the acidity of vinegar and lemon don’t overwhelm the delicate floral scent.
This is the perfect infused vinegar to use for cleaning during a yearly spring refresh.
Summer: Lavender and Lemon Thyme Vinegar
This combo comes straight out of my cottage garden. I love making homemade lavender syrups and lavender wreaths once this herb is in season.
Paired with thyme, it has both a floral and herbal scent that’s perfect for summer.
For this one I used a special variety of thyme called lemon thyme that has a hint of lemon to it, but you can use any variety of thyme you have.
To make this infusion, fill a jar with:
- a handful of lavender flowers and leaves
- several springs of thyme
- white vinegar
This infusion has a calming yet earthy scent that’s great for deodorizing and cleaning the kitchen.
Lavender imparts a pretty pinkish tinge to the vinegar, too!
NOTE: Dried lavender and thyme are fine to use if you don’t have fresh. You’ll only need a couple tablespoons of each per cup of vinegar.
Fall: Orange and Clove Vinegar
If you could bottle the feeling of a cozy fall kitchen, I think this would be it!
Combine:
- peels from 1–2 oranges
- 1 tablespoon of whole cloves
- white vinegar
This infused vinegar smells warm and spicy and has a gorgeous amber color, too. It’s my go-to for fall home resets and freshening up the kitchen after a day of holiday baking.
Winter: Spruce and Rosemary Vinegar
When the days are cold and the garden has been put to rest, this woodsy mix of spruce and rosemary brings the outdoors in. (This one is my favorite!)
You will need:
- several fresh sprigs of spruce needles (soft, young spring tips are best, but older ones work fine, too)
- a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
- white vinegar
Rosemary can be overpowering, so keep the ratio of spruce tips higher than rosemary.
This winter blend has a crisp, evergreen scent that’s grounding and clean. I pack in a lot of spruce when I make this infused vinegar and it really shines through!
This combo reminds me of a forest walk in December.
Anytime-of-Year Cleaner
This one’s perfect if you don’t have a specific scent in mind or you just want to use what you have.
Combine:
- a mix of citrus peels (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit)
- a few sprigs of your favorite herb (suggested: rosemary, thyme, sage)
- white vinegar
This blend is cheerful, easy to adapt, and a great way to reduce waste and reuse food scraps. Every batch will smell a bit different, which is part of the fun.
How to Use Infused Vinegar for Cleaning
Once you’ve steeped and strained your vinegar infusions, mix equal parts vinegar and distilled water in a glass spray bottle. Shake before each use and spritz anywhere you need to clean or deodorize.
Avoid using vinegar cleaner on non-porous surfaces like natural stone, wood, or cast iron.
Do use homemade cleaner on windows, mirrors, stovetops, trash cans, bathrooms, and more.
For more info, check out my original post on making infused vinegar cleaners.
Making Your Own Seasonal DIY Cleaners
Making your own seasonal cleaners turns an everyday chore into an opportunity to be imaginative and unique.
Crafting your own special scents and combos and then turning them into homemade cleaners is so satisfying. I didn’t think I would get so excited about this project until I began to see it as an expression of my creativity and love for my home and garden.
Every season brings new scents to play with, and no two batches are ever quite the same. That’s part of the wonder of it.
If you make one of these infused vinegar recipes, let me know which scent feels most you right now!
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