Your Dirty Toilet Will Sparkle Again With Two Handy Kitchen Ingredients

The green revolution in cleaning products has steadily been on the rise. And as a nation even though we now spend more money than before on commercially made green cleaners (per McKinsey and NielsonIQ's study), many of us have jumped beyond that trend and prefer to use the most natural, simple ingredients possible when cleaning. And when our DIY formulas also smell delicious as we restore sparkle, like this two-ingredient cleanser for the toilet, they get bonus points. Extra tip — this cleaning hack also works beautifully on your bathroom sink and any stainless steel sink as well.

In the United States, we're fortunate to have access to grapefruits year-round, so toilets, prepare to meet your match in grapefruit and Kosher salt. Now a word of caution about what is cleanable using grapefruit and salt. If you're getting mineral deposits in the toilet bowl, hard water might be the cause of that (and problems with plumbing functionality) and so hard water issues require a different cleaning fix. 

To prepare, grab a grapefruit and a large container of Kosher salt. Use a serrated knife to cut the grapefruit in half on a cutting board, and then liberally sprinkle the salt on both halves of the grapefruit — if one half does the job, use the other half on the sink. Put on a thick pair of rubber gloves, and get ready to kill some germs.

You may want to first give the interior of the bowl a swipe with the toilet brush if there's any debris. Then wipe the interior bowl, rim, and toilet seat, top and bottom. You'll be combatting stains with the natural acidity of the fruit. Rinse with water, either by using a sponge soaked in water or a water-filled spray bottle, and notice how fresh and clean your bathroom smells. Flush the pulp away and either compost or toss out the grapefruit rind. If you're on a cleaning rampage, use extra grapefruit and salt as the perfect scrubing tool to remove the ring around your bathtub.