The One Toilet Cleaning Trick You Need To Know

When it's time to clean the house, most of us have a particular spot we dread tackling: the toilet. It's where everyone does their business, and getting up-close-and-personal with a toilet bowl is nobody's idea of a fun afternoon. But it needs to get done — and you might not even realize how badly.

Your toilet bowl may not be the dirtiest place in your house, but it's still pretty gross. According to a study by cleaning company Microban — which swabbed the base, outer bowl, inner bowl, and rim (under the lid) of five different toilets in five separate homes — the inner bowl contains the most bacteria, at 1,500 units per square inch. The company also points to research indicating that the porcelain in toilet bowls gathers bacteria and viruses. What's even worse? Those ickies are then released by flushing and propelled into the air as microbes, traveling up to six feet and landing on nearby items, like your sink, face towel, or toothbrush.

OK, so who's ready to clean some toilets? After digesting that information, we certainly are — but, still, in the easiest way possible. Here's the one toilet-cleaning trick you need to know that makes this nasty job a breeze.

First off, the good news is that you don't have to buy some extra-strength chemical cleaner to get a spick-and-span toilet. In fact, you might have the key ingredient for this cleaning hack in your fridge or pantry right now: Coca-Cola. That's right: The all-American soda has enough carbonation to serve as an effective toilet bowl cleaner, according to TODAY.

Simply pour Coke along the edges of the toilet bowl, and leave it to sit overnight. The next morning, flush the toilet, and it should be sparkling clean — no elbow grease required. Here's a video of the hack in action. 

The Spruce backs up this method: It says that the acids in Coke can effectively dissolve rust rings in toilets. Pour it around the bowl as directed above, let it sit for an hour or more, scrub with a brush, and flush. Voila!