A cleaning expert reveals the everyday household items you should be using to clean your home

Cleaning expert and author of "Clean My Space" Melissa Maker breaks down how to create your own cleaning products at home with everyday items. Following is a full transcript of the video.

Well the great thing about cleaning - and again, I talk about this in my book - is understanding the products, the tools, and the techniques that you need to do an effective clean. So, products - you don't have to go right to the top and use the most harsh product to do a cleaning. You can oftentimes accomplish a lot of work with a pretty gentle product, whether it's one that you're purchasing or one that you're making on your own. And half of cleaning comes down to tools. So, understanding exactly what kind of cleaning tools do I need to use, 'cause you know, you walk down the aisle, the cleaning aisle at a big-box store and you're like, "What's this? What's this? Do I need that?" You don't know. So once you have an understanding of the products and the tools, you can then choose the right thing for the job and then apply the appropriate technique. That's what I call the PTTs - products, tools, and techniques and get the job done. Even a hard one.

Toothbrush is great. A cleaning toothbrush, they're very inexpensive and frankly a great way to upcycle. You can clean your toothbrush, when you're finished using it for your mouth and you want to move on to cleaning, by just mixing up a solution of equal parts hydrogen peroxide and water and soaking it for 30 minutes. Then it's good to go for cleaning. Dish soap is another one of my favorites. I'm telling you I probably clean like 50%, 60% of my house with some solution including dish soap. I also of course use it in the kitchen. And baking soda ... I have a love affair with baking soda. So, yeah. Baking soda is a wonderful cleaning triple threat. It deodorizes, it has mild abrasion, and it also helps to brighten and whiten. It's great.

One of the most basic recipes that I love and I whip up, and I mean, I don't know, we probably go through a bottle of it once a week, I would say. It's a cup of water, a half cup of rubbing alcohol, 10 drops of essential oil. And it's my house so obviously I have a whole selection of essential oils. In my kitchen I love using thyme. And a little squirt of dish soap, about half a teaspoon. And there's your all-purpose cleaner right there. That's a great one.