Think of the nauseous, quit-and-run, suffocating feeling you experience when nature calls urgently and you enter a toilet (in the mall, at an unhygienic friend’s house, at the office, etc.) that causes your bladder and gut to flinch.
A dirty toilet bowl is one of the most agonizing things you will ever come across.
After all, looking at another person’s excrement (or your own for that matter) is not particulary…ermm…pleasant.
Just as it is visually necessary to regularly clean your commode at home, it is that much more necessary health-wise. Squatting over a dirty toilet seat or cushioning it with 3 rolls of toilet paper…
…is not going to protect you from germs that breed and feast on toilet gunk. Some of the most prevalent bugs are E. Coli, norovirus, shigella, streptococcus, staphylococcus, and the influenza virus.
Before calling HAZMAT (read: hazardous material) on your toilet, try this easy-on-the-pocket, effective, safe DIY toilet bowl cleaner first.
Baking Soda, Vinegar Or Citric Acid, And Essential Oils Toilet Cleaner
Follow these steps:
- Add 50 drops of an essential oil blend to a cup of baking soda. 50 drops may sound a lot, but remember it is the essential oils that will be doing the major disinfecting.
- Mix with a wooden spoon or pestle to achieve a consistent, non-clumpy blend. You can store this in a glass jar for each time you need to disinfect your toilet.
- Toss 1 tablespoon of the baking soda-essential oils blend into the toilet bowl. Scrub vigorously using a brush.
- Pour in 8 tablespoons of 20% white vinegar to create foam. (Again 8 may sound a lot. But you want to maintain an antimicrobial acidic environment in the commode. You’re basically trying to overpower the alkalinity of baking soda.) Scrub some more.
- And…flush!
You’re done!
Toilet Bomb Fizzies
A slightly more convenient alternative is toilet bomb fizzies. You just have to toss them into the toilet and flush.
Disinfect your toilet at least once a week. If you or any of your homies (read: family members or almost-resident friends/guests) catches the flu or develops diarrhea, you might want to amp up the cleaning frequency.
How does it work?
Baking soda’s coarseness makes it easy to scrub away dirt clinging to the toilet surface. It also helps aromatize the toilet to some extent.
When you add 20% white vinegar (which is basically diluted acetic acid) and/or citric acid to baking soda, a typical acid-base reaction takes place:
Baking soda (base) + Vinegar (acid) = Carbon Dioxide + Water + Sodium Acetate
Just like the fizz in your soda,…
…the carbon dioxide released creates foam that entraps dirt and germs, loosening their grip, and making them easy to remove.
Essential oils are what they are…essential.
You can use a mix of your favourite scents so that your toilet is no longer a hit-and-run location. Fortunately, many essential oils have been proved to have disinfectant properties, too. This ensures that even the stubborn persistent bacteria and viruses surviving are forced to surrender to their direful fate.
Verdict
Although natural disinfectants may not be as effective as some commercially available chemical ones (in terms of percentage of germs killed), they are definitely more economical and safer.1
The next time you go to do your business, sit like royalty—stress-free–on your porcelain throne.
References
