13 Home Cleaning Hacks with Hydrogen Peroxide

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While it is a perfect antiseptic for cleaning cuts, scrapes, and helping relieve burns, hydrogen peroxide also has some surprising uses to boost your cleaning around the house. Take a look at some of our favorite cleaning hacks with hydrogen peroxide.

Blue spritzer bottle in front of a curtain

Bathroom Hacks

These hydrogen peroxide cleaning hacks for your bathroom are great to add to your favorite vinegar based cleaning routine.

Loosen Grime Around the Tub

Soap scum and dirt tend to find their resting place in the corners and crevices of your bathtub or shower. It’s not frustrating enough that they are in the hard to reach corners of your tub, but they are also usually too grimy or dry to easily clean.

Mix half hydrogen peroxide and half water in a spray bottle and liberally douse those corners. After 10-15 minutes, the non-toxic cleaner will loosen up the soap scum and make wiping it away a breeze. This also works for shower door tracks, around the faucet area and ​on your prized rain shower head.

White and black cat on a white tub

Clean your Toothbrush

Just because it cleans your mouth, doesn’t mean that this daily use item is clean. After you finish brushing and rinsing, your toothbrush holds onto loads of germs and bacteria. This is also why dentists recommend changing out your toothbrushes every 3 months.

In between changing out your toothbrush, you can use hydrogen peroxide to clean it once a week. This insures that you are killing off any germs and bacteria so your toothbrush and mouth stay clean. To use this great hack, simply pour some hydrogen peroxide in a cup and let your toothbrush soak for a minute or two. Rinse it well and it’s ready for use.

If you are feeling uncomfortable with placing a toothbrush cleaned with hydrogen peroxide back in your mouth, you should take comfort knowing that with normal household hydrogen peroxide at 3% is not harmful if small amounts are swallowed. Higher doses of this product can cause some upset stomach and vomiting, but that is more along the lines of if you take a rather large sip.

Kitchen Hacks

When you’re committed to cleaning the kitchen, you’re going to want to bring a whole bottle of this stuff with you once you take a look at some of these easy cleaning hacks using hydrogen peroxide.

Clean Burned Sheet Pans

Unless you always use aluminum foil  on your cookie sheet pans, you end up getting a burned on or greasy layer that is almost impossible to clean off. To bring your pans back to life all you need is some hydrogen peroxide.

Sprinkle some baking soda onto your sheet pans first and then pour non-diluted hydrogen peroxide into the pan. Finish by sprinkling a little more baking soda onto the top and let the cleaning agents sit in the pan for about two hours. After the long soak, grimy baked on stains should be easily wiped clean with a sponge.

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Rinse Produce Before Eating

Using only water for rinsing your fresh fruits and vegetables may remove the surface dirt but it isn’t as effective at removing pesticides and potentially harmful bacteria. Depending on what you are washing and what you have on hand, you can clean your fresh produce a few different ways.

  • ​Use a spray bottle filled with half water and half hydrogen peroxide to spray your produce before rinsing it with clean water.
  • ​Pour half water and half hydrogen peroxide into a bowl and soak your vegetables or fruit for 3-5 minutes before rinsing them with clean water.
White bowl of red strawberries

Soaking can be a more effective way of cleaning. Leaving your food in a bath that removes and kills harmful bacteria as well as loosens up any dirt. Spraying the fruit and rinsing it off may miss some of the bacteria or dirt.

Disinfect Granite

While more popular non-toxic cleaners are vinegar or lemon based chemicals, these highly acidic products should be kept far from your granite surfaces. So, what is a good natural cleaner you can use on your stone surfaces without harming them?

You might be surprised to know that hydrogen peroxide is 100% safe for your granite surfaces. You can dilute it with 50% water or spray it directly from the bottle onto your granite surfaces to wipe them down as well as disinfect them.

Clean Stainless Steel Appliances

Hydrogen peroxide is also a great choice for cleaning your stainless steel surfaces in the kitchen. This product works to brighten up the surfaces while also leaving a streak free shine.

You can mix the hydrogen peroxide with water to dilute it a little, or simply spray direct from the bottle onto your stainless steel appliances. Use a sponge to scrub off any crusty food particles. Or, use a paper towel to brighten up surfaces that don’t need any additional scrubbing. No rinsing is needed afterwards.

General Cleaning Hacks

These great cleaning hacks with hydrogen peroxide are useful all around the home. Take a look at some of our favorite ways to utilize the oxygenated cleaning power of hydrogen peroxide for general cleaning.

Clear Mold

This is one of the worst things to clean since mold usually also means you have further issues to handle due to excess moisture in your home. If you don’t find or fix the source of the mold growth, you won’t be able to completely get rid of it. It doesn’t matter what you use for cleaning.

Hydrogen peroxide kills mold without giving off a toxic smell or harming the environment like bleach. You can either dilute it with two parts water or use it full strength, depending on the surface you are spraying down. Let the cleaner sit and then wipe the mold residue away.

Defeat Dust Mites

Hydrogen peroxide is a good way to help keep dust mites from taking over your bed and causing allergy issues. Once every two weeks, spray your uncovered mattress with a 50/50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and water.

Vacuum or steam clean the top of your mattress. This will help to kill and remove large amounts of dust mites so you can rest better.

Shine Windows

A 50/50 solution of water and hydrogen peroxide will have your windows and other glass surfaces free from grime while leaving them with a streak free shine.

Use this non-toxic cleaning spray the same as you would any other store-bought window cleaner. Simply spray and then wipe the entire surface clean with a paper towel or newspaper.

Bright white windows with some planters

Clean Fish Tanks

This is one of our favorite hydrogen peroxide cleaning hacks. Normally, when cleaning a fish tank you can’t use any type of cleaner. Cleaners can harm or kill your fishy friends once they are put back inside the tank.

Hydrogen peroxide is safe to use since it is not highly acidic nor is it toxic on surfaces. Remove your fish and empty the fish bowl. Spritz some 50/50 water and hydrogen peroxide cleaner into the fish tank and let it sit for a few minutes to loosen any grime. Then rinse the fish tank thoroughly to make sure it is all out before returning your fish to their clean home.

Remove Carpet Stains

This non-toxic cleaner is great for removing those difficult organic carpet stains such as blood, wine, and coffee. Just make sure you test an inconspicuous area of your rug or carpet to make sure it won’t fade the colors.

Hydrogen peroxide can lighten darker carpets, so this may be more of a hack for lighter carpets with stains. Spray the stained area with a mix of 50/50 water and hydrogen peroxide and let it sit for a minute or two. Blot up the stain with a paper towel or cloth. You can rinse the area with a wet cloth by blotting the area. Afterwards, make sure to dry the carpet with a great stick vacuum for the job.

Laundry

Adding hydrogen peroxide in with your laundry is a great way to keep your ​whites and linens looking bright. It can offer stain removal in the pre-wash stages as well. Check out our top laundry cleaning hacks with hydrogen peroxide below.

White lnens on a clothesline

Whiten Armpit Stains

One of the easiest ways to get rid of gross armpit stains on your white shirts is to soak the area with hydrogen peroxide and dish detergent. The mix of one part Dawn and two parts hydrogen peroxide work to remove the stain. This mix also brings the original white back to the area with the brightening powers of peroxide.

You will need to let this cleaner sit for about an hour or two before washing. It needs to soak into the fibers of your shirt and work.

Brighten Without Bleach

Hydrogen peroxide has a brightening agent inside. You can pour some in with your white laundry as a bleach alternative in the washing machine. You can also create your own bleach alternative with simple ingredients so that you have a non-toxic bleach on hand for day to day use.

Bonus Beauty Hacks

Hydrogen peroxide is a great addition to your daily cleaning routine thanks to these great hacks. Also consider using it in the bathroom to help with your beauty routine too!

  • ​Mix with water and spray into your hair to brighten natural highlights
  • ​Pour on a cotton ball and dab onto acme to help clean blemishes
  • ​Add a splash to your foot spa for a cleansing foot cleaner

​Conclusion

With all of these great cleaning hacks, what are you waiting for? Start adding hydrogen peroxide to your cleaning routine right away so you can reap the benefits of a natural and non-toxic cleaning in your home.

Lauren Moldvay is a freelance writer from Virginia and the mother of one (not always) sweet little girl. She specializes in trying to help others find easier ways to clean, manage the home and save money with DIY projects.