An inexpensive homemade daily shower cleaner recipe you can use to reduce how often you have to clean the shower. It’s easy to make with common ingredients!
I want to know about that “Daily Shower Cleaner.” I spray it around in my shower every day. There are several brands – One is CleanShower, Tilex makes one, etc.
I think the product works quite well. It helps keep my shower squeaky shiny clean, BUT…cheapskate that I am, I would like to know if I can mix it up myself rather than buying it all the time. It SEEMS like it should be a fairly simple blend…I have thought that it might be made from denatured alcohol and dish soap blended into water, but I am chicken to try doing that without a little guidance. Can you help? -Maryellen
Here you go, Maryellen! This Daily Shower Cleaner recipe is in V9lume 1 of our Dining On A Dime Cookbook! Once again, when we say we have unusual things in our cookbook, we really do. :-) -Tawra
Daily Shower Cleaner Recipe
Ingredients
8 oz. concentrated cleaner (Lysol is a good one.)
16 oz. isopropyl alcohol
water
Instructions
- Pour the cleaner and the alcohol into a gallon bucket.
- Add enough water to make one gallon.
- Pour into a spray bottle.
Notes
- Thoroughly clean shower before using.
- Spray on shower daily.
- Use daily to prevent water deposits and soap scum.
This daily shower cleaner recipe is from Volume 1 of our cookbook:
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Question: I just bought the ingredients to make this shower cleaner (BOTH were on fantastic sale), but then I got to thinking that I might not want to use a leave on cleaner. I have a 1 year old that takes a bath in the tub. Does the alcohol make the cleaner evaporate, or will there be harsh chemicals in the bathwater?
Stephanie
Stephanie it should be okay if you are really worried about it then just take some water and rinse out the tub before you put your baby in the tub.
It is probably better for your baby to be put in a tub that has been cleaned with the cleaner then not to have it properly cleaned.If you or your husband has athletes foot or you have anything like an yeast infection and the tub isn’t properly cleaned it can be spread to your baby.
Things like that are worse for your baby then anything that is in the cleaner.
Jill
Thank you Jill. You are right. I’m a stickler about the tub being clean for baby. I thought the daily shower cleaner would be easier. I’ll give it a try and just rinse rinse rinse.
Stephanie
Has anyone ever tried using this homemade cleaner in those little automatic shower cleaner machines that you hang up in the shower? I was wondering if this would work if I just refilled the original cleaner bottle that came with the little machine.
Hi Jaime and everyone else. First of all, I live in Canada and as such, have different measurements for things but I believe that I have converted a smaller amount of the above recipe. As for using this in the shower cleaners that you purchase on the shelves, you should be able to do so as long as you CLEAN OUT THE CONTAINER VERY WELL!! We don`t want to be mixing chemicals and having our own little chemical reaction lab in our bathrooms or creating noxious fumes! So here it is:
1 gallon = 3.75L = 16 cups
1 L = 4 cups (aprox.) = 1/4 gallon.
Therefore:
1/4 cup (2 liquid ounces or 60ml) concentrate cleaner
1/2 cup (4 liquid ounces or 125 ml) isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol
3 1/4 cup (26 liquid ounces or 825 ml) water
this should all add up to aproximately 4 cups or 1L. The shower cleaner on our shelves in Canada are 1L so this should fit into one of those containers! I have not tried to put it into my shower cleaner yet, but my plan is to cut out a small hole in the top/bottom (opposite end from the container`s actual lid) of the container. Then rinse it VERY WELL with water (multiple times). Once rinsed and filled with homemade solution (using a funnel), seal my small hole with a foam earplug! I will do this if I can`t figure out how to remove the factory lid to fill it and replace the lid again. If anyone else has any suggestions, please say so!
Thanks Carla. For those of you who need to convert ounces or pounds to grams for other things and have Dining on a Dime check out page 335. We have an equivalents chart there. Also in that same section we have High altitude adjustments for cooking and a few pages of substitutions.
I don’t have any 1 year olds anymore, but just a precaution to those of you with pets…especially cats that may enjoy hopping in the tub after a shower. I would never use a leave-on spray if there is any chance an animal may hop in and find the leftover shower water or drippy drain a facination.
I would like to know if I can use a ecological cleaner instead of a regular concentrated cleaner.
I use dawn dish washing detergent and vinegar to clean my shower. Put it in a spray bottle and spray the shower each day. It really works good even on the toilet and sink.
Monica, what proportions of Dawn and vinegar do you use? Thanks!
Monica, what proportions do you use on the Dawn & vinegar solution? Do you rinse it? Thanks!
Monica, please post your recipe for the Dawn and Vinegar cleaner. Have you tried this in the automatic shower cleaner bottles that hang up in the shower?
Hi! This is my Homemade Shower Cleaner.
Use a 32 oz. plastic spray bottle
Add 1 cup white vinegar
2 – 3 Tablespoons Dawn dishwashing liquid
2 Tablespoons fabric softener for fragrance
Fill the bottle with water
Spray your shower walls and floor after every use. After a few days of using, your shower will sparkle!
I use a 4 cup glass measuring cup to make the shower cleaner recipe in. I divide the cleaner into(2)24 oz. plastic spray bottles, one for each bathroom. I am very sensitive to the cleaning smells, so I do not use the fabric softener for fragrance. Then spray the entire shower with a fine spray and let it sit for one hour, then scrub with a soft nylon brush or wipe with a sponge or a
micro cloth and rinse. The shower sparkles!
Happy Cleaning!
I’m so glad you posted this recipe! I saw one with the same ingredients but the dawn and vinegar was 1:1 ratio! I was so mad about all those suds! What a waste! But this one would actually work! Thank you! Also, I use essential oil Lavender for fragrance, then this is almost completely natural, except for the Dawn soap.
I am delighted with some of the hints i have learned about from you and your readers…thanks for the good info, formula’s and recipes. good stuff:)
Thanks for all your great money-$aving tip$ !!! Love it!
would the added dawn make the floor of the shower slippery? … just curious ..
I was wondering that myself Rose but I imagine if you rinse it well it wouldn’t be a problem. I also was wondering if you really needed the dawn and if the vinegar alone would work. I might try it with just the vinegar on half of the shower and both on the other half and see what happens.
sorry if this sounds kinda redundant but just curious :D
sounds like a good idea jill .. i kinda like the idea of leaving out the dawn for my situation .. so maybe its that both recipes (with or without the dawn) will work …
i do remember one time (in the house we owned b4 this one we rent now) .. i ran out of comit and i made a paste of baking soda and water and believe it or not that worked .. i just rubbed (smeared is the better word for this) on the tiles and grout .. let sit for like 30-45 mins and well when i came back .. gave it a good scrub down (dipping the scrubby in a bit of water here and there) and well the tiles and grout came out nice and clean .. some stains werent so white .. but basically it came out .. and then my sis in law said when that happens to her she just takes that bleach pen and “writes” on the grout .. and that seems to help too ..
just wanted to share .. :D
I am fairly new to this site, and have sent the link to my sisters. Love the tip and anything else i can get my hands on. Thank you.
I love all the tips thanks looking forward to learning more.
Kathy
I just use vinegar. The smell can be a little overpowering, but then I don’t have to worry about chemicals or my cats licking any residue. It works well for waterspots on my faucet, too.
Wow- Is there anything that vinegar cannot do?!?!
How can I clean out inside of hose? Do I have to remove it from tub? Its not clean and need to clean it. Don’t want to buy a new shower hose.thanks, anita carter
Anita I’m not totally sure of your question. Do you mean how do you clean your shower hose? If that is the question to be honest I have never had to clean one before but if you have hard water build up and can’t remove it you might try soaking the whole thing in some vinegar or the shower cleaner and see if that helps.
It helps!!!! But only outside of the hose. So that not to soak it in vinegar i just covered the hose around (coiled) with toilet paper and then pour or spray vinegar on the paper. And left it for night. Then rinse and scrub. Repeat if needed. I use vinegar sprayed on toilet paper everywhere at the kitchen and bathroom – taps, water tub near taps,etc. And leave it for the night, then rinse.
Remove the hose, being careful not to lose any rubber gaskets or washers, and place it in a large pot. Add water until it’s about halfway submerged, then vinegar until it’s completely covered. Unless it’s a heavy metal hose, you’ll have to weigh it down with something to keep it submerged. Put it on the stove and heat it to a simmer, or just under. The goal is to keep the solution hot, but not boiling. Shut it off after 15 minutes, but leave it in the pan until it’s cool. Usually this is long enough, but if not, put it back in the pan, add more vinegar and heat it again.
If you have glass shower doors that always seem to get soap scum, you can clean them with Lemon Oil (most furniture polishes). Once they are clean, the oil will continue to repel the water so the soap scum will not build up. Just wipe them down from time to time when you see them not repelling as much, and you won’t have to worry about soap scum again.
Another hint for glass shower doors is once they are completely clean, use Rain-X on them…(the same stuff that can be used on your car’s windshield) the water will bead off and helps to deter soap scum. I struggled with the shower doors at my old house and this helped.
The gas station we use close to our house (Best price too!) has this great windshield washing solution! It is super wet and makes the glass repellent. Maybe that would be good for my glass doors too?
Great ideas! I’m looking forward to trying some. We have very hard water here.
Thank you for sharing!
By the way, http://gasbuddy.com is the best way I know for finding the lowest gas price.
The easiest thing I do is to squeegee the shower after I use it. It stays nice and clean without any chemicals. Then maybe once a month I’ll clean it with an all purpose cleaner, just to be sure that I didn’t miss an area every now and then.
Note to Lesha. I ,too, always use a sweegee (sp) and have not had to really clean my glass shower doors for nine
Months. I have wiped the doors down once with a bit of shampoo—-and they look great. A small sweegee costs a dollar at Dollar Tree store and takes about 30 seconds after each shower to to sweegee them—-no wet rags. This really works. Tommie in AbIlene, TX
Are any/all tof these safe for cultured marble?
You can use the alcohol (rubbing alcohol) on it to help remove things like hair spray, 50/50 vinegar and water for hard water spots. Try a small spot first to test it and see but you should be ok. You may have to use a little more elbow grease when cleaning marble. Do not use anything abrasive on it though.
CAUTION: Do NOT use vinegar or anything acid, such as lemon juice, to clean marble, as the vinegar or acid will eventually break down the marble and cause it to dissolve. You can use a vinegar solution to clean granite but you shouldn’t use ammonia. Use ammonia/water mixes to clean marble.
I have used a simple solution for a few years now to keep my shower clean. I mix 50/50 water and vinegar and add a tablespoon or so of jet dry. I spray the shower and curtain after my shower. It really cuts down on scrubbing. You could go lighter on the vinegar if you like but the smell goes away and this helps prevent mold.
How can I clean a shower made with concrete blocks and has embedded mildew?
What I did was I put some bleach and water in a spray bottle and spray it down really good with that. Let it sit until dry. If bad I would do it a couple of times. After that I would spray with a foam bathroom cleaner (like Dow bathroom cleaner) and there after I would clean it with the foam cleaner for my regular cleaning. Make sure the foam cleaner you use says it will kill 99.9% mold and mildew on it. Why the foam is because liquid cleaners just run off down the walls but the foam ones cling to the walls for a bit which helps it do its thing better. Don’t use vinegar. It will not properly kill all the germs and mildew as well and the problem will come back right away again.