Baking Soda + White Vinegar To Clean And Remove Stains
Combining these two in your toilet removes stains, germs, and odors in minutes with minimal effort and zero toxicity. Here's how to use baking soda and white vinegar as a natural substitute for toilet bowl cleaner.
You can clean toilet stains with a toilet brush, baking soda, and white vinegar. Household cleaning ingredients like Borax or a wet pumice stone can also scrub away tough mineral stains.
For extra-stubborn clogs, you can let the fizz mixture sit overnight or combine this method with plunging. If your toilet remains clogged or continues to get clogged, this may be an indication of plumbing problems such as mineral buildup or pressure issues.
Vinegar will not damage your toilet in any way if it's left in your toilet overnight. Regardless of your toilet's material, the vinegar is not strong enough to damage the toilet or the toilet's plumbing. So, you can leave the vinegar in your toilets overnight without worry.
Add 1/2 cup vinegar to the toilet bowl, let stand a few minutes, brush, and flush. If you have hard water, let the vinegar sit for an hour, and you may have to do some light scrubbing. To remove stains, add 1/2 cup borax to the water, swish it around, and let it soak overnight.
To get your stained toilet sparkling clean and smelling fresh, sprinkle baking soda around the inside of the toilet and put a cup of white vinegar into the water. The two react as you scrub with a toilet brush, removing stains and any whiffy smells.
"The baking soda removes any gunky build-up, the salt is a natural abrasive for scrubbing, and the oxygen bleach cleans and disinfects," she says. Smallin Kuper prefers to pour one cup of baking soda and one cup of distilled white vinegar directly into the toilet bowl for similar sanitized-and-sparkling results.
Mix vinegar and baking soda for regular cleaning.
These two common household items are not only useful in the kitchen but also make excellent natural cleaners. By thoroughly sprinkling baking soda into your toilet bowl, then pouring a small amount of vinegar over it, you can make a cleaning paste that eliminates grime.
Daily: Flush your toilet every day (even if it's not in use) to discourage the growth of bacteria. Weekly: Deep-clean your toilet once a week or biweekly—this includes the toilet bowl, exterior and toilet seat. Yearly: Clean your toilet tank twice a year.
Leaving bleach in a toilet overnight is fine, but you shouldn't leave it any longer, or else it might corrode your toilet. If you do decide to leave it in the bowl overnight, let other members of your household know so that they don't use the toilet and accidentally mix the bleach with ammonia from urine.
To safely and inexpensively clean your toilet bowls, pour a generous glug of vinegar, followed by a heavy sprinkling of baking soda, into the bowl. While the mixture is bubbling up, scrub the bowl (get under the rim, too). Let it soak for 30 minutes and flush. That's it.
"The biggest don't when it comes to toilet tanks is bleach—do not use bleach or products containing bleach inside the tank, as it can corrode the internal parts of your toilet. If you are aiming to remove tough stains from the tank, I also recommend white vinegar diluted with water."
Do You Have to Rinse after Cleaning with Vinegar? Rinsing is not necessary! If you're simply using a vinegar and water solution to wipe and disinfect, you won't need to rinse. However, if there's also plenty of dirt and grime you're wiping away, you may also want to rinse with some extra water.
Although mixing vinegar and baking soda is not considered dangerous, you should still avoid mixing these in a container. Vinegar is acidic and basic soda is basic, so the by-products are sodium acetate, carbon dioxide, and water that are not toxic.
First, make "flush" a family rule. Also, make a simple routine part of your weekly cleaning: Sprinkle the toilet with cup of baking soda. Let it sit for 30 minutes, then spray or squirt with vinegar (a mild acid) to moisten. Scrub with a bowl brush and flush away [source: Niagara County].
Clean the toilet bowl
The fizzy drink can actually remove hard-to-clean stains on the inside of a toilet bowl. You can either pour cola directly onto the stains themselves or cover the entire inside of the bowl by putting cola into a spray bottle and spraying on a light coating.
Leaving those products in water overnight can also release fumes into your bathroom. The aforementioned baking soda and vinegar is a safer alternative for keeping your toilet bowl sparkling. You can add them to the toilet bowl at the end of the night for a good, cleansing soak until morning.