Yes.
High-quality, cold-pressed olive oil?
Oh, yes.
Come on people. Of course.
Yes, yes, and yes.
Hydrogenated & rancid vegetable oils?
No thank you.
It's not secret we're fond of real, whole fats around here on the homestead. Let's be honest, I've been known to slather a vegetable or two with butter in my day. So many may be surprised to see that giant bottle of vegetable oil hidden in my pantry.
Say what?!?!
But behold! I have found a great use for this oil!
And no. It ain't goin' in our bodies. Matter of fact, it's goin' on our wood floors.
Yes, my friends. It's the very best use I can think of for such a nutritional backwards and unhealthy product. In an ode to what I think of hydrogenated oils, I give you:
Homemade Hardwood Floor Polish
You will need:
– 1 recycled empty squirt bottle
– 2 1/2 cups cheap, vegetable oil
– 1 1/2 cups cheap, white vinegar
– 15 drops essential oils, optional
Combine the oil, vinegar, and essential oil in the squirt bottle. You'll have to keep shaking to combine as you go. Squirt on your swept, hardwood floors. Mop over the floors with a rag or mop.
Enjoy the fact that you have clean, shiny floors. Free of nasty commercial chemicals so often present in household cleaners and polishes.
Seriously, y'all. I've used this cleaner for months now. It's awesome.
I love our pecan floors, and even though they need to be refinished in a BAD way, I still love being able to help them at least sparkle a little extra.
This polish also works great on our buffet table and dining table and chairs. Alright, let's go bigger picture: it'll work great on any wood pieces, I imagine. And it's cheap.
And frankly, it's the best utilization of vegetable oil I can imagine.
Which, by the way, they sell at the dollar store (just tryin' to stay frugal, man).
It's not rocket science. But it is awesome. Less chemicals and less money to have beautifully polished and clean floors.
Booya.
By the way, it's been very warm here the past few days. As in, like, flip-flop and shorts warm. As in, I wore a cardigan and started to sweat like an athlete warm. All that to say, I found my first palmetto bug of the season yesterday on the floor by the door. They haven't graced us with their presence since last fall and you can imagine the excitement I feel for their return.
It simply confirmed my theory.
Nothing in Alabama ever dies.
It just keeps growin' and growin' and growin' until one day it's so big it'll just start to take over the world.
Just a theory.
with eager hands
January 31, 2013 at 7:55 amBad-ow! I got funky oil. I got hardwood floors. I have 4 children eager to mop the floors.
riiiiiiiight….
thanks for the recipe!
Jessica
January 31, 2013 at 8:10 amawesome! i have veg oil and white flour at home too – i use them to make play-doh! 🙂 thanks for another use of veg oil!
Krista Odermann
January 31, 2013 at 12:21 pmDoes this make your floors super slick?
Dana
March 11, 2013 at 3:13 pmI was wondering the same thing.
Shaye Elliott
March 11, 2013 at 3:50 pmNope! Just don’t over do it!
Kendra Homestead-Girl
February 2, 2013 at 7:30 pmI’m so glad you shared this. I wonder if it would work on laminate wood floors. I have a whole gallon of veg. oil I didn’t want to throw away, but hadn’t really looked at options for other ways to use it. Thanks for the suggestion 🙂 I need to find a way to use a gallon of Crisco, too, lol.
Jenny
February 4, 2013 at 9:45 pmInterested to know why your SoluGuard bottle is empty and available?
Prepared to Eat
February 11, 2013 at 7:21 amI’ve been wondering about homemade cleaners. This may be the one that does it for me! I usually just use baking soda and vinegar on everything, but I haven’t ever mixed anything up. Can’t really do baking soda and vinegar on hardwood, though. 😉
alisonbayne
February 13, 2013 at 3:02 pmI could use this on my wooden table and chairs too, right? Just hopped in from the Homestead Barn Hop – howdy!
Nichole
April 20, 2013 at 1:17 pmJust wondering about my kids and pets who constantly are rolling around on the floors. Not sure if I want those GMO’s even on my floor. Think I might stick with olive, but thanks for the awesome recipe!!
sundiego23
May 31, 2013 at 1:26 pmSeems like the vinegar would strip the floors? Anyone?
John
December 1, 2013 at 10:17 pmIt’s also worth mentioning that various seed and vegetable oils are the base of various furniture varnishes. You can read a bit more into that history of how they came into our food supply by going here.
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/unsaturated-oils.shtml It’s just above the Summary, just below halfway down the page.
April
March 13, 2014 at 1:58 pmI have been using just vinegar/water that I soaked lemon peel in and it works great and I haven’t noticed any stripping/drying of the floors. Though I think adding oil would do it some good now and then, espeically with this super cold winter we’ve been having in the midwest.
Mary oglesby
March 27, 2014 at 11:29 amThis did not work for me…left a dull greasy MESS!!! Ugh…
Shaye Elliott
April 3, 2014 at 4:08 pmPerhaps it depends on the type of wood?
Jessica
January 10, 2017 at 3:36 pmChecking to if you only accept “positive” comments
Shaye Elliott
January 17, 2017 at 2:54 pmCertainly not, but I do try and keep the “aroma” of this blog positive and inspiring. Please feel free to email me personally if there’s something “negative” you’d like to discuss 😉