Simple Tricks For How To Clean Toilet Rings Once And For All

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Do you have some nasty toil bowl rings? We clean our house on a regular basis but even so, we have toilet bowl stains that start to show in between cleanings. This is due to the fact that we have hard water. Who knew that toilet rings can come from hard water?

We’ve tried many of the commercial toilet cleaning products out there, but we have to spend a decent amount of time scrubbing (who wants to do that!?) and sadly, they really don’t work as well as they should.

This includes us trying toilet bowl cleaner, those tabs you put in the tank that turn your water blue, and even bleach.

If only there was a way for how to clean toilet rings more effectively, safer for the environment and without so much manual labor. Well, there is. Read on for how to clean toilet rings using 10 different alternatives.

Table of Contents

10 Options For How To Clean Toilet Rings

#1. Use Magic Eraser

I’ve found countless uses for the Magic Eraser. Add toilet bowl rings to that list. To use, simply cut a small piece of your Magic Eraser from the scrub pad and place it in the bowl overnight. Let it float, it doesn’t need to be submerged. In the morning you will find that most of the toilet bowl stains will be removed.

The downside to this method is that you have to fish out the Magic Eraser as you cannot flush it. Luckily, you only have to do this once.

Once you get the toilet bowl stains cleaned, you can place a piece of Magic Eraser in your toilet tank. Then every time you flush, you will clean your toilet bowl automatically. Just be aware of the placement of the piece of Magic Eraser in the tank.

If you don’t place it near the side of the tank, there is a chance it gets caught under the flapper, causing your toilet to constantly run. A solution to this problem is to secure it to the side of the tank so that you don’t have to worry about it getting caught.

#2. Use Coke

Want to know how to clean toilet rings with coke? Simply take a can of cola soda (it doesn’t have to be name brand cola, a store brand version works just as effectively) and pour it into your toilet bowl.

• Related: See how store brands can save you thousands of dollars a year

Just let the cola sit for about an hour before you flush. The acid in the soda will work to remove stains and lime scale.

The nice thing about this option is there is no scrubbing. Of course if your stain is really stubborn, you might have to get the brush out and scrub, but many times you won’t have to go this route. Plus, you don’t have to fish out the cola like with the Magic Eraser above.

Once you get your toilet bowl clean, think about what cola (and soda in general) does to your body if it can remove nasty rings in the toilet and stop drinking it!

#3. Use Alka Seltzer

This trick is probably the easiest on the list. All you have to do is drop two Alka Seltzer tabs in your toilet tank and/or bowl and let them dissolve. The effervescence and citric acid works to keep your tank fresh.

I would suggest you start off by placing the tabs in your bowl where the rings are and letting the Alka Seltzer work its magic there first. As with cola, in some cases, you might have to scrub really stubborn rings.

Once the stain is removed though, you can place the tabs in the tank so that when you flush, you have the Alka Seltzer working for you.

#4. Use Denture Cleaning Tabs

Instead of Alka Seltzer, you can try denture cleaning tabs. They work similarly to Alka Seltzer in that the acid will work to clean toilet bowl stains.

The reason you might want to use denture cleaning tabs instead of Alka Seltzer is that the denture tabs are less harsh.

#5. Use The Pumie

If you aren’t familiar with The Pumie, you probably are scratching your head at this one. The Pumie is a pumice stone cleaner for your toilet. You might have heard of or even used a pumice stone to scrub away dead skin on your feet.

Well, this is the same thing, only with a handle for using on your toilet. Now, this one does require some manual labor in the form of scrubbing, but everyone I know swears by this thing.

You can get it on Amazon here, or if you have a pumice stone already, you can try that one out. Just make sure you wear gloves since your hands will get wet!

#6. Vinegar

It seems like vinegar is the magic potion that cleans everything. But what about toilet bowl rings? Yes, you can clean toilet bowl rings with vinegar.

To clean your toilet, simply add 1/2 cup vinegar to the toilet bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes then flush. This will work for most basic stains. But for stubborn stains or toilet bowl stains from hard water, you should let the vinegar in the bowl for up to an hour. And you might have to scrub a little too.

In a few cases, vinegar alone won’t work. Luckily there are a couple more options for you to try.

#7. Vinegar With Baking Soda

A stronger solution than vinegar alone is to clean your toilet stains with vinegar and baking soda. For this to work, take 1 cup of baking soda and pour it into your toilet bowl. Then add 1 cup of vinegar.

• Related: Learn how using cleaning product alternatives save you tons of money

You will want to close the toilet lid as the mixture is going to foam. It won’t overflow your toilet, but the foaming and fizzing will have some water droplets fly out of the toilet.

Let the mixture work its magic for 30 minutes and flush. Again, for really stubborn stains, you may have to add in some manual labor and scrub.

#8. Borax

Some of you might use a Borax based solution for cleaning around your house. If so, why not use it to clean toilet rings too? It is just as effective and is simple to use.

Instead of mixing Borax with other ingredients however, all you have to do is pour one cup of Borax into your bowl and let it sit for a few hours and then flush. The Borax will dissolve in the water and go to work.

As with many of the other options in this list, if your toilet ring is really bad, chances are you will have to do some scrubbing too. But before you resort to that, flush the toilet and add another cup of Borax and a half cup of vinegar to your bowl and let that sit for an hour.

In some cases, this could do the trick and help you to avoid scrubbing altogether.

#9. Dryer Sheets

Here is an option that might blow your mind. You can use dryer sheets as a strategy for how to clean toilet rings. Who would have thought?

Now, this tip does involve some manual labor on your part as you have to scrub the rings with the dryer sheets. Also, be sure to throw the dryer sheet away and not flush it down the toilet. But with that said, this is a very cost effective option to try.

And what makes it even better is that you can use new or used dry sheets. I personally would reuse my used dryer sheets instead of throwing them away to get double the use out of them. This is just one of the many ways you can reuse dryer sheets.

#10. Lemon Kool Aid

I loved drinking Kool Aid as a kid. As an adult, I would have never guessed your could effectively use it to clean toilet stains, but you can.

All you have to do is buy a small packet of sugar free lemonade Kool Aid and dump the powder in your bowl. Depending on how bad your rings are, you can leave it in the bowl for as little as 15 minutes to as long as a day before flushing the toilet.

In most cases, you won’t have to scrub the bowl as the Kool Aid will do all of the work for you. The key to this try is to buy the sugar free version. I don’t know why this version works to clean toilet rings, but it does.

Wrapping Up

Overall, using these tips for how to clean toilet rings will save you money and protect the environment by using fewer harsh chemicals. If you haven’t cleaned your toilet bowl in a while, or if your ring is from hard water, you might still need to scrub a little to get tough stains out or even try a combination of the ideas here.

I started out with the least expensive options first, trying vinegar and baking soda, and then coke before moving on to the other solutions. Each trick did help to clean the toilet ring and eventually we were able to remove.

Looking back, if we would have tried one solution a couple of times and scrubbed a bit, I am certain any of these would have worked wonders.

Now we simply add in some vinegar and baking soda once a week and let it sit for 30 minutes and the toilet bowl rings have not returned.

[Photo Credit: Alexas_Fotos]

Jon Dulin

Hi, my name is Jon and I run Compounding Pennies. I’ve been interested in personal finance since high school and love writing and talking about it. You can learn more about me in the Authors section of this site.