I’ve personally tried and tested these three different methods for making homemade toilet bowl cleaner.
Creating natural toilet cleaners with these recipes is simple; you’ve probably heard of them before.
These homemade toilet bowl cleaner methods are incredibly easy, eco-friendly, and cost-effective, using just a few household ingredients. Plus, they sanitize your toilet effectively.
Whether you’re a beginner or a cleaning enthusiast, making your own DIY toilet bowl cleaner is both fun and effective.
In this article, I’ll focus on my practical experience and share which one worked best for me. You can try all three and choose the one that suits you best.
Let’s get started!
Benefits of Natural Toilet Cleaner
Natural toilet cleaners offer hundreds of benefits, and DIY cleaning projects are fun and worthwhile.
Making your own cleaner at home enhances your cleaning expertise.
Plus, it’s natural, eco-friendly, customizable, and less hazardous to your family’s health.
That’s why many people now prefer using a natural cleaner for toilet bowl hygiene instead of harsh commercial products.
You can control the scent and strength, and you can even make it scent-free if anyone in your family is allergic to perfumes.
Whether you prefer a mild or strong cleaner, it’s entirely up to you. You can easily adjust the amount of ingredients to suit your needs.
Best of all, it saves money! Most ingredients are inexpensive and likely already in your kitchen.
These recipes also work as an excellent base for a homemade bathroom deep cleaner, covering multiple surfaces beyond the toilet bowl.
Top 3 Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaners
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Toilet Cleaning Bombs with Citrus and Baking Soda (Tablets)
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Vinegar and Baking Soda Cleaner (Most Common)
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Liquid Toilet Cleaner with Castile Soap and Baking Soda
How do the Natural Ingredients Work?
Baking soda is the most common cleaning product found at home. It is medium abrasive and good at scrubbing. A baking soda toilet cleaner is especially useful for tackling stains and odors in an all-natural way. It helps remove stains from the toilet. Also, it removes any unpleasant odors coming from the toilet.
Citric acid or fresh lemon juice works best to remove any hard stains in the toilet bowl.
Hydrogen peroxide is good for whitening the bowl and provides a shiny look. It also works as a strong disinfectant.
Vinegar is an acid and works as a natural disinfectant for bacterial growth and germs. It removes any mineral deposits and grime set in the toilet bowl.
Castile soap (made from vegetable oil) works with water and helps remove dirt, stains, grease, and grime.
Essential oils are natural perfumes. They can be found in a wide variety, such as different flowers, spices, etc. They also work as a disinfectant for the toilet.
In the recipes for natural toilet cleaners, they work well together to clean the toilet bowl, providing a refreshing smell, a shiny look, and sanitation.
Remember, focusing only on toilet cleaning isn’t the best way to tackle your chores; along with that, the house must be kept clean to prevent germs from spreading to other rooms.
Read more: House cleanliness routine
How to Make Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner at Home?
Here are the top three methods to make natural toilet bowl cleaners at home using common household ingredients.
All three are simple to make, easy to store, and effective to use.
1. Toilet Cleaning Bombs (Citrus and Baking Soda)
I found it one of the best DIY cleaning projects for a quick, effortless toilet cleaning with a refreshing lemon scent.
They’re especially great for light cleaning in between the regular or deep cleaning sessions.
It requires only 10 minutes to make!
Ingredients:
- Baking soda
- Citric acid powder / fresh lemon juice (if the powder is not available)
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Essential oil (your choice of scent: lemon, ginger, cinnamon, clove, peppermint, lavender, or a blend of two)
- Silicone ice cube tray (Not the traditional one)
- Airtight glass jar
How to Make:
Step 1: In a bowl, mix 1 cup of baking soda and 1/4 cup of citric acid powder. Combine them thoroughly. Make sure there are no baking soda clumps left.
Step 2: In another small pot or bowl, combine 1/2 teaspoon of plain white vinegar, 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide, and 80 (or blended: 40+40 of two) drops of essential oil.
I love the flavor of spices as I find those more refreshing, and I dislike tea tree oil as I find it rough! Your choice may vary.
Step 3: Mix the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide slowly into the baking soda and citric acid mixture. Do not hurry, premature fizzing of reactions may cause your project to fail.
Step 4: Fill silicone ice cube trays with the mixture, and set them firmly inside the cube. Let them sit overnight or for at least 6-8 hours at normal room temperature.
Step 5: Carefully pop them out after they are completely dried and store them in a jar with an airtight lid.
How to Use:
Use as needed.
Drop one/two tablets into the toilet bowl. It will fizz, loosening stains, grime, etc. Once the fizzing is complete, scrub with a toilet brush and flush.
Or, just drop one every time you use the toilet, let it fizz and flush.
As simple as that!
How to Store:
You can store the tablets on the toilet counter, but make sure the jar’s lid is airtight.
A 3-month period is a good guideline for effectiveness. After this time, they may not work as well as they did initially.
Pros:
- Easy for quick use and sanitization compared to other methods.
- Anyone can use it, especially boys! It’s easy for them to clean the toilet after use, which is great since boys typically dislike cleaning toilets.
- The blocks are visually appealing and easy to store.
- Good for maintaining a healthy toilet environment.
Cons:
- You cannot use it immediately after making it, as you need to let it sit for at least 6 hours after completing the process.
- If you don’t have a commercial cleaner at home and need to make it for immediate use, this method won’t be suitable.
Tips:
Silicone ice cube trays work best, as they help prevent the blocks from breaking when you remove them from the trays.
2. Vinegar and Baking Soda Cleaner (Most Common)
With/without Citric Acid
Ingredients:
- Baking soda
- Citric acid (optional)
- Plain/distilled white vinegar
- Essential oils (optional)
- Spray bottle (1 pc)
- Jar with an airtight lid (1 pc)
How to Make:
Step 1: Mix 1 cup of baking soda and 1/4 cup of citric acid powder in a bowl. Add 10-15 drops of your favorite essential oil to the perfume. Combine them nicely and store them in a glass jar with an airtight lid.
You can avoid using citric acid or essential oil if you don’t want to! You can simply store the baking soda in a jar.
Step 2: Pour vinegar into a spray bottle.
20% concentrated vinegar works best; if not available, you can use the regular one with 5% concentration with an increased amount while you spray this in the toilet.
Step 3: Keep the jar of baking soda and the spray bottle in one place, but of course, separately.
You will need both of them at a time when cleaning the toilet bowl.
Never mix baking soda and vinegar while storing them. One is alkaline, and the other is acidic, so if you combine them, they lose their cleaning power and fail to work.
You will use and mix them in the toilet bowl while cleaning.
How to Use:
Flush the toilet.
Add a few scoops of the baking soda mixture to the bowl.
Spray vinegar from the spray bottle throughout the toilet bowl, including under the rim. Vinegar and baking soda will react and fizz. Let them sit for a few minutes.
Scrub the toilet thoroughly with a brush. Let the rest of the mixture sit for 10 minutes.
Flush again.
Pros:
This is the simplest homemade toilet cleaner, as you can make your cleaning product with just two natural ingredients: baking soda and vinegar.
This recipe is best for removing odors and light stains.
Cons:
You must carry two jars or one jar and one spray bottle when cleaning the toilet bowl.
Tips:
For the liquid ingredients, if you use more than one, like essential oil and vinegar, shake the mixture before use.
If you use 20% concentrated vinegar, wear safety goggles and gloves to avoid eye and skin irritation.
Be cautious when using essential oils, as some people are allergic to their aromas. Additionally, essential oils are poisonous if ingested. You can skip this ingredient if necessary.
3. Liquid Toilet Cleaner (Castile Soap and Baking Soda)
Ingredients:
- Distilled water (not tap water)
- Castile Soap: A general-purpose soap made from vegetable oils
- Baking soda
- baking soda
- Essential Oils (Optional)
- 1 Push/Squeeze bottle: The mixture will be thick after mixing the ingredients, so it’s important to get a push bottle for storage, not a spray bottle.
How to Make:
Step-1: In a squeeze or push bottle, add 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of liquid castile soap, and 15-30 drops of essential oil.
Step-2: Add 1/2 cup of baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) to the liquid mixture.
Step-3: Shake vigorously to combine the ingredients well.
It is now ready to use to clean your toilet.
How to Use:
Apply the natural cleaner to the entire toilet bowl, including under the rim.
Scrub thoroughly with a toilet brush.
Flush it.
All done, the toilet should smell clean and refreshing.
How to Store:
You can keep it in your cleaning cabinet for up to 1 month.
Cons:
The stuff doesn’t have disinfectant properties. So, to disinfect the toilet, vinegar or hydrogen peroxide should be sprayed separately.
Tips:
Never add hydrogen peroxide to this mixture; It can burst inside the bottle.
Do not add vinegar or lemon juice to castile soap. Then, it will not work in its way.
Newsletter Form
Best Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner (My Opinion)
I have completed all of these DIY cleaning projects at home. All are safe and natural to use.
However, I love the first recipe, Toilet Cleaning Bombs, the most because:
- It’s really fun, and it feels like we’re actually making something.
- Easy to store, beautiful to display on the toilet counter in a glass jar, and convenient to use!
- I can even get everyone to use it, like my husband! He doesn’t mind when I make him use it after every time he uses the toilet.
- I always love having a fresh smell in the bathroom, and this helps the most.
So, you can share your opinion with us too! How do you feel about your cleaning DIY projects? What is fun, and what is stress? Let us join with your thoughts. To get the absolute best results, you’ll want to pair these recipes with the essential deep cleaning tools found in every organizer’s supply closet.
Conclusion
Using a homemade toilet bowl cleaner is one of the easiest and best decisions for your home, your budget, and our planet. You don’t need any harmful or toxic chemicals to keep your bathroom sparkling, germ-free, and fragrant. With simple ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, and castile soap, you can control the intensity and scent of your cleaner, while also keeping your family safe from harmful fumes.
While each of these three natural methods is incredibly effective, my favorite is the ‘toilet cleaning bomb’ (tablet). It turns a boring task like cleaning the toilet into a fun experience, and it’s easy to store in a glass jar on the counter. Best of all, it’s so easy to use that even my husband doesn’t hesitate to drop a tablet into the commode after using the toilet. And if you want to scrub like a regular liquid, the Castile soap method is great, and if you want to do it on the cheap, there’s the ever-popular combination of vinegar and baking soda.
Now it’s your turn to try them out. You can try all three methods to see which one fits your daily routine best, or you can start with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. The best part is that a great DIY bathroom cleaner recipe isn’t just for the toilet; it can also leave your sinks, tiles, and countertops sparkling clean without any harsh chemicals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can baking soda and vinegar be mixed together and stored in a jar?
A. No, never. Vinegar is an acid, and baking soda is alkaline. When these two ingredients are mixed together, a chemical reaction occurs and foam is formed, which then turns into plain water, which has no cleaning power. Therefore, these two ingredients should be kept separate and used directly in the toilet bowl.
Q. How long do toilet cleaning bombs or tablets last?
A. When stored in an airtight (air-tight) glass jar or jar, these cleaning bombs will last and remain effective for about 3 months. After 3 months, their effectiveness or foaming ability may decrease slightly.
Q. Can vinegar or hydrogen peroxide be mixed with liquid castile soap?
A. Absolutely not. Mixing vinegar or lemon juice with castile soap can cause the soap to break and form a sticky white layer. Mixing hydrogen peroxide with castile soap can cause the bottle to explode due to gas formation inside the bottle. So, don’t mix them together.
Q. Can a liquid cleaner made with castile soap kill germs?
A. Castile soap is great for removing dirt, stains, and grease from toilets, but it is not a disinfectant or disinfectant on its own. If you want to completely disinfect your toilet, you will need to spray vinegar or hydrogen peroxide separately.
Q. What precautions should you take when using 20% concentrated (strong) vinegar?
A. Regular vinegar on the market contains only 5% acid, which is quite safe. But if you use strong or 20% concentrated vinegar, be sure to wear gloves and safety glasses. This is because this strong vinegar can cause severe burns if it comes into direct contact with the skin or eyes.
Q. Are these ingredients completely safe for my family’s health?
A. Yes, these ingredients are much safer and more environmentally friendly than commercial chemicals. However, keep in mind that some people may be allergic to the strong scent of essential oils or fragrance oils, and this should not be forgotten. If someone in your family has a problem with fragrances, you can make these cleaners without any essential oils.
Q. Why is it better to use Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner than Commercial Chemicals?
A. Using a natural Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner can save you a lot of money, as its main ingredients (such as baking soda and vinegar) are very cheap and are available in our kitchen. Unlike commercial cleaners, it does not have any toxic fumes or strong odors, making it completely safe for both your family’s health and the environment. Moreover, you can also control the scent and intensity of the cleaner to your liking.
