Today I have a little bit of nesting setting in,( could be 1 friend just had her baby today and another is in labor) 
though I can’t act out much on it as we will be packing up for a 3 day basketball tournament… But like my mother I can’t leave my house a mess. Summer before last my husband finally bought me new couches. We had our original couches we bought shortly after we were married.. You probably are saying.. that’s just 14 years… I’ve had mine for 20 .. well they still looked pretty good .. but years of kid puke and other messes I had to clean off, I won’t say because you wouldn’t have wanted to sit on them LOL … I did have them cleaned professionally a few times.. really.. but regardless.. I ripped the cushion by putting the entire vacuum cleaner on them once, and my husband chasing the kids jumped over the back and broke the couch’s frame, and we felt like we were sitting on the floor for several years…..after much begging, he finally bought me new couches..
I’m not a leather person.. but after seeing what can get soaked into cushions and material , and with a house full of kids and new babies still coming .. I opted for leather.. Easy clean.. When I purchased the couches they sent me home with a cleaning kit. It had all kinds of stuff to clean and condition leather.. I really liked the leather wipes. They were easy and made my couches stay looking new.. But they cost a fortune and we spend a lot of time on our couches.. Having devotions, reading books, watching movies , playing wii, visiting with friends, kids sleeping on them like last night because of the bad storms that came through, and soon that will be my new station holding and feeding baby Trenton.. So I got to thinking. How safe are these wipes and chemicals I am putting on my couches.. So after some investigating I found a recipe for leather cleaner and conditioner. It’s so SIMPLE…..
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vinegar
pour into a spray bottle, spray and wipe down
I added several drops of lemon and eucalyptus oil into the mixture .. It’s what I had on hand and it mixed well in helping cover the vinegar smell.. which goes away anyway..
The couches don’t feel greasy and they look fabulous..and the oil will help to condition them especially if you have wood heat or forced heat air..
I hope to have these at least another 15 years.. my husband would say a life time for what we paid.. But regardless if you spent 10 or thousands on something, you need to take care of it..
Hope it works for you… Enjoy
From what I have read online.. Vinegar is safe on leather.. for tough cleaning though with out the oil you do need to dillute it with water.. Also this is for real leather not suede.. Thank you all..
Jennifer recently posted..Homemade Leather Cleaner
Also always test any cleaning product before use, on a small area.. then decide ….
Jennifer recently posted..Homemade Leather Cleaner
Thanks for putting this online. I am going to try it as I am fed up with chemicals, too. I have two creamy white leather couches which I have had for 10 years and they still look new. …leather is fabulous! I love the idea of the lemon oil smell…anything lemony is fine by me. Off to get a spray bottle now. Grace to you!
Leslie x
Have you had any trouble with the color rubbing off? My leather couches were quite expensive but I believe the dark brown color was painted on not just dyed because there is a”faded” spot where my two year old tried to wipe off his artwork with a baby wipe before he could be caught.
Yes I also ran into that, My daughter spilled finger nail polish and tried cleaning it with polish remover and it faded a spot on my couches badly, needless to say I wasn’t happy.. But I noticed where we sit alot, it is fading now after 3 years. I have the purplish brown color leather, so I’m sure it will cause future problems. But the leather cleaner seems to really help keep there shine and keep the leather from cracking. Not sure how to fix the fading problems though. We bought the warranty but, I never persuded it.. Thanks for stopping by.
I just tried this and my couches look amazing! Better than any other expensive product I have used!! Thank you!!
So glad, I use it all the time..
Jennifer recently posted..Happy New Year!!
Thank You for sharing this wonderful Eco-friendly leather cleaner. Well, I have just spruced up my lounge…it looks and smells gorgeous. I used eucalyptus oil. Lisa
Glad I could help, every batch I usually try a different oil, to see which I like best. Enjoy!
I’m needing this for white leather in my car. Should I dilute this at all?
I’ve never used it on white leather, you might just want to try a small area first.
Jennifer recently posted..Happy New Year!!
I’m so excited to have found this! I just spent 45 minutes cleaning my couches & they look amazing! (I have to do all my vinegar cleaning when my husband is at the firehouse otherwise he whines about the smell….if I do it when he’s gone and tell him I used a commercial product he loves it and never complains about the smell but as soon as I tell him what I really used he automatically smells vinegar and complains nonstop…what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, plus I’m not breathing in chemicals while cleaning) Thanks for this great tip!
So glad I could help you.. My husband doesn’t care what it smells like as long as I’m saving him money..:) my kids do complain though too sometimes..mainly because they’re usually the ones that have to clean them..Well thank you for your comment and visiting my blog..
I read that linseed oil is good to use, I haven’t tried it yet nor do I know the price compared to olive oil but thought I’d put it out there.
That’s good information. Thank you, I will have to look into it.
Is this mixture safe to use on my leather car seats as well??
I’m pretty sure it’s safe on any leather. Just test it, if you want to make sure.
Had to send a quick note to thank you so much for this…I just picked up a leather sectional that had been in storage for 6 years in a humid country…the brown leather was almost white in places…plus mold had attacked the back of it…used your formula and it absolutely gleams now…I even used it on an old wooden table and it looks nearly new! In the past I’ve made my own furniture polish with the juice of one lemon per 1/2 cup of olive oil. Shaken up it goes creamy and works like a charm…but I would never have thought to use white vinegar…brilliant…thanks again from Bermuda!
I was wondering if you can substitute the olive oil for vegetable oil? I seem to never have olive oil in hand these days! Thanks!
I personally have never tried vegetable oil… Olive oil is just a cleaner /more pure oil. It won’t hurt to try in a small area and see how it does. Good luck.
Hi Jennifer,
I was going through my Good Housekeeping board on Pinterest and found this pin and decided to give it a try. We’ve had our leather sofas for about 4 years now and they’d never been cleaned before and truly needed it. This cleaner worked wonders! The sofas are not only clean but they shine like new! I did not experience any problems with the color wearing off. The vinegar smell was a little off putting at first but it is quickly dissipating. Thank you so much for this! Another homemade cleaner has been permanently added to my good housekeeping arsenal.
That’s wonderful! Thank you for your comment.
You may want to try linseed or mineral oil. Most cooking oils can go rancid and that is why they dont use them on butcher blocks or other wood products.
Good to know, thank you.. That’s why I only make a small batch at a time and use it immediatly. Because I saved some and it went rank.
But I’ll stick with the olive oil. Just don’t make more than you need.
Jennifer recently posted..Homemade Honey Wheat Bread