Toilet Cleaning Bombs

If there's a housework I really dislike, it's the bathroom cleaning. I don't like it especially because of all the vapors from the bleach and other cleaning substances. I try to substitute them with homemade detergents such as these toilet bombs.

You will need:
- 1 cup of baking soda

- 1 cup of citric acid

- zest from 1 lemon

- essential oils tea tree and lavender

- spray bottle with some water

- silicone molds or other molds, eventually also something to cover them with

I use coconut shells to mold the bombs and this recipe makes for 2 bombs (one bomb per half shell). However, you can use for example silicone molds for ice, make much smaller bombs and use more than one at a time for the cleaning.

Note to the essential oils: The essential oils tea tree and lavender are mild disinfectants and the tea tree oil works also as antimykotic. If you don't like their fragrance, just add other essential oils or skip them completely. Then your bombs won't have the mentioned effect but the cleaning agent is the soda (helps get rid of the limestone), so the main effect will be still there.

Shelf life: I have never kept the bombs for more than 2 weeks, usually just for a few days - so far they've never gone bad. However, if you want to keep them for weeks to months, don't add the lemon zest. You can skip it or replace it with a few drops of essential oil such as lemon, orange or lemon grass.

In a bowl, mix the lemon zest, baking soda and citric acid. Add 10 drops from each essential oil.

Start adding water from the spray bottle, just little by little. The mixture mustn't be soaked, just wet enough to hold together when you try to form it with your hand. In my case all it takes is to spray the mixture twice, so there's really only very small amount of water needed.

If the mixture starts reacting - it starts growing - you've added too much water. In this case, throw the mixture away and start a new batch. Once the soda reacts with the water, the reaction won't repeat.

Press the mixture in your mold. If you have a silicone mold, you can press the mixture directly in it. I use coconut shells which I first cover with some aluminium foil. Let the bombs dry for at least 6 hours in a dry place.

To use it just throw one bomb in your toilet and let it foam, then clean with a toilet brush. The bomb will help getting rid of the limestone and will also make your bathroom smell great.