I think of myself as a rather obsessed cleaning nut. I like neatness and order with everything in its place. My sock door is organized and my fridge is clean. But honestly, who ever cleans their garbage disposal? Not this girl….until our kitchen started smelling like sh*t and I had no idea why. It was spotless; not a crumb to be found. Sure enough, it was the drain. So I did what every 30 something working professional does.
I called Mom.
Well… here’s her secret sauce. Best part (besides that my kitchen no longer smells)? You can make it SO easily with items you already have in your kitchen. It’s basically free. The double whammy? You can make it in bulk.
INGREDIENTS
- Distilled white vinegar
- Citrus fruit peels (use ANY that you want – lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges, etc)
- Ice cube tray
A note on the fruit peels: If you don’t want to waste a perfectly good fruit on this, wait until you actually eat the fruit and then throw the peels in a plastic bag and place in the freezer until you have at least 2 or 3 full fruit peels.
Chop up citrus fruit peels in to small pieces. Remember, this is going in your garbage disposal so perfect knife skills are NOT important. Thank goodness!
Stuff the fruit pieces in to each tray cube about 3/4 of the way full.
Then fill with the distilled white vinegar.
Pop in the freezer overnight.
You can definitely use any standard ice cube trays, but really like these because they’re rubber and bendable so it’s super duper easy to pop the cubes out of. (I also use these ice cube trays to freeze all sorts of other things like herbs, juices, etc.)
When possible I try to select the items on Amazon that are eligible for ‘Amazon Prime’ which means the item has two day shipping for FREE (the Amazon Prime items tend to be cheaper as well). If you’re not an Amazon member and want to try out prime, you can try out a 30 day trial here.
Then throw these in to a LABELED plastic sandwich bag (something like “DO NOT EAT – Garbage disposal tablets”). You can envision what I’m trying to prevent. Ugh. Getting shivers just writing this.
Now when you go to clean your garbage disposal (aka when your kitchen starts to smell and you can’t figure out why), simply turn on the hot water, pop a couple of these down the drain, and flip on the disposal.
DONE! Problem solved.
Thanks Mom 🙂
Some of the links in this list are affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you any extra, but I earn a little commission if you decide to purchase. Regardless of whether or not I receive a commission, I only recommend products that I personally use and genuinely recommend!
Jessica says
I’m loving all your DIY house tips! Keep them coming!
Heidi says
Great idea! Love the smell of citrus!
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
Thanks so much 🙂
Heidi says
So excited to see our post featured on your party! We love your blog!
Linda says
This is a very cool (no pun intended) idea!! It will give such a refreshing smell. Best wishes, Linda @Crafts a la mode
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
haha love it !
Sarah says
I wish I had seen this post yesterday when I found myself with loads of orange, lemon, and lime peels that I didn’t know what to do with! This is fantastic – I love that you made a natural cleaning tablet. Thanks for sharing!
Steph says
We often throw all of those things down separately…I wonder if all at once would be a “super clean bomb” of some sort? We’ll have to give it a try!
Jess says
This is just genius! So cool!
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
Thanks so much for hosting! I’ll ‘see you’ next week!
Christine | Where The Smiles Have Been says
What a great idea! We usually buy the little tablets from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and while they work great, they’re quite pricey. Your idea looks like a super simple and thrifty alternative! Pinning for sure! Thanks so much for sharing this with us at Merry Monday! 🙂
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
Exactly! I hate paying so much for those, especially when I had ingredients in the kitchen that worked! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Beverly says
What a great idea. So easy and so effective. I often put lemons in the disposal to make it smell nice. These will be nice to have on hand.
Bev
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
Thanks so much 🙂
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says
How awesome and what a cool idea!
I love the smells of citrus!
Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
Thanks! And thanks for the awesome link party! I’ll “see” you next week!
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
Thanks so much 🙂
Oliva Ohlson says
Thank you so much for the cleaning tip!!! I have only used the cut up citrus fruit to clean the garbage disposal, and it works great…having our citrus trees is wonderful!!! I have never used it with the addition of vinegar. I used the ice cubes (separately) to sharpen the garbage disposal blades. Thank you for this great recipe!!!
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
I’m sooo jealous of you that you have citrus trees! That’s so awesome! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Karen Grosz says
What a great idea. I have just put an orange peel down the garbage disposal but think this would work so much better with the vinegar. Thanks. #LetsGetReal
Jenny says
I have just sent this to my mother as her disposal is always smelling funny what a great idea and home remedies are always the best and cheaper. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me. I hope to see you again this week for another great round of #sharewithme
Linday @ Crazy Organized says
Thanks so much! and yes, see you this week! Thanks again!
Elaine says
I bet they smell great after they have went through! Great idea! Thanks for linking up on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday. Hope to see you again! Pinned!
Debbie @ Bible Fun For Kids says
This is awesome! Pinned it and I will use it! Thanks for sharing!
lorraine williamson says
love how easy and better then pouring bleach down the drain thanks for the cool tip will definitely have to try
Sandy Sandmeyer says
Thank you so much for sharing your post with us at the #AnythingGoes Link Party! The new party goes live today at 6 PM ET.
Amberjane says
Such a cool idea 🙂 – Thanks for linking up to Pin Worthy Wednesday, I have pinned your post to the Pin Worthy Wednesday Pinterest Board.
Marie at The Interior Frugalista says
This tip I do on a regular basis and it works! Nasty smells instantly are removed.
Alison [Life of Scoop] says
Thanks for sharing this post with us at the 100 Happy Days linkup party! I’ve tried every method I could possibly think of to clean our disposal and nothing was working. Whole lemons, concoctions of every cleaning spray, plain ice and hot water. My husband probably thinks I’m a little crazy when I’m fishing out lemon pieces – eww. Anyway, thank you for this trick. I’m going to make some of these tablets this afternoon!