When I first saw the recipe for these toilet bombs on Maria’s Self about a year ago, I thought it looked super awesome. I was still in the beginning stages of learning about green cleaning and it seemed like a more “advanced” recipe to me. Well, trust me, it’s not. I just didn’t know what citric acid was yet. This recipe is ridiculously simple and that’s what makes it so great!
There’s something so satisfying about dropping one of these into water and watching it fizz away. And they smell so fresh. Obviously these can’t replace cleaning your toilet, but they do deodorize smells and kill bacteria! So they are great for in between cleans.
It cost me $3.91 to make one batch of these toilet bombs. For me, that was about 30 toilet fizz bombs. And they’re green and all natural. And so much fun to use.
The best part is, there are only three ingredients:
- Citric Acid: removes build up and scale, reduces effects of hard water, antibacterial, adds awesome fizziness (you can get it here)
- Baking Soda: deodorizes smells, great all purpose cleaner
- Essential Oils: bind baking soda and citric acid together, antibacterial (depending on which oils you use), natural scent
So don’t be scared if you haven’t heard of citric acid before. It’s a great thing to have around for green cleaning.
Homemade Toilet Fizz Bombs
Ingredients:
- 1 1/3 cup baking soda
- 1/2 cup citric acid
- 90 drops of essential oils (I used 30 drops of lemon, 30 peppermint, 20 orange, and 10 lavender)
Directions:
- Put the essential oil mix you want to use together in a small spray bottle and set aside
- Mix baking soda and citric acid together carefully. If you want, you can use a medical mask to ensure you don’t breathe in any fumes from mixing these together.
- Slowly spray the essential oils on the baking soda and citric acid while mixing until you’ve used all 90 drops. It should fizz a little bit when the moisture touches the mixture, but if there is excessive fizzing you are spraying too quickly. The mixture should start to clump and look like the picture on the right above when it is ready to be put into molds
- If necessary, you can add a small amount of water in addition to the oils to help bind the baking soda and citric acid together. Don’t use too much or they won’t fizz when they touch water
- Put the mixture into a silicone mold- or you can press it into an ice cube tray
- Let the bombs dry for at least 6 hours, then remove from the molds and store in a container with a tight lid
- Drop into the toilet and fizz away!
These things are awesome. It is so fun to let them fizz and do their job. And they smell great. Who needs a scented candle in the bathroom when you have fizzy toilet bombs?
And you gotta love it when you can make a cute shape out of a cleaning product. I love my little hearts! I also made some cool star shapes and some plain cubes. But the hearts were definitely the cutest.
I might run out of these toilet fizz bombs quickly because they are so much fun too use… let’s hope I can exercise some self control and use them only when I need to.
Try making some yourself and let me know how it goes!
If you want to learn more about green cleaning- you should definitely check out my free ebook on green cleaning! All you have to do is sign up for my mailing list and you will get your copy free.
Leslie says
I’m saving this recipe. I think this would be great to drop in the toilets at night before bedtime. Thanks for sharing!
Bridgette says
Help! my mixture won’t harden….it’s soft..waaaa…..how do I fix the mix?
Susie says
My guess is that you put too much moisture in the mix. Or, if you live in a particularly humid area and your home is humid, that might be an issue to The only way I can think to fix it would be to add more citric acid and baking soda to make it drier. I don’t know if it will help for sure, but it’s probably worth a try. It can take over 24 hours to harden as well so if you haven’t given it enough time, that’s another thing to try. Hope this helps!
Lisa says
Great stuff!!!
Eleanor says
I just made these and I didn’t, have any trouble getting the mixture to harden.
I used lemon juice instead of the citric acid.-1/2 cup. My skin is burning where the peppermint touched and I had in rubber gloves
Meaghan says
We have hard water stains in a ring in all our toilets. I wonder if this would help? Thanks so much for answering my question about themes on Facebook. Your site is beautiful!
Meaghan from DIYfaerie
Richard says
Sience it kills bacteria it may not be good for septic systems as they depend on bacteria to work.
Jessica says
This is natural ingredients intended to kill/clean gently and naturally. So much healthier and non toxic. Regular toilet cleaner is toxic and dangerous to breath and ingest.
Jessica says
I popped out fizzies and put in a jar. Hubby was impressed until I came back and they are all collapsing/crumbling Why? They sat up for a good 15 hours or so. They were firm to the touch and didn’t crumble when I took out of the mold. Thx for advice! Would love to make these for gifts!
Susie says
Oh no- I wish I knew! It could just be from moisture level in the air, but that’s the only thing I can think of that would make them crumble or collapse.
Shwan Marsh says
I don’t generally LOVE to clean my toilets.
I have little children and boys, so messes happen regularly. I’ve found something that has kept my toilets crisp and stink free between cleanings.
Thanks for the recipe of TOILET BOMBS!!! It’s really works………
Dee says
I used lemongrass & orange oils. I had quite a bit leftover and shaped them into balls and placed on parchment paper. It seemed as if mine wouldn’t stop rising in the tray. Maybe too much water? I tested one before it dried to be sure I didn’t mess it up(and to see if it’ll still work if it takes too long to dry) It fizzed right up after I dropped it into the toilet and my bathroom smells great. Thanks for sharing!
Caroline Garcia says
I am the laziest mom of the world. I use denture tablets. Just drop two in and let it do its work. There is no stunning aroma however no scent either. I moved into a house that the toilet was crusted with hard water stains. I dropped an entire box of denture tablets in and held up overnight. it worked!
Teresa says
Wouldn’t the baking soda and citric acid neutralize each other? I’m not being a troll, I am genuinely interested in these and just trying to understand. Maybe they don’t disinfect but still help break off the “nasty” stuff and whiten the bowl?
Susie says
The chemical reaction between the two helps to clean the bowl. There is sufficient baking soda that not all of it will be used up in the reaction. That said, there is no replacement for a toilet brush when it comes to breaking off the nasty stuff. This works for in between cleanings.