It may be the one thing in your house that everyone absolutely needs, absolutely uses every day and absolutely hates to clean — the toilet. And since the business that takes place on it can be nasty, you always want to do the best job sanitizing and disinfecting, you resort to heavy duty cleaners and chemicals to get the job done. But you don’t have to.
I’ve got two words for you — baking soda and vinegar. Is it really that easy? Yes, it is! Baking soda cleans, deodorizes, softens water and scours surfaces. Vinegar cuts grease, removes mildew, odours, some stains and wax build-up. Put them together, you have a dynamite team of a cleaner that make your toilet sparkle and shine!
You have the cleaner but are you using the best method to clean? Remember, the toilet bowl has water in it and you can’t really get in there with your brand new green cleaning solution so what do you do?
Here is a simple way to remove the water in the toilet bowl without bailing it out like a sinking ship. You’ll need one cup baking soda, one cup white vinegar and of course, a toilet brush.
- Turn the shutoff valve found under the toilet clockwise until it will no longer turn — the toilet’s water now is shut off.
- Flush the toilet and continue to flush, until the bowl no longer fills.
- Sprinkle 1 cup of baking soda all around the inside of the bowl, then pour white distilled vinegar into the toilet — there will be some bubbling reaction which is natural so don’t freak out.
- When the bubbling has subsided, scrub the toilet with a toilet brush. Leave the vinegar and baking soda in the toilet for a few hours or even overnight.
- Scrub the toilet one more time. Turn the shutoff valve back on, and flush the toilet.
You have now successfully cleaned your toilet without harmful chemicals or expensive cleaners!