[chelsea]

It is necessary to put the EO's in the various recipes? Does it do anything in regards to how well the product cleans, or is it just to mask the vinegar smell? I have some of the ingredients on-hand already (if I can use Seventh Generation dishwashing liquid for "detergent") except for the EO's.

They do both (mask vinegar smells AND do other stuff.) All essential oils have different purposes. For example, some are anti-bacterial, some are anti-fungal, some are anti-viral, etc...and most of them have multiple purposes. You'll notice Tea Tree Oil is in a lot of recipes...it is really good when cleaning because of all the action it takes against so many "bad" things (like germs, etc). And lavendar is great also but is more "gentle" and also has a very soft and beautiful scent. I'll let someone else explain the details but that is just a short (and probably not very good) explanation.