Photo by Daniel Rothamel
Guest Post by Stacy from Delighting in the Days:
Most of us know that the cleaners lining the grocery shelves are full of toxins, harmful to our health, and bad for the environment. Chemicals such as chlorine bleach and ammonia may clean well, but they can also damage the nervous and respiratory systems (as noted in Make Your Place by Raleigh Briggs, page 46).
We do our best to stay away from these chemicals, but when it comes to killing germs or tough cleaning jobs, it can be tempting to give in and reach for the bleach (or other toxic cleaner). One place this often happens is the bathroom.
Let’s face it; the bathroom is one area that we want to keep as fresh as possible!
How can we clean the bathroom effectively without using chemicals?
Arm yourself with the right tools:
Ingredients such as vinegar, castile soap, baking soda, essential oils, and water will allow you to make all manner of non-toxic cleaners.
Tools such as a scrubby sponge, a decent toilet brush, and a microfiber cloth help get the jobs done when a little extra elbow grease is needed.
Cleaning the toilet
For daily cleaning/sanitizing, fill a spray bottle with vinegar and add a few drops of essential oil. I like to use lemon or tea tree; both have anti-bacterial properties and smell great. Use approximately 5 drops of essential oil per cup of vinegar. Spray on toilet seats and wipe.
When additional cleaning power is needed, add a tablespoon of castile soap to the vinegar and shake to blend.
For an extra thorough toilet cleaning: pour in 1/2 cup of baking soda and 10 drops of tea tree oil. Get the toilet brush ready and add 1/4 cup of vinegar to the bowl. As it fizzes, scrub the toilet.
Because of the reactive nature of this combination, it is not possible to make a big batch to save for future use. But you can pre-measure the baking soda into a container and add the essential oil (10 drops per 1/2 cup) and have that stored in the bathroom. Then you only need to add the vinegar each time.
Cleaning the bath and shower
Prevention is key to keeping the bath and shower clean.
Here are two things you can do a couple of times a week, right after taking a shower:
Spray the shower walls with vinegar to prevent mildew.
Keep a spray bottle filled with scented vinegar right in the shower stall to make this an easy job.
Use a squeegee to wipe down the walls.
You will be amazed at how much this cuts down on cleaning and scrubbing, especially if you have glass doors in the shower. We have a squeegee that suctions to the wall. That way it’s easy to reach (and right in front of my face to remind me!).
While prevention may be key to keeping the bathroom clean, it is still necessary to give the tub a thorough scrubbing once in a while. When that time comes, make your own Soft Scrub!
Photo by Stacy @ Delighting in the Days
Homemade Soft Scrub for Bath and Tile
This recipe is adapted from the recipe for Earth Paste in Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan (page243). It is quick and easy to put together and effectively cleans the bath (hooray). Make this in small batches because it can dry out and harden when stored. This recipe makes enough for two to four uses. Keep any remaining mixture in an air tight container.
Ingredients
3/4 cup baking soda (slightly heaped)
1/4 cup castile soap (I use Dr. Bronners Peppermint)
1 Tablespoon water
1 Tablespoon vinegar (*Now that I’ve learned you shouldn’t mix castile soap and vinegar, I would just omit the vinegar and make a paste with baking soda and castile soap.)
Method
In a bowl, combine the baking soda and castile soap. Add the water and stir with a fork.
Lastly, stir in the vinegar. The mixture will fizz a little. Stir to make a nice soft, paste-like, consistency. (This is important – the vinegar must go in last or else the scrub will be like sludge instead of a creamy paste.)
Scoop out the scrub with a sponge and start cleaning.
This scrub can also be used to clean the toilet.
The recipes in this post will enable you to clean the bathroom from top to bottom without using chemicals. The vinegar spray will also clean the mirror and door handles. Add soap to the vinegar mix, and it will get the counter top, sink, and walls clean. If you own a microfiber cloth, use it to clean the mirrors with water.
Emily has a recipe for homemade clorox wipes which are nice to have on hand for extra messy moments. You might also enjoy my favorite floor cleaner.
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What tips do you have for using non-toxic cleaners in the bathroom?
Stacy is wife to a preacher and mom to three busy children. She is passionate about healthy, natural living and loves to make anything and everything from scratch. Stacy writes about finding peace and joy at home, on her blog: Delighting in the Days.
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Thanks so much to Stacy for providing my very first guest post! I love these ideas for naturally cleaning the bathroom, it almost makes me want to go deep clean my bathroom right now! Almost. But when the time comes, I know I’ll be making the homemade soft scrub!
I’d love to see more of you! Please consider subscribing to e-mail updates, or in a reader, to be sure you don’t miss a single post. You can also connect with me on Twitter and Facebook!
Linked to: WFMW at We Are That Family
I’ve been ‘green cleaning’ my bathroom for the last couple years (yay for baking soda and vinegar!). I especially love the soft scrub recipe in this post. My son’s bathtub needed cleaning badly, but as I’m nine months pregnant, I wasn’t feeling up to my usual scrubbing with baking soda and water. I mixed up this tub scrub and it worked so well — not only did it lift the bathtub ring (ewwwww) like a charm, but it smelled nice, too. Thanks for the tips!
Yay Heather! I’m so glad you liked it!
I love to make my own as well. I’ve recently made bar soap and I switched to baking soda for washing my hair and ACV for the rinse.
That’s awesome DeDe. I would love to make bar soap some day!
We have been “green cleaning” for years – even before it was the thing to do. My mom just didn’t like using chemicals and when I started a home, I didn’t either. I have made all kinds of baking soda and vinegar cleaners but never a scrubing paste like this! I can’t wait to try
That’s great Marci! Now that I’ve been using green cleaners for several years, I can’t stand the smell of chemical cleaners anymore – they just smell so, well – chemically – you know! It seems like we should realize just from the smell that they are not good for us. I hope you enjoy these ideas for bathroom cleaning (as much as you can enjoy cleaning a bathroom!)
I found this from keeperofthehome and tried it today and love it! It smells so much better than the plain vinegar I usually use.
Thanks for the soft scrub recipe, I’ll have to try it!
Works great!
Awesome. Thanks
Okay, I just finished cleaning and my house smells soooo fresh. OMG, I am so happy b/c this really works. Plus, no headache
YOU ROCK!
Nice!!! It’s really very informative article, I really appreciate your thoughts.I obviously enjoying and I also bookmarked & i will visit again in future updates.
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I use the baking soda, and vinegar for my toilet as well, but have never thought about making this! Something else of your’s I’m gonna have to add to my list of cleaners to make!…lol
I love this!!! I just read your site/recipe and went and whipped some up, and i have the cleanest bathroom ever, and no fumes that make me gag!! I’m quite new to making my own cleaners, and I so wish i had started doing it long ago!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
I have used this recipe before, and it works wonders on showers, sinks, anywhere there is a build up of residue. Thanks for the article, well written!
I used the toilet bowl cleaner you mentioned. Ecstatic with it, it worked so well and smelled good even after I flushed it down. I was so excited to clean the toilet ( is that bad to say lol) I have a hard time doing and cleaning with chemical products because of being pregnant the smells immediately making me sick. I was so happy I found your blog and found alternatives.
Really? Are you guys so sure about this? I mean what about those stains on tiles and even on the toilet? And those stains that a soap and water leaves in the wall? I was just really curious for it’s not really easy to cast your time doing a not so effective remedy.
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That’s good to hear. Living life with no toxic is much better to really assure of the safety and health of the family.
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Excellent soft scrub recipe! We’ve been switching to natural, mostly castile soap-based cleaners, but my wife has been asking for a soft scrub option. She was extremely skeptical about the recipe, but I tested it out on our above the stove, greasy, stubborn microwave and presto! The soft scrub worked great! She is now sold
So glad it worked well for your Dan! And that your wife liked it too!
Love these ideas! I use vinegar as a clothes softener in my wash! It works very well…give it a few washes to get out all that residue left from chemical cleaners and the vinegar will replace it with natural softness!
Can you store this in a squeeze bottle and use for later, or do you have to make a new batch every time?
Never mind, I read the article again, and it hardens
I love this mix. I also use the peppermint castile soap, and I some extra drops of peppermint essential oil. I have enough to clean my full shower, tub, bathroom sink, kitchen sinks, and the pans under my stove top burners. That’s a lot of cleaning
My house smells so good afterwards.
I love the way it smells too, Liz! So fresh and clean! Thanks for stopping by!
~Emily
I finally tried the soft scrub today. OH. MY. Easiest bathroom cleaning ever (even though I’ve been on a month long tear at work and it was deadly in there). It got grime out of the floor grout, got the tub sparkling in minutes, the bathroom smells great, there’s no afterwiping to get grit up and I’M NOT AFRAID OF BATHING IN CHEMICALSAFTER CLEANING THE TUB!!!! Thank you!
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I’m curious as to why you cannot mix castile soap and vinegar. I use these ingredients all the time, so this is very important to me. Thanks for sharing!
Does it need to be the liquid castile soap or the bar castile soap?