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Homemade Toilet Cleaner

Here are 3 homemade toilet cleaner recipes that will help you ditch the chemicals and clean your toilet bowl and toilet tank, naturally.

Does Cleaning Toilets Gross You Out?

The cocktail of toxic chemicals in the commercial toilet bowl cleaners should gross you out even more. Further, the warnings on the bottles reveal the risks of using and storing these cleaners at home. To illustrate, go grab yours and read it. As a result, you will be more motivated to ditch it for these natural alternatives.

One of our missions at DIY Natural is to help you rid your house of chemical cleaners and dangerous toxins. For that reason, let's look at the ingredients of the blue commercial toilet bowl cleaners. Then, we will learn about the natural homemade toilet bowl cleaners and their ingredients.

Why Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner?

In fact, most commercial toilet bowl cleaners contain harsh chemicals that can pollute your home's environment.

Hydrochloric acid is an active ingredient in many toilet bowl cleaners. This corrosive chemical is extremely toxic. Further, it poses a risk to children, pets, and especially the person cleaning the toilets!

Finally, inhalation of hydrochloric acid fumes is harmful to the nose, throat, and respiratory tract. If it gets on your skin it's highly corrosive.[1]

Chlorine bleach is another harmful ingredient. Specifically, bleach is highly caustic, meaning it can burn, corrode, or destroy living tissue. In addition to burning your eyes, nose, and skin, it can easily aggravate asthma symptoms.

While bleach and hydrochloric acid definitely give germs and stains the 1-2 punch, it's not necessary to pollute your home and risk the potential health hazards when disinfecting your toilet. There's a reason you're not getting this message from large corporations though, they can't make any money if everyone starts cleaning their toilets with, say, vinegar. {gasp} Heaven forbid we forgo those blue concoctions that Big Business peddles as "the ONLY thing that can kill germs in our bathrooms."

Yeah right, we know better.

Natural Cleaners for Toilets

First of all, there are several natural ingredients you can use to formulate a homemade toilet bowl cleaner. Also, making your own allows you the freedom to use whichever ingredients you feel are safest for your family. Finally, the ingredients are readily available and very effective.

White Vinegar

You're probably bored of hearing all the hype on green-living websites about how wonderful vinegar is for natural cleaning. But I can't stop singing its praises. Vinegar is a mild acid. It disinfects, eliminates odors, and is extremely safe. (Find white vinegar here)

Borax

Contrary to inaccurate information on some websites, borax is NOT the same thing as boric acid (which is toxic). It is actually sodium tetraborate, and is only as toxic as regular table salt or baking soda, in very LARGE amounts. Borax is a great multi-purpose cleaner that whitens, deodorizes, and removes stains. (find borax powder here)

Lemon Juice or Citric Acid

Citric acid, also found in lemon juice, binds to minerals in the toilet bowl making them easier to eliminate. It may help diminish tough toilet stains left by hard water. (find citric acid here)

Essential Oils

Pure essential oils are some of the best secret weapons to use in DIY cleaners. Many of these plant-based oils boast antibacterial, antiviral, and even antifungal properties. Tea tree oil has been studied more than any other essential oil and has been found to kill most forms of bacteria when added to cleaners at a 0.5% – 1.0% concentration. (Read more about tea tree oil here.) Other essential oils that possess antibacterial properties, and are beneficial in bathroom cleaners are lavender, citrus oils, peppermint, rosemary, and eucalyptus, among others. (find 100% pure essential oils here)

Baking Soda

Baking soda is wonderful as a homemade toilet bowl cleaner. Specifically, it scours and deodorizes a toilet bowl naturally. It's worth noting that it doesn't possess any germ-fighting benefits. However, it will help keep your bowl free of debris, stains, and those ugly rings. (find baking soda here)

Homemade Toilet Cleaner Formulas

Take your pick from these natural, homemade toilet bowl cleaner recipes that we use and love.

Tea Tree Toilet Bowl Scrub

This deodorizing formula utilizes the antibacterial properties of tea tree oil to kill germs in your toilet bowl and on toilet surfaces.

½ cup baking soda
1 cup distilled white vinegar
½ teaspoon tea tree essential oil

Combine vinegar and essential oil in a small spray bottle. Spray vinegar mixture inside the bowl, and also on the toilet seat, lid, and handle. Allow the cleaner to sit for several minutes. Sprinkle baking soda inside the toilet bowl and scrub inside of the bowl with a toilet brush. Use a clean dry cloth to wipe vinegar solution off seat, lid, and handle.

Heavy Duty Toilet Formula

This toilet bowl formula can take care of nasty rings in your commode, or any other tough toilet cleaning. It leaves a sparkling bowl and eliminates stale toilet odors.

¾ cup borax
1 cup white vinegar
10 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops lemon essential oil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl or squirt bottle. Swish water around inside of the toilet bowl with a toilet brush, or simply flush to wet the inside of the bowl. Pour the entire mixture into the toilet bowl, and allow it to sit for several hours or overnight. Make sure family members do not use the toilet during this time. Scrub the bowl and flush the toilet to rinse.

Lazy Day Toilet Scrub

For no-fuss toilet cleaning, keep a spray bottle of vinegar and a shaker-top bottle of baking soda in your bathroom. When toilets need cleaning, spritz thoroughly with vinegar and allow to sit for several minutes. Sprinkle baking soda inside the bowl, scrub the inside of the bowl, and flush toilet. To clean the outside surfaces just spray with vinegar, let stand a few minutes, and wipe clean.

Now you know how easy it is to make homemade toilet cleaner that works!

Video for 3 Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaners

Natural Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner Recipes

You can adopt one of these easy recipes for cleaning your toilets. Or, you can experiment with the natural ingredients discussed in this article to make your own formula.

Are you trying to live a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle? Eliminating chemical cleaners from your home is a great place to start. We challenge you to start with a homemade toilet cleaner. Then, do one DIY cleaner a week until all your cleaners are natural and homemade.

Need help? We wrote a book that walks you through making all your own natural household cleaners. You can find it here.

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Sources

Hydrochloric Acid. National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database; CID=313. (Accessed Mar. 13, 2019.)

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