Do It Yourself Foaming Toilet Cleaner!

Ok. First off, you’re not going to see many pictures in this post because….well, EWW! I can’t stand looking at my toilet so I’m certainly not going to put all of you through that torture. You’re welcome! 😉

Anyway, there are a few reasons that you’re going to love today’s DIY; first, is it’s CHEAP, second, it’s quick, and third is it’s natural!

Here’s what you’re going to need:

Baking soda and distilled vinegar

If you’ve seen our homemade drain cleaner, you already know how awesome vinegar and baking soda clean your sink pipes so it’s not surprising that the SAME ingredients can do wonders cleaning a toilet!

The baking soda will clean and deodorize and the vinegar helps dissolve those nasty mineral stains we get around the waterline all while disinfecting the bowl. Awesome!!!

And, let’s think back to 5th-grade science class. What happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda? IT FOAMS!! Whoohoo!!

Here’s what you’re going to do:

PS: Don’t hesitate to get your kids involved in this! It actually makes toilet cleaning FUN! My daughter loved pouring the vinegar in and watching it foam up.

Step 1: Add 1 cup of baking soda to your toilet bowl:

Pouring baking soda into toilet

Step 2: Pour 3 cups of vinegar into the bowl after the baking soda:

Pouring distilled vinegar into toilet

Right when you pour the vinegar in, the mixture will begin to foam. The foam will come close to the rim of your bowl, but it will start to disappear pretty quickly too.

Tip: Pour the vinegar in very fast to get a strong, quick, high rising foam. If you pour slowly, then it foams too slowly.

Step 3: Let your mixture sit for a minimum of 30 minutes:

Foaming toilet

The longer you let it sit, the better the results will be. After you’ve waited for at least 30-minutes, scrub your toilet as you would with store-bought toilet cleaner.

Conclusion

That’s all there is to it! It’s almost too simple. Now you know how to clean your toilet for pennies while getting the same cleaning and disinfecting ability as you would get from the store-bought stuff!

If you have any baking soda and vinegar left over after cleaning your toilets, you can make a paste and clean other areas of your toilet and bathroom with it. It works great as a urine deodorizer!

Thanks for reading! I hope this post brings some savings to your pocket and some sparkles to your toilet!

More Frugal DIY Cleaning Ideas:

Do It Yourself Foaming Toilet Cleaner!

Ingredients

  • Baking Soda
  • White Distilled Vinegar

Instructions

  1. Add 1 cup of baking soda to your toilet bowl.
  2. Pour 3 cups of vinegar into the bowl after the baking soda. The foam will come close to the rim of your bowl.
  3. Let your mixture sit for a minimum of 30 minutes. The longer you let it sit, the better the results will be.
  4. Scrub your toilet as you would with store bought toilet cleaner.
Types: Cleaning, Family
Categories: Home, Inside The House, #StayHome

Comments

    • I tried this. Scrubbed with a toilet brush first. After foaming there was much baking soda in the bottom of the bowl. So I poured in another 1/2 c. vinegar, then another 1/2 c. Let it sit for 2 hours. The process didn’t do ANYTHING . Toilet just as cruddy as before.

      • Didn’t work for me. No matter how much vinegar I poured in, it foamed very quickly but never got to the rim. This is not going to help.

        • Sorry to hear it didn’t work great for you!

          • I don’t find 3 cups vinegar and 1 cup baking soda every time you clean your toilet all that economical. Considering the product advertised uses 1 teaspoon and is already mixed. It is supposed to last a year but even less, it’s still practical. However I will say having your recipe allows us to clean anytime because we keep those things on hand all the time. Thanks for sharing

        • Just buy a pumice stick at Lowe,s or Home Depot. Use your toilet brush and push water down, then scrub the ring with the pumps stick. You may need to use the pumice stick more than once.

          • We have a major issue with staining on our Kohler bowl. I called Kohler and they suggested a paste of Bar Keepers Friend which worked. You have to be patient and let it work. Pumice stones WILL damage your bowl if you are not extremely careful. My aunt used BKF for everything; I should have listened

            I used baking soda and vinegar regularly in my cleaning routine and it leaves everything smelling fresh after the vinegar dissipates. Don’t disregard this as a safe cleaner

      • I like the science class reference. Here’s more cool science. When you add baking soda (a base) to vinegar (an acid) they react causing an off-gas of carbon dioxide producing the cool foam. That reaction neutralizes the acid in the vinegar. You want the acid…that’s what attacks the mineral build up, etc.
        You’re better off using dish soap and vinegar and a little elbow grease. The soap will foam with agitation and will help the vinegar cling. You an also add Lemmon juice (another acid source) to up the acidic value/scent. Reduce the water in the toilet bowl prior to starting and replace with vinegar. Scrub a little, wait 5 min; scrub more and repeat until buildup has been eliminated.

      • Vinegar is an acid and baking soda is basic. When you mix them together you get water with a little sodium acetate, but mostly water. That is why this combination does not work.

    • can this be safe for septic tank?

  • just what i needed to know to clean my toilet

    • even cheaper and far more effective: get a neck squeeze bottle fill it with BLEACH and squirt all around under the rim, let set for ?? time and you will be so impressed with the results .

  • Doesthe foam get up to the water jacket? (The holes under the rim)

    I’ve used a tiny bit of bleach with water in the fill tube in the tank to help with those icky holes. Vinegar and baking soda better there too?

    • I’d say it’s worth a try! It may depend on how much water is in your bowl (if it foams high enough to get to those yucky holes). If you try it out, please come and share how it goes! Thanks Beth!

      • 1. the trick is to not pour the baking soda directly into the water. pour it into the front of the bowl so some of it is still dry when you pour the vinegar on it.

        2. put about 5 drops of Dawn in the water first.

    • need to turn off the water inlet valve and flush to empty the tank. Then use a plunger to help push down demanding water in bowl. Don’t have to get it ALL some will remain. Then add your stuff. After thee 30 min or so may want to use the scrubber brush now, then turn water back on and let fill, flush a few times. Keep the plunger handy in case the baking soda becomes restrictive.

  • It immediately drained right out of the bowl, which (now that it’s happened) I remember always happens if you pour water in…it flushes it. What a total waste.

    • Try this. Drain your water first with the valve turned to off so it doesn’t refill. Then pour vinegar in, but not forced. Your bowl will fill. Only a strong pouring force will make it go down in an empty bowl.

  • It did little to nothing to clean my toilet.

  • I got the water down some and it worked fine for me. It loosened the crud enough that I just hit it with a brush and all was good. No scrubbing or odor.

  • I might add that I have an ostomy so the bowl can get some what cruddy.

  • I like the science class reference. Here’s more cool science. When you add baking soda (a base) to vinegar (an acid) they react causing an off-gas of carbon dioxide producing the cool foam. That reaction neutralizes the acid in the vinegar. You want the acid…that’s what attacks the mineral build up, etc.
    You’re better off using dish soap and vinegar and a little elbow grease. The soap will foam with agitation and will help the vinegar cling. You an also add Lemmon juice (another acid source) to up the acidic value/scent. Reduce the water in the toilet bowl prior to starting and replace with vinegar. Scrub a little, wait 5 min; scrub more and repeat until buildup has been eliminated.

  • To reduce the water in your toilet, pour a 2 gal bucket of water into the toilet with a quick, fast pour. It will flush all the water down except a small amount in the very bottom. This has worked EVERY time for me for over 50 years.

  • We have a septic tank and the toilets have a limit to how much water can go in, so three cups of vinegar in one whoosh and the whole lot goes down into the septic tank leaving the toilet empty. I put baking soda again and gently added some vinegar and again it was whooshed away. I will have to stick to standard use of toilet cleaners suitable for septic tanks, which simply do not work either. The toilets are getting near to 20 years old and we are not replacing them. At least you have saved me spending my money on a cleaner that would not work either.

  • I have not tried this yet but I heard if you soak a cloth in vinegar then drape it over the bowl stained area and let it sit over night, it will remove stains. Probably good to drain bowl first, too.

Leave a Reply

Want to see your picture by your comment? Get your custom avatar by registering for free at Gravatar.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *