DIY Toilet Bowl Cleaner Gel – Simple and Natural

DIY clinging toilet bowl cleaner gel alternative is a natural way to clean a stained toilet.

This homemade soft scrub with baking soda and borax is just as effective as store-bought toilet cleaners, without having to using any harsh chemicals!

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What you need to make DIY toilet bowl cleaner gel

ingredients

• Distilled Water – Using distilled water will extend the shelf life of this cleaning gel.
• Baking Soda – Baking soda is a great natural cleaner. Its deodorizing and mildly abrasive traits help it cut through grime and tackle odors.
• Borax – Borax is a natural alkaline compound that is also abrasive making it a very effective cleaning agent.
• Castile Soap – Orange castile soap is my favorite for DIY cleaners since the citrus oil in it adds to it’s cleaning power. But you can use and type or castile soap you have on hand.
• Essential Oils (optional) – I used Thieves and Orange Essential Oils because of their cleaning power and they just smell AMAZING together!

Supplies

• Squirt Bottle – You can use any kind of squeeze bottle from used up ketchup, honey or other condiment container. I used an empty dish soap container for my toilet cleaning gel.

how to make DIY toilet bowl cleaner gel

Combine – Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl. Stir until the baking soda and borax are dissolved.

Funnel – Using a funnel, pour the mixture into an empty squeeze bottle. Shake well.

tips for success

To Use – Give the bottle a good shake before each use. Squirt a generous amount of cleaning gel under the rim of the toilet bowl. Using a toilet brush, scrub the solution around the walls of the bowl. Let it sit and soak at least 15 minutes, or until the toilet needs to be used next.

For Best Results – Pour a cup of white vinegar into the toilet water before squirting the cleaning gel around the rim.

To Store – This gel will last for 3 months if stored in an airtight container at room temperature out of direct sunlight.

Substitutions – You can leave out the borax and use extra baking soda if you prefer.

why you’ll like making your own toilet bowl cleaner

It’s all natural

Most commercial toilet bowl cleaners, if not all, contain chlorine bleach and other toxic chemicals. I have 8 kids, and I don’t want that worry in the back of my mind that there are products made with poisonous ingredients within their reach.

Making my own non toxic cleaning products that are safe for my babies and young children to touch and even ingest gives me so much peace of mind when I can’t watch them every minute!

Cheaper To Make Than Buy

Its way more affordable to make toilet cleaner from scratch than it is to buy them! The 3 ingredients you need to make this toilet bowl cleaner are really inexpensive.

Only 3 natural Ingredients

I really like not having to add extra cleaners to my shopping list. Most of the homemade cleaners I make call for the same few ingredients so all we have to do is have those things on hand to refill my cleaning supplies when they run out.

FAQ about homemade toilet bowl cleaner

Can I use vinegar or hydrogen peroxide in place of the water in homemade toilet cleaner?

Usually I love using vinegar in my DIY cleaning products because of it’s natural antibacterial properties.

But vinegar or hydrogen peroxide should NOT be combined in a solution along with baking soda.

Vinegar is acidic and baking soda is alkaline, when combined together, they can cancel each other out, making an ineffective cleaning solution.

If you combine hydrogen peroxide and baking soda in a squirt bottle, the bottle can actually explode, so don’t try that either!

You can use vinegar and baking soda together if you have the right ratio of ingredients. My fizzy toilet cleaning bombs use both, but a much higher amount of baking soda.

can i use another type of soap in place of castile soap?

I recommend using Castile Soap to make natural toilet cleaner (and so many other cleaning recipes), but if you don’t have any on hand, you can use Dawn dish soap or any other mild dish soap instead.

It’s worth getting a bottle of castile soap so you can use it to make my homemade face wash, baby wash and hardwood floor cleaner!

How often should I use homemade toilet bowl cleaner?

It’s best to clean your toilet at least once a week to prevent stains and hard water buildup and to keep up good hygiene in your bathroom.

I use homemade thieves cleaner to clean the rest of the outside of the toilet.

Your bathroom might need cleaning more or less often though, depending on how much use it gets.

how can i get rid of hard water stains in the toilet bowl?

If your toilet has a lot of hard water build up or hasn’t been cleaned in ages, you might need to start by using a scouring stick to deep clean the toilet bowl.

Homemade toilet cleaner will work great for regular cleaning after you get the build up taken care of the first time.

Using gloves, reach into the toilet bowl (I know, its not fun) and scrub at the hard water stains with your scouring stick till its all gone. Then go ahead and follow up with homemade toilet cleaning gel.

more bathroom Cleaning Tips and Tricks:

If you liked this recipe, I think you’ll really enjoy these other bathroom cleaning hacks and natural cleaning products on the blog!

• 5 Natural Ways To Clean Toilets
• How To Make Fizzy Toilet Bombs
• DIY Multi-Purpose Thieves Cleaner
• How To Clean And Organize A Small Bathroom
• How To Clean Bathroom Tile Grout

I hope you like using this DIY toilet cleaner gel! If you make it, I’d love for you to come back and leave a comment and rating so that I know how you like using it!

Pin these steps to try later. Tag @athomeontheprairie on Instagram to share what you’ve made with us!