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Are you ready to face the toilet?? Well, it will treat you much nicer if you clean it nicely! And by nicely, I mean naturally! It is safe for everyone to clean your toilet naturally – the kids, the cat, the dog, the toilet and your home!
I would much rather walk into a bathroom and smell the lovely scent of not smelling a toilet than try to inhale the chemical fumes from a freshly and harshly cleaned toilet. But even better, the “natural cleaning agents” I will be showing you actually leave a mild nature smelling clean!
I try to do this intensive of a clean about once a week. With our daily chores, the toilet gets a wipe down with the Homemade Natural Antibacterial Disinfecting Wipes or with one of the 3 spray cleaners and a cloth. That keeps it nice in between – and for a family of 7 – the toilet gets a lot of usage daily!
So let me walk you through the 5 steps to a very simple, very natural and very effective toilet cleaning!
The 7 Best Essential Oils for Cleaning!
Before we start, I use essential oils for many things, including cleaning. These are the “secret” ingredients to make these cleaners have their “antibacterial effect.” Read up on the top oils for cleaning and how to get them cheap HERE!
Here’s the simple and ingredients and supplies needed – I don’t measure, just pour!
- Pumice Stone
- Gloves
- Toilet Brush (I love the black ones from IKEA as black hides everything and they are cheap and so I don’t feel bad by replacing them every time I go to IKEA – I really don’t like these things hanging around for long :))
- Vinegar
- Baking Soda
- Any of the 7 Best Essential Oils for Cleaning (but my personal favs for the toilet are the Tea Tree and Lemon)
Step #1 – Using your pumice stone, remove any rings and stains in the bowl, on the underside of the lids and around/under the rim. Then flush the toilet to flush the remaining granules from the stone down the drain. This has always by far been way more effective than any action a chemical cleaner has done. BUT… we are just getting rid of the stain, not the bacteria is leaves behind! That’s why we do the next steps! *Please note, only use a pumice stone during the cleaning times that you need to. If you “over pumice” or use the stone when not necessary, it may scratch your bowl. Just use it to get rid of the rings and stains!
Step#2 – Once it has flushed, just pour some vinegar down the toilet and swish a little. I probably pour about 2 cups worth – I want enough to cover when the “ring” or water line tends to be.
Step #3 – Then I add about 4 drops of any of the 7 Best Essential Oils for Cleaning. I personally usually add a couple of drops of lemon and a couple of drops of Tea Tree. But any of them will work. Then let this vinegar/oil mixture set for 30 minutes.
Step #4 – Pour some baking soda into the toilet and it will react with the vinegar and “bubble up” which you then swish and scrub at the same time and scrub until you are satisfied with the clean! 
Step #5 – Continue the freshening by adding 10 or so total drops of the 7 Best Essential Oils for Cleaning in the top tank of the toilet so that every time you flush, it gets a bit of oil freshening which will keep the bacteria at bay, help to smell nice and keep it looking clean in between deep cleanings. Let me be honest, I love clean looking, naturally clean smelling and continually working to be clean toilets. With that, I actually add about 2 drops of all 7 oils for 14 total drops. It is probably over-kill, but I know that each oil has similar properties, but they each are best at attacking a different type of bacteria, micro-organism or whatever – so all 7 get to work together to kill it all 🙂 
Your toilet is now a happy clean toilet and every living thing in your home is happy as no one is getting sick from chemicals or from the lack of a cleaned toilet!
See, it has a big smile!
It is just that simple!
Again, for the outside, use any of the homemade wipes or cleaners that we have posted on our 26 Homemade Natural Cleaning Products using a short list of common natural ingredients that are very cheap!
Finally, if you are wondering… yes that is a bidet attached to this toilet. The french have it right with natural cleaning that way too….. but it is actually a cloth diaper sprayer (the box says “diaper sprayer bidet”) and so although that is it’s primary purpose, it can be both if you want to easily install one yourself! We try to use cloth diapers when we are at home during the day and disposable at night or while we are out and the sprayer is a huge help. Between Amazon’s cheap online diapers and the cloth diapers, we only spend $20 a month on diapering!
Here’s a printable recipe that you can put in your home binder:
| 5 Steps To A Naturally Clean Toilet | | Print |
- Pumice Stone
- Gloves
- Toilet Brush (I love the black ones from IKEA as black hides everything and they are cheap and so I don't feel bad by replacing them every time I go to IKEA - I really don't like these things hanging around for long :))
- Vinegar
- Baking Soda
- Any of the 7 Best Essential Oils for Cleaning (but my personal favs for the toilet are the Tea Tree and Lemon)
- Using your pumice stone, remove any rings and stains in the bowl, on the underside of the lids and around/under the rim. Then flush the toilet to flush the remaining granules from the stone down the drain. This has always by far been way more effective than any action a chemical cleaner has done. BUT... we are just getting rid of the stain, not the bacteria is leaves behind! That's why we do the next steps!
- Once it has flushed, just pour some vinegar down the toilet and swish a little. I probably pour about 2 cups worth - I want enough to cover when the "ring" or water line tends to be.
- Then I add about 4 drops of any of the 7 Best Essential Oils for Cleaning. I personally usually add a couple of drops of lemon and a couple of drops of Tea Tree. But any of them will work. Then let this vinegar/oil mixture set for 30 minutes.
- Pour some baking soda into the toilet and it will react with the vinegar and "bubble up" which you then swish and scrub at the same time and scrub until you are satisfied with the clean!
- Continue the freshening by adding 10 or so total drops of the 7 Best Essential Oils for Cleaning in the top tank of the toilet so that every time you flush, it gets a bit of oil freshening which will keep the bacteria at bay, help to smell nice and keep it looking clean in between deep cleanings. Let me be honest, I love clean looking, naturally clean smelling and continually working to be clean toilets. With that, I actually add about 2 drops of all 7 oils for 14 total drops. It is probably over-kill, but I know that each oil has similar properties, but they each are best at attacking a different type of bacteria, micro-organism or whatever - so all 7 get to work together to kill it all 🙂
- Again, for the outside, use any of the homemade wipes or cleaners that we have posted on our 26 Homemade Natural Cleaning Products using a short list of common natural ingredients that are very cheap!
We also HIGHLY recommend that you put this in your home binder along with many more things we will be sharing! See all of the information on this in our previous post HERE about Put Together Your Home Binder with Free Downloads.
If you want even more ideas too, be sure to visit these links!
- Shopping list to be able to make 23 natural homemade cleaning products for a very low price tag of $12.
- And then if you wanted to make them anti-bacterial and anti-viral, we also shared the natural but effective add-ins for much less HERE.
Anita
Great info! I use the “Flow” tablets from Gardens alive to help keep our drains clean without chemicals (these are bacteria tablets that naturally eat away hair and other material that gets clogged in pipes). I wonder if using the essential oils in the tank will hurt them (I think the ones in the bowl will be dilute enough that it would be okay)? Do you use anything similar to keep your pipes clean?
Kathrin
There is definately a lot to learn about this issue. I like all of the points you made.
g
I appreciate you recipes for natural cleaners, but thought I should let you know that toilet manufacturers say you should not use a pumice stone on your toilet as it scratches the glaze on the porcelain and allows it to get more stains. The glaze is there to keep things from sticking. I find that even with our very hard water if I just clean the toilet weekly, we don’t get any calcium buildup or staining.
Yosepha Withmore
Thanks for this guide. It’ll be much easier from now on 🙂 <3
~ Harefield Carpet Cleaners Ltd.
Jeremy
Hi,
Be VERY careful with adding the essential oils to your toilet tank! I did this and it ruined the components that control the filling of water. It made them sticky and stopped adding water to the toilet when flushed.
Cathy
Pumice is not to be used!!!! It will scratch the finish that the company spent years developing. The scratches allow a place for bacteria, dirt and mold to get a grip. White vinegar, by itself, is enough to clean the interior. It works to dissolve the calcium/hard water buildup and will not damage the finish. (much cheaper and not toxic like CLR is) I’ve used it on a sponge or rag or cheap paper napkin making it disposable, set on the buildup, and kept wet with vinegar. Over time, the calcium will dissolve and wipe or rinse easily. To clean in the bowl, turn off the water intake valve and drain the bowl to use straight vinegar…… Also, your love of essential oils is nice, but you might be aware that they are bad for some pets, and some people. I, for instance, get horrible headaches from lavender, a scent that is used as if it were rose oil, (which also gives me headaches, but not as severely as lavender does). I still appreciate your goal of cheaper and healthier cleaning products and will continue to read your information. Thank you for all of your work. And thank you for sharing it with all of us!!!