Natural Mold Cleaner
This natural mold cleaner is also fantastic for cleaning mildew. My mum has always cleaned the bathroom with vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and tea tree oil. She will often get a soft cloth and wipe the basins out with pure tea tree oil before guests arrive to naturally disinfect and clean surfaces and give them a gorgeous fresh smell. It works a treat.
We feel very Australian using native tea tree oil all over the house.
The powerful medicinal and anti microbial powers of tea tree oil are incredible. If you don’t have a bottle of this magical stuff in your house get one. Tea tree oil can be used to treat all kinds of wounds, skin ailments, coughs and colds. But it is absolutely fantastic for cleaning mold and mildew.
My mum and dad live in a Victorian terrace house with an old claw-foot bath in their bathroom with an old-fashioned shower curtain. It all looks incredible, but can be a pain to clean.
My mum cleans it once a week by using this homemade tea tree spray and a scrubbing brush.
She sprays this solution on, gives it a good scrub, and then soaks it, rinses it, and hangs it out to dry in the sunshine. This natural mold cleaner also works well on bathroom tiles and surfaces.
Give this natural mold cleaner a go and let me know if it works for you.
Other DIY Natural Cleaning Recipes For You
Natural Homemade Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Natural Glass and Window Cleaner
Homemade Natural Laundry Detergent Powder
Natural DIY Surface Cleaner
Natural Baking Soda Cream Cleaner
Natural Wood Furniture Polish
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments!
Your feedback is really important to me, and it helps me decide which recipes to post next for you.
Comments 27
I am going straightaway to the kitchen and mixing this up for my bathrooms! What a great idea. And if your mum has been using it for decades, that’s all I need to know! 😀
Hope you are enjoying every second of your vacation, Tess. Hope you will be posting some pics of Australia so I can drool with envy! xo
LOVE YOU Ricki!
Yes, my mum ROCKS with the green cleaning ideas!
I had a WONDERFUL time in Australia with my family. I will call you soon with updates about BlogHer Food too!!!! xx
Have you ever tried Thieves essential oil from Young Living? It actually kills black mold but is safe enough to ingest. It will also keep killing molds after used. It is another great cleaning and immunity synergy of oils and therapeutic grade.
Thanks Leah! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Young Living Oils. I have not tried the Thieves essential oil for mold. But I am getting right on it. Thankyou SO much for sharing this amazing tip!
Hope you’re enjoying your time in Australia, and not finding it too cold. Good to see that you have that bit of Australiana in your post (Tea Tree). I also use Clove Bud Oil for mould.
Thanks so much Suz! I had a WONDERFUL time with my family and friends in Australia.
THANKYOU SO much for the Clove Bud Oil tip. I have never used that and CANNOT wait to try it. LOVE learning new things.
Thanks for taking the time to share.
Thank you thank you thank you!
You are so welcome. I am glad you are enjoying the recipes. Thanks for taking the time to show your support. I really appreciate it.
Trying this today!! Just started to go more natural. Quick ques.- Can this also be used in the kitchen and other eating areas? Is it “safe”?
Kate – Yes. I use this in the kitchen too.
Although, tea tree oil is not good if you have cats.
Hi, I was going to mix up your mold and mildew recipe, but just noticed that you said, “…tea tree oil is not good if you have cats.” What do you mean? We have an indoor-outdoor cat who does not go in our bathroom, and doesn’t get on the kitchen counters. In what way would using this be harmful to our cat? I was soooo looking forward to using something natural (i.e. not bleach) to get rid of mold.
Is that a Full Circle scrubbing pad I’m spying in the background?? I love mine!
Yes! It IS a Full Circle scrubbing pad.
Aren’t they just the BEST?! LOVE LOVE LOVE them!
Great cleaning tips! Managing cleaning and raising a family is tough but you always made it easy by providing such easy tips!
Yes, Love natural cleaning recipes.
Thanks for the recipe. I am going green now that I have a baby. How long do you let the spray set before you brush and wipe?
LOVE that you are making the switch. How long you leave the mixture on the surface depends on how bad the mold is/how dirty etc. I sometimes only leave it on for a few minutes, and I have left it on for half an hour or more. I hope you get good results with this. Always test any surface with a quick wipe before doing lengthy amounts of time with any solution.
Hi just found your site. Am going to try some of the recipes later. I will probable try them all. Have to get all the stuff first.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you.
Great! Welcome. Enjoy the recipes 🙂
In your first recipe what are the ratios? Vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, tea tree oil. It sounds awesome just want to make sure I do it right.
Also was curious about,why not to use around cats,I have two.
Sorry for the confusion. It’s not a mixture. She uses baking soda and water, lemon juice and water, straight tea tree oil, etc. Tea tree oil should not be used around cats as they can have a serious allergic reaction. Here is some more info for you about it:
http://allnaturalpetcare.com/blog/2012/05/08/is-tea-tree-oil-melaleuca_alternifolia-leucadendron-safe-for-pets/
Mold can be very stubborn, so it’s unusual when people go first to homemade eco mold cleaners, but I’ve tried everything already, so I guess this won’t hurt.
I have found this works, but it can be difficult to remove mold and mildew that has been built up over years.
Hello – just tried your Magic Mold and Mildew Cleaner recipe. My daughter and I followed your instructions, and the only thing was, the Borax wouldn’t fully dissolve, even though the water was very warm. Were we supposed to put this into a blender to get it to mix? After trying and trying, I finally poured off the liquid from the non-dissolving Borax (probably about 1/4 of a cup wouldn’t dissolve), and tried putting that back in the spray bottle. Even without 1/2 of the recommended amount of Borax, the spray bottle keeps clogging. I gave up and just had my daughter pour out the mixture onto the shower tiles, because spraying isn’t working. I’d really like to get this to go through the spray bottle, as it’s much more efficient, and doesn’t waste the cleaning solution. Any tips?
Thankyou for sharing your experience. I am sorry you had problems. You can either blend it all or get the water really hot. If that doesn’t work you could apply the solution with a rag. Although, I hear you, that is not ideal.
Thank u so much for sharing this amazing recipe! I tried it and it works great! I previously used to clean mold with “mold control” but it didn’t work as good as Magic Mold and Mildew Cleaner!
I’m so glad it worked so well for you. Thanks for sharing.