This is a great way to utilize your Christmas tree to make a great all-purpose cleaner.

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Easy Christmas Tree Cleaner

If you enjoy the scent of pine throughout your home around Christmas time, then you'll really like this cleaner that you can use all year around your house.   The best part about this cleaner is if you already have a real Christmas tree in your house, then you already have half of the ingredients needed to make this cleaner, because all it takes is pine clippings and white vinegar.

How Effective is Vinegar for Cleaning?

I was curious as to how effective this recipe would be for cleaning, so I looked up information from the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), and while they agree for light disinfecting, and general cleaning, vinegar is a great option.  However, if you're really wanting to disinfect a surface, bleach and commercial disinfectants are better at getting the job done.

Here is what the NSF has to say about cleaning with vinegar:

Vinegar is frequently recommended as a household cleanser, and can be effective on some stains and surfaces. Vinegar is inexpensive, easy to obtain and environmentally friendly. Cleaning vinegar or white vinegar – not apple cider vinegar or wine vinegar – is most commonly chosen for cleaning.

However, it’s important to remember that while vinegar does work as a disinfectant to some degree, it is not as effective as bleach or commercial cleansers when it comes to killing germs. If you are going to use vinegar as a cleanser, it’s important to decide whether your goal is to clean, or to disinfect.

I'll definitely be keeping my bleach on hand, but you bet I'm mixing up a batch of this for general cleaning so my house can smell like Christmas all year long, so here's how you make the DIY pine cleaner with clippings from your Christmas tree!

How to Make DIY Pine Cleaner

As you may know, vinegar is great for cleaning, and many people swear by cleaning with vinegar, but not many love the smell of vinegar, by adding pine clippings in with your vinegar you can make a delicious pine-scented all-purpose cleaner.

It's super easy to make too!  Just trim off some clippings for your tree and put them in a jar, then fill the jar with white vinegar.  Let the jar sit in a cool dry place for a few weeks, and then strain out the pine clippings, and you have an easy, all-purpose cleaner that smells like Christmas!

GetGreenBeWell on YouTube has a great video on making this easy cleaner and even has a peppermint-scented variation, you can see her video for full instructions, below!