The Hungry Canary

From Mother’s notebook · Used in the family home

Mother's Toilet Bowl Cleaner

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Ingredients

  • 1 cup distilled water
  • ¼ cup baking soda
  • ½ cup Castile soap
  • 15–30 drops essential oil (tea tree appears as a suggestion)
  • Peroxide, listed separately for spraying the bowl (amount and concentration unspecified)

Directions

  1. Combine the water, Castile soap and essential oil in a squirt bottle.
  2. Add baking soda and shake well.
  3. Squirt inside the toilet bowl and let sit for 15 minutes.
  4. Scrub the bowl and sides.
  5. The notebook then says to spray peroxide inside the bowl and let it sit. No duration is written. Her daughter recalls that Mother generally let cleaners sit for about 10–20 minutes, or simply until she got back to them; this is family recollection, not a timed instruction from the notebook.

Family history

When the family lived in a North Carolina park in 2018, an unidentified black growth appeared in the toilet bowl. Even visiting repair workers could not identify it. Mother used this formula to clean the toilet. The growth is not identified as mold, bacteria, or anything else in this archive.

Notebook and use notes

The original page is headed “Toilet Bowl.” Tea tree and peroxide appear near the essential-oil line, while the final direction separately says “spray inside peroxide,” so the peroxide is preserved as a separate application rather than an ingredient to mix in the squirt bottle. The original notes do not establish the mixture as a disinfectant or identify peroxide strength. Avoid combining with bleach, vinegar or other toilet cleaners, and use ventilation. Tea tree oil can pose a hazard to pets; keep pets away from treated areas.