6 Household Uses of Hydrogen Peroxide
Cleaning a household with a variety of surfaces can create challenges for purchasing and storing cleaning agents. Those wanting the toxins and chemicals in their home are looking for options. However, hydrogen peroxide is one agent already in many homes getting used for cleaning multiple surfaces. Continue reading to discover six household uses of hydrogen peroxide. These six uses will change the way you clean your house.
1. Sanitize the Refrigerator
Hydrogen peroxide is a fantastic option when your refrigerator and freezer need cleaning. Another benefit of using hydrogen peroxide, it can be done without scratching surfaces. Also, hydrogen peroxide is odorless, leaving no smells seeping into your foods.
To make hydrogen peroxide easier to use in the refrigerator and freezer, pour it into a dark-colored spray bottle. Spraying shelves and racks is more accessible than pouring the solution mixture from its bottle. Dark bottles protect the efficiency of hydrogen peroxide. Therefore, if you do not have a dark bottle, cover the outside of your bottle with aluminum foil.
2. Clean Tile Grout
It is not unusual for the grout between bathroom tiles to become discolored from water, dirt, and bacteria. However, homeowners want clean, white grout, making rooms appear cleaner. Cleaning those small spaces dredges images of scrubbing tiles with a toothbrush. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
While several solutions are promising to clean grout, there are products in many homes to clean grout. Many DIY recipes for grout cleaning contain common household items, including hydrogen peroxide. Items needed for one of the best mixtures for cleaning grout include:
- ½ cup baking soda
- ¼ cup 35% hydrogen peroxide
- 1 tsp dish soap
Mix the three ingredients in a bowl. Put the mixture on the dirty grout with a plastic spoon and wait 5-10 minutes. Scrub areas and rinse.
3. Boost Live Plants
The pandemic resulted in more households than ever enjoying the beauty that live plants add to a home. However, living plants can create challenges without knowledge of caring for plants.
Food grade 35% hydrogen peroxide blends essential liquids to help keep plants alive. Those ingredients are hydrogen and oxygen, which create a healthy and beneficial environment for plant cell structure. Other benefits include:
- Helps plant roots grow faster
- Protects plants against mold, bacteria, and mildew
- Improves the quality of plants – color and overall health
- Remove unwanted microbes
4. Brighten Discolored Cookware
Those who enjoy cooking know that cookware is going to become discolored. Cookware comes in contact with food, oils, and high temperatures from the stove or oven. Although many toxic chemicals get marketed to brighten cookware, your home has the ingredients already there to clean cookware.
Like many DIY cleaning methods, this one also calls for making a paste using hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Once made, they should spread this concoction across the stained areas for 20-30 minutes before wiping clean. This DIY paste will leave your cookware clean enough for serving meals.
5. Freshen and Disinfect Kitchen Sponges
Kitchen sponges are crucial in a kitchen. They are used to clean surfaces, dishes, and appliances. Sponges come in contact with not only food items; they also touch the dirt and grim. They become breeding grounds for spreading bacteria.
Hydrogen peroxide can also clean sponges. The steps for that include:
- Put sponges in a large bowl
- Pour in hydrogen peroxide until it covers the sponges
- Let sponges sit for 20 minutes
- Rinse and let them dry
6. Dingy Laundry
White clothes and linens are beautiful as long as they stay white. Without a ton of bleach products, keeping whites is challenging. However, hydrogen peroxide is a great way to make dingy laundry white, increasing the items’ longevity.
For a full load of laundry, add 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide to the washing machine before putting the clothes and water in. For laundry, hydrogen peroxide also:
- Removes stains
- Removes stains from towels and washcloths
- Brightened colored clothing
- Clean and disinfect washing machine
Conclusion
As you have read, cleaning a household with a variety of surfaces can create challenges for purchasing and storing cleaning agents. Many want to limit the number of toxins and chemicals in the home and use hydrogen peroxide throughout the house. The six household uses for hydrogen peroxide listed above will change how you clean your home.