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Today I am so excited to share with you the best homemade bathroom cleaner from the new book Chemistry Hacks for Home and Outdoor.
Although there are dozens and dozens of fantastic DIY solutions developed for this book, I wanted to share one with you straight out of the book. I am excited how many people have been enjoying the book, but if you haven’t purchased it yet, I hope you will enjoy this solution.
Readers have asked for awhile, how do I make my own bathroom cleaner that actually works?
The reason this is the best homemade bathroom cleaner is how effective and easy it is to make. When it comes to cleaning bathrooms, you want something that is powerful enough to cut through bathroom grime. At the same time, you need just the right amount of chemicals so it doesn’t damage your surfaces.
I will tell you I tried so many different combinations, amounts, and methods for this cleaner until I finally found one that was good. The key to this solution is the balance of acid, salt, and surfactant. Combing these in the right amount create a great cleaner for bathrooms.
Make sure to stay tuned after this recipe for some more details on these chemicals. You can also visit the resource page here to see every single household chemical used in this books.
Pin The Tutorial for the best homemade bathroom cleaner
Ingredients for homemade bathroom cleaner:
- ½ cup lemon infused vinegar
- 2 tbsp borax
- 1 tbsp blue Dawn® Dishwashing Liquid
- 2 cups warm water
Check out the resource page for details on chemicals used in these solutions.
Directions:
- Mix the warm water with the borax until dissolved. In a spray bottle, add in this borax water, vinegar, and soap. Give it a little shake.
- This works exceptionally well on ceramic showers, outside of toilets, sinks, bathroom counters, bathroom floors, and anything around the bathroom. Since it contains vinegar, do not use on stone, read why here.
Click Play and check out this quick video on our DIY bathroom cleaner
Chemist Tips for This Homemade Disinfectant Bathroom Cleaner
The best part about this homemade bathroom cleaner using vinegar, dawn, and borax is it is proven to work based on science. There is a reason each ingredient is added. This is why readers have a 100% success rate with this cleaner. Let’s check out how everything works together.
Lemon Infused Vinegar
The best part about our DIY Cleaners eBook is there aren’t any special ingredients really needed. It doesn’t rely on essential oils to create the recipe, although you can definitely add them in if desired. For this recipe, the pleasant scent is just made from infused vinegar. Infusion is actually a very simple chemical process. It will essentially remove scent (or taste like in extracts) from one substance to another. For infused vinegar, just fill a jar with white distilled vinegar, add in lemon PEELS, and allow to steep a few weeks.
The lemon peel is where the oils are, so this gets the most scent out of it.
Does the lemon effect the cleaning?
In this case, lemon is mainly for scent. It will make it slightly (very slightly) more acidic. You can definitely use regular vinegar if you don’t want to wait for infused vinegar and it will work just as well.
→IMPORTANT: Please read this tip if you want to use this recipe on NATURAL STONE:
This bathroom cleaner is amazing, but please do not use on natural stone. Vinegar cannot be used on natural stone. Visit this detailed link to learn more about proper vinegar use. To create the exact same recipe for natural stone, substitute the lemon infused vinegar for lemon infused rubbing alcohol.
Dishwashing Liquid
Dish soap, technically dishwashing liquid, is the ultimate home chemical surfactant. This repels or pushes away grime, oil, or soap scum. The reason for adding only 1 tablespoon is to create just the right texture, scent, without too much foaming. I tested out many different proportions and this one worked best. You will always find blue Dawn in our recipes. We have tested all types, and we have found Dawn to clean the best. Read more about that here.
Borax
I use many borax solutions in the ebook and explain it’s chemical history in depth, but basically it is a great cleaning addition. Most people are familiar with borax in laundry solutions, but it does well at cleaning many things. I love using it for bathroom uses since it can cut through many substances. Using borax with vinegar is a great combination since borax is alkaline, it keeps this solution from being too acidic. It won’t neutralize it completely since there is a small amount of borax. Just the right amount 🙂 We have a great post on Borax myths and uses, please read it here.
FAQS
If you seem to have trouble mixing this solution or unsure of where to use it, please read our common FAQs below.
What surfaces can I use this on?
Most typical bathroom surfaces excluding natural stones like marble or stone tile. Remember this important post on using vinegar around the home. Vinegar is acidic and can damage those type of surfaces over a long period of time.
So, what can I use on my natural stone surfaces?
I have a great stone cleaner in the book that I literally use on everything, but to make this one safe for those surfaces eliminate the vinegar. Add in another tablespoon of dish soap, keep the borax. Infuse the warm water with lemon peels like you would the vinegar. It won’t be as potent, but typically you won’t need anything as hard core for natural stones 🙂
You can also check out our natural stone/tile shower cleaner tutorial.
My borax isn’t dissolving well, what can I do?
Make sure you are using very warm water and stirring vigorously. It’s okay if it doesn’t all dissolve, but most of it will. It is a salt and mineral, so it does take a little bit to dissolve.
The borax seems to be clogging my nozzle, help!
One of the reasons the solution is created in small batches, is to make sure you don’t have to store it for long. Borax is a salt, so leaving it in the bottle for too long can make it clog. If you have leftover solution, I recommend storing it in a jar with a lid as opposed to the spray bottle. Always clean your spray nozzle after use to keep borax from collecting.
Can I add essential oils if I like them?
Absolutely! I just like creating solutions that don’t rely on the essential oils since most of my readers don’t want to invest in that. If you want to personalize the scent, feel free to add some drops of anything you like!
Can I double the recipe?
Yes! I like making it in small batches so it will stay fresh and eliminates the need for storing it long, but you can double it if you want a big batch! Just remember the tip about storing leftover solution. Store it in a jar as opposed to the spray bottle.
How long does it last?
Really as long as you want. Make sure to give it a good shake before use. To really reactivate it after a few weeks, reheat the solution on the stove in a good pan. Warming the soap always a good idea! This isn’t necessary, but it can make a great cleaner for really stuck on things. Again, please store in a jar if you plant to keep it around for more than a week or two.
Reviews:
So far, we’ve had a wonderful 100% success rate with readers.
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Alexis is an investigative chemist sharing her expertise in cleaning, skincare, gardening, and home hacks. She personally tests out products like the best skincare products or home products then shares not only the science behind how it works, but also her personal results. She is the mom of two living in Texas with her husband. Find her on Instagram for fantastic videos, tips, and behind the scenes.
Your homemade cleaning mixes work so good! I love that it doesn’t have any expensive oils or ingredients. I have all this stuff on hand too! Thank you for sharing such helpful cheap things to make at home that works!
Thank you! It is so nice to come up with things and get to share them! I hope it comes in handy 🙂
I like the sound of this
It is such a great cleaner!
Great cleaning recipe! What’s the shelf life of borax – i found an old box under the sink. I need to get lemons to make the infused vinegar. I can also use that for the microwave cleaner. I have an orange tree – maybe I’ll use orange peels for the vinegar. Great video – pretty fingernails! Always great ideas from you, Alexis!
Borax will last for years. The only thing that starts happening is the texture will clump overtime. Orange would be great! It has such a great scent too! Thanks Laurie 🙂
Sounds great cleaner
Is this safe with septic system !
Thank you! Yes it is. We have a septic system, it is very mild chemically so it won’t harm anything going down the drain 🙂
is it safe on marble and granite
Since this contains vinegar, it’s not a good idea for natural surfaces like marble or granite. We have a little more details about that on the FAQ link for surfaces 🙂
This might be a stupid question or maybe I missed it but do you just spray on and wipe down or do you need to rinse it off? Thank you
Not a stupid question! Very good one. This should be able to spray and wipe up. If it’s a really tough stain, you can leave it on for a few minutes scrub and rinse. Most bathroom like messes will do well just wiping it up with a towel. Let me know if you have other questions 🙂
Thank you!! 🙂
Will this work on fiberglass showers/tubs?
Yes we’ve used it on them before and it’s safe. I would definitely test a small area first before full use.
Professionals clean stone with a paste of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Works wonderfully on many materials.
Yes we talk about this in the book! Chemically it is very powerful! 🙂
Can you just microwave the cleaner to reheat it?
Yes you can warm it in a glass dish in microwave if you want to before use:)
I have an expensive wool area rug that has been urinated on by a dog. It stinks! I had Stanley steamer take it in to professionally clean. It still smells aweful. I even tried the laying in the snow on a cold day and stomping on it routine. Worked until the humidity came back with warm weather. Any ideas?
Urine is really hard to get rid of when it gets soaked into fabric. I have done a few different things that have worked for one of my carpets. First, I used my homemade carpet cleaner. The baking soda is an odor absorbent, so it draws up lingering moisture or scents that are deep inside the fabric. Using the vinegar on top of it will dilute the urine scent and neutralize anything still lingering there. Following up with hydrogen peroxide also helps odor as well as stains. That post has some more details you can look over.
Another thing I have done after using the carpet cleaner, is followed up with a mixture of alcohol, concentrated dish soap, and hot water. Mix it all up, dab all over the rug and rub upwards. Let that sit for awhile, the rinse it off. Let me know if this helps or if you need some more help. Urine is tough because it soaks down into the material, so professional cleaning solutions just clean the surface. You really need to draw it up, so hopefully the homemade cleaner will help 🙂
THanks Alexis, I will give that a try. One question though…it is an expensive patterned wool area rug, still okay with the hydrogen peroxide and hot water in the recipe?
Hydrogen peroxide is pretty mild, so it shouldn’t oxidize coloring on fabric. But, to be safe, test a very small area first to see how it works on the coloring. I have never seen it do anything to hinder fabric, but it is better to check 🙂
What do you recommend for getting rid of urine in a bathroom around the toltiet? New house and the previous family have a young boy.
Thanks
This solution will definitely work for urine on most surfaces. You can also spray some rubbing alcohol first, then some of this solution. Allow it to sit for awhile, then scrub off 🙂
I love this cleaner. I put a few drops of clove oil in the vinegar for scent. For some reason, mine is brown, but it works great – especially for the hairspray that lands on the floor…
I’m so glad you enjoy it Karen! It’s nice to change the scent too 🙂 have a great day!
Can the lemon infused alcohol be used instead of the lemon infused vinegar for the bathroom cleaner mixture? What strength (40, 70, 90) alcohol do you use when making your infused alcohol or does it make a difference?
I always use 91% alcohol. If you want to clean natural stone in the bathroom, you can swap out the alcohol for vinegar. If cleaning plastic, ceramic, or other bathroom surfaces, vinegar will be best to remove scum. I use alcohol for all natural stones though.
Thank you.
Haha,
Ok, I was cautious too, but IN 15 MINUTES, IT COMPLETELY REMOVED ALL OF THE HARD WATER AND SOAP SCUM FROM MY SHOWER DOORS. The doors were installed in the 1980’s, and I have tried everything to get the crud off of them. THIS STUFF IS AMAZING. Worked like a charm, very quickly, very little elbow grease- it’s a little like waxing a car. Also cleaned all the baked on crap on my oven door that the self cleaning cycle didn’t burn off. This stuff smells like toothpaste, with no harsh fumes or chemicals. I will use this product forever.
Awesome! It is a great product, I love using it
I have a septic tank that utilises worms inside to get rid of solids. I use vinegar down the toilet and borax for hard cleaning. Never had my worms die on me yet so must be really eco-friendly. This is just an awesome website for getting back to basics. I have tried so many of the reciepes with almost 100% success. The errors are all mine though when I tried to shortcut things. Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much for sharing! This is definitely eco friendly 🙂 and works so good on bathroom stains!!
Hi, will Castile soap work on place of the dawn? Thank you for the recipe.
It doesn’t work as well, but you can definitely substitute it!
Will Dr. Bronner”s Sal-Suds work? “Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds Liquid Cleaner is not a soap but instead is a concentrated hard-surface all-purpose cleaner”.
Are you wanting to use that in place of the soap on this? The ingredients in Sals Suds would replace the borax and soap in this solution, but I haven’t tried it before.
Would Apple cider vinegar work well here? We have a butt ton of that at my house because I use it in my homemade hair rinse. Thanks!
You can use it for cleaning, it has similar acidity. The only reason I don’t like to use it in cleaning is the coloring it has. It can leave residue on white…but in small amounts it should be okay.
Hi! I’m curious with one thing: The vinegar don’t cut the effect of the soap? Thinking at the pH of both.
No it doesn’t 🙂
Can you describe how many lemon peels are needed to make the lemon infused alcohol or vinegar per size of jar? I could not find this anywhere and somehow I would think it would matter
Hi Kim. This post is linked for you 🙂 Here is the direct link to the tutorial for making the lemon alcohol. It is very easy, and it doesn’t really matter how much. The same method can be used for vinegar
What about the dangers of using borax?
You can read the science behind borax on this post: https://chemistrycachet.com/unique-ways-to-clean-with-borax/
Can I substitute the Dawn soap for Castile soap?
You can substitute Castile soap, although it doesn’t work as effectively. After testing out dozens of soaps, Dawn always seems to work the best. But any soap can be used for this
Will your homemade dish detergent work instead of Dawn? So glad I found your site! Thanks for caring enough to share.
We have tested the Dawn to work best at cleaning, but you are welcome to substitute anything you have. Just keep in mind it will not be as effective at removing hardwater or soap scum.
Hi, I’ve used this cleaner for all the plastic parts and taps. It worked like a charm. Thanks.
It didn’t spoil the black colour ceramic tiles thought.
Now I have instaled a shower glass partition (not acrylic) which has accumulated a lot of water marks by now. I would like to know if this can Ben used on glass too? Or will it leave porous marks like on the ceramic tiles?
I don’t recommend it on glass because it can leave streaks. If you have our eBook, I would recommend the all-purpose cleaner on page 13. It is great for glass! If you don’t have the eBook, let me know and i can send you the recipe
Firstly, I want to thank you for putting all this great information out there. I purchased your Ebook a while ago and have been loving all the DIY recipes I tried so far! I really like how everything is with easy to find ingredients and not a shopping list to pay a lot of money for. My question is, can I substitute the vinegar in this recipe for citric acid, since they are both acids? And if so, what ratio should I be using?
You can just eliminate the lemon infused vinegar and use regular vinegar 🙂 The lemon infusion is not like citric acid, but gives a unique shine. This recipe will work just fine without it though!
I have a brand new handicapped accessible shower for my husband. It is tiled in large
24×48 porcelain tiles with grout. My question is are any of these homemade cleaners bad for grout?
For the grout, swap the vinegar for the rubbing alcohol. Although this recipe is very mild, it is best not to use vinegar on grout 🙂 But rubbing alcohol is fantastic for all surfaces. Hope this helps!
I have some citrus essential oils. Can I use them instead of infusing the vinegar (or alcohol) with fruit peels? Then I wouldn’t have to wait for them to infuse and I could use the oils I already have.
HMMM, I just read your post “WHY LEMON INFUSED RUBBING ALCOHOL IS A POWERFUL CLEANER” and you already answered my question.
…”Readers always ask if they can substitute lemon essential oil instead of lemon infused rubbing alcohol. The short answer is not really. You are welcome to use it in addition to the infused rubbing alcohol, but it can’t replace it.”
It won’t have the same impact using the essential oil, but you can use it for scent!! 🙂
Thanks for this. What can I use instead of Borax? It’s hard to get where I live.
You can just eliminate it 🙂
My bathroom counters are granite – you say to swap the vinegar for alcohol in that case. But is it safe to mix alcohol with the borax in this cleaner?
Yes, it is safe 🙂
Although, I would recommend using our all-purpose cleaner for countertops (dawn, lemon infused alcohol, water)
You, rather specifically, mention that this cleaner is good for around the outside of the toilet. Is there a different cleaner that you use for the toilet bowl itself?
I use this cleaner inside the toilet also.
I use cleaning vinegar (6% acidity). Is that safe to combine with the Borax or would it be better to use the regular 5%? Or am I just splitting hairs, lol?
You can use 6% acidity in this recipe as it is diluted 🙂