How to Make a DIY Bathroom Cleaner
While I enjoy using my all-purpose cleaning sprays for most things, this DIY bathroom cleaner is great for deep cleaning, leaving my bathroom squeaky clean.
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DIY cleaners are my thing these days, and this bathroom cleaner is no different! I love when I can use basic ingredients to create simple, yet effective, homemade cleaning products.
Follow along and I’ll show you why I make my own DIY bathroom cleaner, how to make a bathroom cleaner, what to avoid when using this homemade cleaning spray, and the cost-benefit analysis of making your own bathroom cleaner.
Cleaning Therapy
I have come to the conclusion that decluttering and deep cleaning are my form of therapy. It feels so good to get rid of unused things that just take up space and then clean every nook and cranny. With spring just around the corner, I am planning my yearly round of spring cleaning!
While my bathroom is probably my least cluttered room, I still like to pull everything out and see if anything is expired, or if there is anything I know I’ll no longer be using in the future (great time to toss the toxic deodorant!).
While I wipe down my most used bathroom surfaces regularly with my all-purpose cleaner, I love that this DIY bathroom cleaner offers more of a deep clean and leaves everything squeaky clean (literally) and extra shiny.
Cleaning with Borax
Borax is the cleaning agent in my DIY bathroom cleaner, and it seems to be the subject of a hotly contested debate within the “natural” community. People, like myself, casually mention it hoping no one freaks out, and other people… freak out.
Borax is not the same as boric acid. Borax, which is sodium borate, is made up of the elements sodium, boron, and oxygen. When mixed with water, borax molecules convert to hydrogen peroxide. The borax that I use contains no phosphates or chlorine.
Many people believe borax is not safe to clean with, and so I do admit there is potential for issues. Some things to be aware of are it is not recommended to ingest, it can be irritating to your skin (gloves are recommended), and it is recommended to keep the room you are cleaning well-ventilated (although I never notice any fumes at all). In addition, borax should never be combined with bleach.
Despite these warnings and recommendations, I see no reason for it to be avoided altogether. Borax has been used to clean households for generations, and even dates as far back as Ancient Egypt. Being “old” isn’t necessarily synonymous with being “good”, but if something has been tried and true for this long, I don’t think I need to reinvent the wheel.
Additionally, borax is known for its ability to remove mold. With how damp and humid bathrooms tend to get, borax is a no-brainer to be used in a bathroom cleaner for either mold removal or mold prevention. When combined with tea tree and eucalyptus essential oil, which are both antifungal, this DIY bathroom cleaner has all your bases covered for maintaining a mold-free bathroom.
Mountain Rose Herbs
Mountain Rose Herbs is one of my favorite online shops for all things natural. They offer a wide variety of products from essential oils, herbs and spices, tinctures, teas, kitchen supplies, books, and more! The herbs and spices is what I order the most. I love their stinging nettle leaf and root, rose petals, sea kelp, and spirulina. Highly recommend the company and their products!
Why I Make My Own DIY Bathroom Cleaner
The first time I used borax to clean my bathroom, it was on a whim, and I just poured some on a sponge and went to town scrubbing everything down. I was amazed by the time I was done with my bathroom. Everything, and I mean everything, was remarkably clean and shiny.
Even though I loved the end result, it was a messy process switching back and forth between scrubbing and repeatedly rinsing my sponge with water. Obviously not that big of a deal, but I love having cleaning sprays on hand. They make life so easy when you can just spray and wipe.
This DIY bathroom cleaner is the result of loving the results of cleaning with borax combined with the ease of a cleaning spray. You get the best of both worlds.
I also love that this bathroom cleaner can be used on most surfaces. For surfaces that are relevant to bathrooms, borax is not recommended for natural stone, as it can cause the stone to dull and etch. So, if your bathroom countertop, floor, and/or tub/shower use natural stone, those would be the areas I would avoid when using this DIY bathroom cleaner.
Benefits of DIY Bathroom Cleaner with Borax
● ingredient control
● saves money
● very effective cleaner
● squeaky clean & shiny results
● great for most surfaces
● removes mold and mildew
● removes soap scum
● removes hard water spots and stains
How to Make a DIY Bathroom Cleaner
Since I already use borax when I make both my powder and liquid laundry detergent, I always have it on hand and ready to use for when I need to make this bathroom cleaner.
Ingredients
- 2 cups hot water
- 2-4 tbsp borax
- 10 drops tea tree essential oil
- 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
Equipment
- 1 16oz amber glass spray bottle
- 1 funnel
Instructions
Tap/click the images for a description of each step ⬇️
Step 1: Add 2-4 tablespoons of borax to an amber glass spray bottle. Using a funnel will help reduce making a mess.
Step 2: Heat two cups of water on the stove until it begins to simmer. Using the funnel, pour the two cups of hot water into the amber glass spray bottle. Put the cap on the bottle and shake until all the borax is dissolved. (If you purchase the glass spray bottles that are linked, they come with an actual cap, in addition to the spray nozzle.)
Step 3: After the borax and water solution has cooled down, add 10 drops of tea tree essential oil and 10 drops of eucalyptus essential oil.
Step 4: Shake to combine and you are ready to clean!
Tips
- Hot water is preferred over room temperature water to help the borax dissolve fully and quickly.
- The back of my borax box suggests mixing ½ cup of borax with 12oz of water. I have found that ½ cup of borax is just too much for a 16oz glass spray bottle. Most of it will remain clumpy and make spraying difficult. The 20 Mule Team website suggests using “a little less than ¼ cup” of borax with 16oz of warm water. I have found 2-4 tbsp to be a good ratio of borax to water to make an effective bathroom cleaner with no clumps floating around.
- While I usually list essential oils as optional in my homemade cleaning product recipes, I never leave them out in this bathroom cleaner. Tea tree and eucalyptus have too many good cleaning abilities to leave them out of this one!
Rocky Mountain Oils
Rocky Mountain Oils is a great company offering a wide selection of essential oils, accessories, and related products. I first came across this company when I was searching for a new essential oil diffuser. I had several stop working in a short amount of time and was interested in trying a plug-in waterless diffuser. I came across this diffuser and have been loving it! It has different settings for how often it releases the scent, and I love that…
Ways to Use
Cost-Benefit Analysis
For this cost-benefit analysis, I will be comparing my DIY bathroom cleaner with the Branch Basics Concentrate. I wasn’t able to find any bathroom cleaners that use borax as an ingredient to make this a more comparable comparison, but the Branch Basics Concentrate is versatile for many uses, including as a bathroom cleaner.
As of March 2026 in Tennessee:
DIY Bathroom Cleaner
2 cups water
- FREE
2-4 tbsp borax
- $5.97 for 65oz
- 65oz = 8.125 cups
- 8.125 cups = 130 tbsp
- $5.97 % 130 = $0.05/tbsp
- 2-4 tbsp = $0.10-$0.20
10 drops tea tree essential oil
- 1oz bottle = $16.00
- 1oz bottle = approx. 600 drops
- $16.00 % 600 = $0.03/drop
- 10 drops = $0.30
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
- 1oz bottle = $9.50
- 1oz bottle = approx. 600 drops
- $9.50 % 600 = $0.02
- 10 drops = $0.20
Total: $0.60-$0.70 per 16oz bottle
Branch Basics Concentrate (find here)
- $55.00 for 33.08oz
- $55.00 % 10* = $5.50
*According to the Branch Basics website, “If you want to use one bottle of Concentrate for only one solution, here is the breakdown for each bottle.
- 16 All Purpose Bottles
- 240 Streak Free
- 10 Bathroom Bottles
- 16 Foaming Hand Wash Bottle
- 192 Laundry Loads”
(source)
Total: $5.50 per 16oz bottle
Like I always say, I have nothing against Branch Basics or any other natural cleaner on the market. This is simply just a comparison between store-bought vs. DIY. If you aren’t the DIY type, by all means I would 100% recommend switching to Branch Basics over a conventional bathroom cleaner. If you are the DIY type, enjoy saving a few extra dollars!
FAQs
Related Posts
I hope you enjoy the shine of a sparkly clean bathroom as much as I do!
DIY Bathroom Cleaner
Equipment
- 1 16oz amber glass spray bottle
- 1 funnel
Ingredients
- 2 cups hot water
- 2-4 tbsp borax
- 10 drops tea tree essential oil
- 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
Instructions
- Add 2-4 tablespoons of borax to an amber glass spray bottle.
- Add hot water.
- Put the cap on the bottle and shake until all the borax is dissolved.
- After the borax and water solution has cooled down, add 10 drops of tea tree essential oil and 10 drops of eucalyptus essential oil.
- Shake to combine.
Notes
- Hot water is preferred over room temperature water to help the borax dissolve fully and quickly.
- The back of my borax box suggests mixing ½ cup of borax with 12oz of water. I have found that ½ cup of borax is just too much for a 16oz glass spray bottle. Most of it will remain clumpy and make spraying difficult. The 20 Mule Team website suggests using “a little less than ¼ cup” of borax with 16oz of warm water. I have found 2-4 tbsp to be a good ratio of borax to water to make an effective bathroom cleaner with no clumps floating around.
- While I usually list essential oils as optional in my homemade cleaning product recipes, I never leave them out in this bathroom cleaner. Tea tree and eucalyptus have too many good cleaning abilities to leave them out of this one!
This is a personal blog. All posts, recipes, recommendations, and how-tos are for informational use and personal viewing pleasure only. Blog posts are not written by AI.
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