Frugal tip: Homemade toilet bowl cleaner

Recently I ran out of toilet bowl cleaner and with 3 messy kids, that is just not an option for me. :-)  Since there weren't any sales or coupons making it a great deal, I decide to consult my good friend Google for some help.  I came across a recipe at Everything is Homemade and gave it a shot, making just a couple minor changes.  I used the following:

3/4 cup baking soda
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. Dr. Bronner's Hemp Almond Castile Soap
a few drops of grapefruit seed extract

I bought the Dr. Bronner's soap in the Nature's Marketplace section of Wegmans.  While it's not cheap ($8.99 for a 16-oz. bottle, I believe) a little goes a long way and will last quite a while.  I also only paid just over $6 for it, since I had some overage from other coupons I used (which is not their policy, I just lucked out in that regard so you may or may not have the same experience).  Since I love the smell of almond, I chose that variety (and since you can use this soap for so many things including body wash and shampoo, I wanted a scent I really liked).  I chose to add a bit of grapefruit seed extract as an aid to kill bacteria (I used to use that or tea tree oil back in my cloth diaper laundry days, and I still had some on hand).

I prepared my version the same way as the original (the measuring cup with a spout works wonderfully), but I didn't have a condiment bottle like the original recipe suggested. Instead, I was able to dig up an old peri bottle from after my 4-year-old  was born (how scary is it that I still had one and was able to locate it?!) and it worked great for applying the cleaner to the toilet bowl.

The original recipe claims to make enough to clean 2 toilets.  I will admit, the toilet I used this on was dreadfully gross (I mentioned my 3 messy kids, right?) and took the entire bottle. If you have a less gross toilet (which should probably be just about everyone), this recipe should easily clean 2 toilets. :-)

In the end, my toilet was clean, my bathroom smelled great, and I didn't have to run out and buy an expensive bottle of toilet bowl cleaner. I was pleased enough that I will use it again.

Do you have a frugal cleaner you use?  I'd love to read about it in the comments!