DIY Cleaning Bombs with Essential Oils

This recipe for DIY garbage disposal cleaning bombs recipe is super easy to make. Made with essential oils and non-toxic ingredients, these cleaning tabs work great as a garbage disposal cleaner, sink, or toilet bowl cleaner.

I am obsessed with deep cleaning the kitchen sink every night after all the dinner dishes are washed. It is a habit that gets me fired up; seeing my kitchen and sink sparkling makes me happy. So, DIY cleaning tablets are the easiest way to quickly clean the garbage disposal without using a store-bought cleaner full of chemicals every night.

I store them in an airtight container and keep them on the kitchen counter for easy grab and drop. And for your convenience, I am also including a free printable cleaning bombs label.

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What are Cleaning Bombs?

These small homemade cleaning tablets are also called cleaning bombs because of the ‘explosive’ -but not harmful!- reaction between the ingredients. The combination of baking soda with citric acid creates a fizzing reaction when they enter into contact with water.

So, feel free to drop them in the garbage disposal, bathroom sink, bathtub, or drop and leave them overnight in the toilet bowl. The baking soda deodorizes while the citric acid does the hard work, descaling hard water stains and effectively removing calcium buildup, making these bombs a great toilet cleaner option.

Cleaning Bombs Uses

These cleaning bombs have multiple uses around the home. Because they are made with natural ingredients, you can feel safe to use them in as many places as needed.

Garbage Disposal Cleaner

Please always execute caution when using the garbage disposal. Do not allow children to do this chore.

With the garbage disposal OFF, place one or two cleaning bombs inside and let them sit on the bottom of the disposal. Open the faucet letting the water run in a small trickle on one side of the sink (not directly over the garbage disposal drain). The water will start slowly filling the compartment, and the bombs will start fizzing. Wait a few minutes, and turn the garbage disposal ON.

Toilet Cleaner Bombs

Drop one or two cleaning bombs inside the toilet bowl. Let them fizz and disappear. Let the product sit for as long as possible, ideally, overnight. If or when your toilet needs a deep cleaning, emptying the toilet bowl might be necessary.

Sink and Bathtub Cleaner

Just as you would clean the toilet bowl, fill the sink, or the bathtub with enough water to dissolve a cleaning bomb. Let the product fizz, and act for a few minutes. Scrub and rinse as necessary.

Garbage Can Deodorizer

Place one tablet inside the garbage can, between the can and the liner (not inside the actual garbage bag). The baking soda in the cleaning bomb will absorb odors, and the essential oils will add a pleasant scent.

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Supplies and Ingredients to Make Cleaning Bombs

To DIY these garbage disposal cleaner bombs, you will need 3 main ingredients. These are the base to make the tablets fizz and clean and deodorize effectively: baking soda, citric acid, and essential oils.

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How to Make Cleaning Bombs

These DIY cleaning bombs are a great craft activity to make with your school-aged kids. Just keep in mind that the fizzing reaction might cause a tickle in the eyes and nose, but this is not harmful. As always, execute caution using kitchen tools, and do not ingest any ingredients.

1. Mix the Dry Ingredients

In a bowl, mix 2 cups of baking soda with 1 cup of citric acid.

Blend using either a fork or your hands. The baking soda tends to clump in little balls, so feel free to break them up by running your fingers through it.

I actually found making these cleaning bombs kind of therapeutic!

2. Prepare the Wet Ingredients

With the dry ingredients ready, proceed to prepare the Castile soap and water mixture, and the essential oils.

Pour a small amount of Castile soap inside a spray bottle and dilute with water.

In a small teaspoon, collect 15-20 drops of essential oils.

Note: You will NOT use all the water. So do not add the essential oils to the spray bottle mixture.

3. add Essential oils

Get your fork ready! Add the essential oils to the dry mixture. Avoid dumping all the oils in one spot. Instead, try to distribute it in different areas in the bowl.

The essential oils will naturally clump and make little pockets, this is when you will use the fork to quickly break those pockets and distribute the oils within the entire baking soda-citric acid mixture.

The scent released by the essential oils in this step, is amazing!

5. Spray water

Spray some water over the dry ingredients. Do this sparingly. You can always add more water, but you can’t take it out.

Mix with your hands, and start testing the texture of the mixture.

You will know the mixture is ready to form the bombs, when it clumps.

6. Fill the mold

Get the silicon mold ready and start pushing little balls of the mixture inside the cavities.

Note: try not to make the balls too big. I made some bombs a little too big, and they puffed up and rose above the mold. This is totally fine. But if you want perfectly flat cleaning bombs, do not fill the cavity to the top, as the bombs tend to expand and puff when they start drying.

If you need to, spray more water over them to push them inside the cavity with ease.

7. Let the Bombs Air Dry

Allow the bombs to air dry. Depending on the temperature and humidity conditions in your home, it may take some time between 1 to 2 hours.

All you have to do is pop them out of the mold!

Try the Bombs in the Garbage Disposal!

How to Store Cleaning Bombs

Store cleaning bombs in an airtight container. I love using wire clamp glass jars to store many kinds of things. But, if you prefer, plastic or acrylic airtight containers work as well.

Free Printable Cleaning Bombs Labels

Download your free Cleaning Bombs label below. Just right-click and save the image to your computer.

1. Using a word processor program, insert the image in an 8.5 x 11 document.
2. Print on sticker paper or waterproof label paper for more durability.
3. Cut with scissors, or punch using a 3-inch round punch.

Cleaning Bombs Recipe Card

For your convenience, here’s a recipe card you can print and keep handy!

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