Clean your bathroom with just two ingredients!

Would you trade a whole cabinet of cleaning supplies for just two ingredients, saving you space, waste, and money? Read on to learn how you can do just that in your bathroom!

Once I started learning about what was actually in commercial cleaning products, and how toxic it was to my health and the environment, I began a quest to eliminate the need for all the brightly dyed chemical cleaning products that sat in plastic bottles underneath my sink. After making a all-purpose cleaning spray I used around the house, I was ready to take on the challenge of cleaning my bathroom in a less toxic way.

For years I never questioned why I might need different products to complete cleaning tasks in the bathroom. The blue goop cleaned the toilet bowl and the green powder cleaned the tub. The horrific smelling spray cleaned the shower tile, and a more pleasant spray cleaned the sink. To get those mirrors squeaky clean, of course the blue spray. The ingredients list on some of these included: Hydrochloric Acid (corrosive on human tissue and can cause damage to skin, eyes, and lungs), Cetrimonium chloride (irritates skin and eyes), Sodium hydroxide (can cause serious burns to skin and decompose lipids and proteins in our body tissues), Chlorine Bleach (irritating to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs).

Replacing all of these products with something more health conscious and earth friendly seemed like a daunting task, right?

Then I found out the reactive combination of two simple ingredients, already in the kitchen, could clean all the surfaces in the bathroom and keep my cabinet under the sink from over flowing.

Enter white distilled vinegar and baking soda.

White distilled vinegar is a powerful cleaning agent, good at removing dirt, grease, grime and mold (up to 82%--even black mold).

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate which is a salt. It's strong enough to remove odors, and when mixed with water helps dissolve dirt. It's abrasive--which makes it a good cleaner all on it own!

The magic happens when vinegar and baking soda are mixed together. Hydrogen ions in the vinegar react with the sodium and bicarbonate ions in the baking soda, resulting in carbonic acid and sodium acetate. This acid based reaction helps dissolve stains and loosens gunk--making the two together a powerful cleaning duo!

Here is how I use the two together to clean my toilet and my tub.

For the tub:

Sprinkle 1/4 cup baking soda into the tub.

Lightly sprinkle 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar on top.

Optional step--spray on all-purpose spray with essential oils.

Use a soft sponge to scrub the tub (remembering that baking soda is already slightly abrasive).

Rinse with water.

For the toilet:

Sprinkle 2-4 T baking soda into the toilet bowl.

Sprinkle 2-4 T white distilled vinegar into the toilet bowl.

Optional step--Add 1-3 drops of an anti-bacterial essential oil (like Tea Tree!)

Scrub with a toilet brush.

Flush.

You can even use a small amount of the baking soda and vinegar to clean grime in tiles (use an old toothbrush to help!) as well as the the sink. but be sure to only use the vinegar when cleaning any glass or mirrors to avoid any streaks.

Keep your place looking and smelling fresh with out all the waste and harmful fumes of commercial cleaning chemicals!