DIY Powder Toilet Bowl Cleaner

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Cleaning the toilet usually isn’t a favorite chore, but it’s one of those jobs that’s got to be done. And with this homemade fizzing toilet bowl cleaner the job seems to go just a little faster and easier too. This recipe is based on my previous recipe for fizzing toilet cleaning bombs and uses several of the same ingredients. However this version is “deconstructed” and left in its powder form without the fiddling of making it into little tablets.

homemade fizzing toilet bowl cleaner

How To Make Homemade Toilet Cleaning Powder

The two powdery ingredients used for this homemade toilet bowl cleaner are baking soda and citric acid. Both of these ingredients are helpful for cleaning, freshening, and deodorizing. We’ll also be adding a couple of essential oils that have helpful antibacterial properties too.

Ingredients for homemade toilet bowl cleaner

To get started, measure 1 cup of baking soda into a bowl. Then add your essential oils to the baking soda, pressing down with a spoon to make sure the little lumps that form when you add the essential oils are broken down and mixed in as well as possible. I like to add 10 drops of tea tree oil and 10 drops of Eucalyptus oil.

(By the way . . . I always keep a large box of baking soda around like you see in the picture above so I can make my own Homemade Laundry Powder!)

Then you’ll stir in a 1/4 cup of citric acid. This is the ingredient that makes this mixture fizz when it hits the water in the toilet bowl. This is also why we added our essential oils to just the baking soda in the first step to prevent any fizzing if the oils are added last. Citric acid can usually be found in grocery stores with the canning supplies, or you can check out the citric acid on Amazon.

Stirring ingredients to make homemade toilet bowl cleaner

Transfer your toilet bowl cleaning powder to a jar with a lid. I like to use a pint sized canning jar. A clever DIY idea for the lid is to use a repurposed lid from a container of parmesan cheese. This is a strategy I first wrote about 13 years ago when I discovered that lids from parmesan cheese containers fit on canning jars! They fit perfectly on the regular-size mouth jars (not the wide mouth), and the lids have two handy sides for either shaking or scooping out the contents of the jar. You never know when this little trick will come in handy!

And here’s a free pdf to print the label I used on my jar too: Printable Toilet Cleaner Label

using parmesan cheese container lids on mason jars

In Case Your Mixture Clumps . . .

At the time of this writing, this is still a new recipe for me and you might find, as I did, that your mixture hardens or clumps together in the first few days after mixing it together. So far, I’ve learned that it’s been pretty easy to just stir it and break it up again if this happens, and it doesn’t harden to the point where it can’t be re-stirred. I’ve made a note to myself to update this in a few months and report back if the clumping continues.

Using Your DIY Toilet Bowl Cleaner

To use your homemade toilet bowl cleaning powder, add 1 to 2 tablespoons to the toilet bowl and let it fizz. Then use your toilet brush to scrub things around a bit and flush. You can also let this mixture soak for 10 or 15 minutes before scrubbing. I find that the porcelain looks very clean and shiny after using this homemade cleaner!

Homemade fizzing toilet bowl cleaner

What About Septic Systems?

Concerning using this cleaner with a septic system – I found info both ways, some saying citric acid was OK and others such as this article, saying it can throw off the bacteria balance in your septic tank. If you want to be cautious and not use citric acid if you have a septic system, I would suggest substituting a 1/4 cup of borax instead. The mixture won’t fizz, but will still have frugal cleaning power.

DIY Powdered Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Stir together this simple DIY mixture and then enjoy the fizzing action in the toilet bowl that leaves the porcelain clean and shiny.
Prep Time5 minutes
Keyword: Homemade Cleaner
Yield: 20 tablespoons
Author: Beverly

Materials:

  • 1 cup baking soda
  • 1/4 cup citric acid (See Notes)
  • 10 drops tea tree essential oil
  • 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil

Instructions:

  • Measure the 1 cup of baking soda into a mixing bowl.
  • Add the essential oils to the baking soda, pressing down with the back side of your spoon to crush out any clumps formed by the oils and to make sure the essential oils are thoroughly mixed in.
  • Stir in the 1/4 cup of citric acid.
  • Transfer the mixture to a jar or other container with a lid. If you see that the mixture has hardened or clumped a bit after it sits for a few days, it can usually be stirred together again without too much difficulty.
  • To use for cleaning, add 1 to 2 tablespoons to your toilet bowl and let it fizz. Then use your toilet brush to scrub and swish things around, and then flush. You can also let this cleaner soak in the toilet bowl for 10 or 15 minutes before scrubbing too.

Notes:

Concerning using this cleaner with a septic system – I found info both ways, some saying citric acid was OK and others saying it can throw off the bacteria balance in your septic tank. If you want to be cautious and not use citric acid if you have a septic system, I would suggest substituting a 1/4 cup of borax instead. The mixture won’t fizz, but will still have frugal cleaning power.

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