You usually find hydrogen peroxide in the first aid aisle or in your first aid kit at home, but there are so many other uses for hydrogen peroxide around the home! From cleaning to removing stains hydrogen peroxide is the perfect addition to your DIY cleaning roster!
Stain Remover
Let’s start things off with the application that most of you know about already—hydrogen peroxide as a stain remover. It’s a great alternative to bleach, but bonus, it’s not chlorine bleach so I feel a lot better about using hydrogen peroxide. I like to use hydrogen peroxide in a solution of two parts hydrogen peroxide, and one part dish soap. Mix that all together, blot up your stain first, apply this solution to your stain, let it sit for about 5, 10 minutes and then launder it as usual. This solution really helps nab those stains and you can also use it on carpet or upholstery stains.
Produce Rinse
I don’t know about you, but I’m really not into ingesting pesticides thank you very much. So, a great way to deal with that is to make a solution you of one liter (or one quart) of water, and to that you’re going to add 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide. Dump in the produce that you want to wash, leave it there for a few minutes, give it a good rinse, give it the old pat and dry, and voila! Clean produce, no bacteria and no pesticides.
Grout Cleaner
We get asked a lot about how to clean grout and recently, we had a little bit of a garbage spill at the house—some garbage juice got into a grout line, yuck! Well, there’s a quick solution to clean this up. All you need to do is mix two parts baking soda to one part hydrogen peroxide, get out of cleaning toothbrush, give it a good stir, apply that paste to the affected grout line. Leave it for a few minutes, then give it a good scrub with that cleaning toothbrush. Finally, rinse it really well because the baking soda is going to leave a fine grit behind.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
A lot of people use bleach to clean their toilet bowls and this isn’t really a good solution. Why? Because bleach doesn’t actually clean aything—it disinfects and it can help whiten stains—but it doesn’t clean. So why not use hydrogen peroxide instead? All you need to do is pour about a cup of hydrogen peroxide into the toilet bowl, leave it there for a couple of hours, then get your toilet brush out and give it a really good swish in the bowl. Give it a flush and you’re done. What that will do is help break down stains and get rid of any lingering bacteria.
Clean Your Toothbrush
If you’ve ever looked at your toothbrush and gotten a case of the “ewwwws”, then this is what you need to do. Fill a cup halfway with hydrogen peroxide. Take your toothbrush and just dunk it in there and leave it for about 30 minutes. The hydrogen peroxide will make it look and smell better, and of course, will get rid of any bacteria.
Laundry Aid
Hydrogen peroxide is incredible in the laundry room. The same way you would use bleach, you can use hydrogen peroxide. But frankly, I’d argue that hydrogen peroxide performs even better. Not only does it whiten whites, but new moms who ask me all the time how to deal with baby stains or cloth diaper stains… here’s all you have to do. Take a cup of hydrogen peroxide, add it to the bleach compartment in your machine or just add it to your wash as you normally would with bleach. Hydrogen peroxide has this amazing ability, especially with protein stains, to break the bond between dirt and fabrics. Your stain will loosen up, and it’ll wash out really easily.
Kitchen Disinfectant
If you’re looking for a quick and easy disinfectant in your kitchen, look no further than the friendly brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Now, a quick note here: you want to make sure that you test it in a hidden area on any kitchen surface before you actually use it in a wider spread application just to make sure you don’t get any weird discoloration. After all, hydrogen peroxide does technically have the ability to bleach things. So, if you want to use it in the kitchen to disinfect an area—say you’ve got some meat juice on the counter—take some hydrogen peroxide and spray it onto the surface and leave it for about 10 minutes. That will give the hydrogen peroxide the time to do its thing. Then, you want to wipe the surface clean, give it a good final rinse, and the surface will be clean and bacteria free!
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I use hydrogen peroxide to clean my glass sliding doors, grout and mirrors. When cleaning glass, at first it looks like it is smearing but then it clears up and they’re so shiny. I suggests when using hydrogen peroxide you wear gloves because it can irritate your hands.
Can I use 2 cups H P diluted with water to clean my carpets?
I’ve been doing this tip for a long time. I get a decent sized cup. Put in equal amounts of rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and then and a bit of very hot water. Then take my toothbrush and swirl it around in the cup to mix it up then let it sit for a couple of hours. Makes my toothbrush look and feel brand new. Also love all the other tips. It’s hard for me to clean all the time. But it’s nice for tips and tricks. Thanks!
Hi Melissa,
Hope your family is doing good.
I need help from you dear. I m looking for something to remove one month old hair dye stain from the bedroom tiles floor. I have tried almost every cleaning product from Rubbing alcohol, acetone nail polish remover, toothpaste, baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, dish washing liquid etc. The stain has been lightened but still there. I m really upset as it really does not look good at all.
I want to clean it. Plz suggest me some magic how to clean it?
Plz reply me asap.
Thanks and best regards,
Saadia.
Your hard work has paid off. I appreciate these alternatives to cleaning. Instead-of loading up on commercial harsh products. Vinegar, peroxide, and baking soda here I come. Ps: fruits also for good house smells.
????
Thank you sooo much!
I heard that for stronger disinfecting power, spray with vinegar first followed by peroxide.
Hydrogen Peroxide come in various strengths ( I have both 1% and 3%) , You don’t say which strength you are suggesting. I am fairly certain that 1% is for first aid but which strength are you recommending for effective cleaning?
To clarify (I checked my bottles) I was wrong. The strengths that they come in are 3% and 10%, both are found side by side at the drugstore. Which strength are you using for cleaning? Thanks!
A 3% solution is the one that is normally used for desinfection wounds and bleeching teeth. Stronger solutions can be harmful if not used properly
Hard to respect what she immediately starts off saying that you can use it for cleaning wounds. DON”T DO THIS! Hydrogen peroxide can damage tissue, even healthy tissue, and delay healing. The bubbling you see has nothing to do with cleaning out the wound.
Wrong..peroxide is being used in wounds especially when there is a greenish pus from it due to pseudononas bacterial colonisation.
Is hydrogen peroxide color safe for laundry?
It really depends on the color/dyes used to color the fabric. I would definitely avoid using it on color loads to be safe. Thanks for watching!
I use it on colours, as well as whites. Just don’t let it sit too long before laundering or it will have a bleach-like effect on the laundry, accidentally did this once. 5 mins is as long as you want to leave it before laundering.
Great to use in a spray bottle for the shower????
I’ve used it with baking soda to clean and freshen my garbage disposal. Works every time!
I never thought of hydrogen peroxide as a cleaner. I must try some of your suggestions ASAP! Thanks for the tips everyone
I use a spray bottle of all hydrogen peroxide and one squirt of dawn dish soap as a carpet spot cleaner. It is amazing at getting out red wine stains and any others.
I think H2O4 works miracles with pet stains. A cat peed on a futon mattress and a combination of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda took the smell out entirely! I used it on some other pee stains on white carpet, too.
I’ve been using hydrogen peroxide for years to clean in hard areas around taps and faucets.
I LOVE hydrogen peroxide and I use it ALL the time. I love cleaning things like the kids lunch kits when I want to kill the germs, but not the kids! I also use it to clean my counters like you suggest, but I also use it in conjunction with vinegar. According to David Suzuki (and he wouldn’t lie to us!)
“According to research published in Science News, this pairing is 10 times more effective than disinfecting with either substance alone and more effective than bleach in the kitchen.”
http://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/queen-of-green/faqs/cleaning/non-toxic-disinfecting/
Thanks for another awesome video!