Sprinkle baking soda liberally onto the toilet bowl stains. Use your toilet brush to scrub the stains and create a paste all over the inside of the bowl. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to work on the stain and whiten the porcelain. Pour 2 cups of distilled white vinegar into the toilet bowl.
Flush the toilet to wet the surface of the bowl. Fill a spray bottle with white vinegar and heavily mist the bowl surface. Allow the vinegar to sit for half an hour. Use a toilet brush to scrub away any stubborn stains.
Coke works incredibly well. Use a plastic cup to remove water in the bowl and pour a big bottle of coke in. Let sit for a few hours and use the toilet brush to scrub. Will look like new.
Add vinegar: Pour enough white vinegar into the bowl to completely cover the stained areas. Give it a rest: Let the vinegar soak and do its work for 30 minutes to an hour. The vinegar will efficiently break down mineral deposits and stains. Give it a scrub: Use a toilet brush to give the stained areas a good scrubbing.
Pour about 3/4 of a gallon of chlorine bleach into the toilet bowl. Brush the yellow stains with the chlorine water combo. Let sit for around an hour. Repeat the brushing and sitting over and over again. Go to bed. Get up the next morning and repeat the brushing. Turn the incoming water back on and flush.
Hydrogen peroxide is an abrasive as well as a disinfectant. The solution can work wonders in combination with baking soda to clean out tough yellow stains on your toilet. You'll need a spray bottle for this process because hydrogen peroxide can corrode your skin. Spray the hydrogen peroxide around the toilet bowl.
Vinegar and baking soda: Add 1 or 2 cups of vinegar to the toilet bowl along with a few sprinkles of baking soda. Swish the solution around the bowl with your brush for a few minutes and then let it sit for about 15 minutes. Scrub the stains with your brush (or pumice stone).
White vinegar
The mild acid can dissolve limescale and disinfect. All you need to do is pour a generous amount of white vinegar down your toilet bowl, let it soak in overnight, then scrub with a brush. Then flush to rinse, and voilà, your toilet is back to its former whiteness!
We recommend using a mixture of ¼ cup of vinegar for every 1 cup of water. This ensures your toilet tank is being disinfected without causing damage, which the use of bleach or chemical cleaners can do.
Baking Soda: A Natural Stain Remover and Disinfectant
Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate is another non-toxic alternative to bleach-based toilet cleaners. It is mildly abrasive and can remove stubborn stains, mineral deposits and grime from your toilet bowl.
The 'fizzing' reaction of the baking soda combined with vinegar can also play a part. That fizzing may help to break down the clog into smaller particles, making them easier to flush!
Pour undiluted white vinegar into your toilet bowl, making sure you get it up under the rim where limescale often gathers and cover every part of the surface. Leave it for three to four hours and then scrub it with a brush. Repeat if necessary.
For a toilet that just needs a refresh, Goldzweig recommends a homemade formula of one cup of white vinegar and one cup of baking soda followed by two more cups of vinegar to create a fizzing cleaner. Use the toilet brush to get under the rim and over stains above the water line.
Our favorite, editor-approved toilet bowl cleaner is the Lysol Power Toilet Bowl Cleaner. It's an easy-to-find cleaner that works great on tough stains, has a clean scent, and lasts for a long time.
Simply pour a kettle of almost boiling water into the bowl, follow up with 250ml of citric acid, and leave it for some hours – preferably overnight. The next day, scrub and flush. What's good for those caked-on pots and pans after cooking dinner is also good for removing a brown stain on the bottom of the toilet bowl.
For older stains, using an industrial-strength cleaner like CLR should do the trick. Another less conventional strategy you can try is removing the stains with Coca-Cola. To do this, simply pour a full can of Coke into the toilet and let it sit in the bowl overnight. Then flush the toilet the next day.
It is widely claimed that adding aluminum foil to a toilet tank helps to achieve a clean and shiny toilet, but critics challenge these claims due to a lack of scientific evidence.
Vinegar and baking soda produce that oh-so-familiar chemical reaction that powers through buildup and loosens tough stains. While it might seem like it's chewing its way through grime, it's not powerful enough to damage the porcelain finish of the toilet bowl.
Use vinegar or another acidic cleaner to clean calcium buildup from your toilet. The acid will break down the mineral deposits so you can brush them away. Be sure to take the necessary safety precautions when working with cleaners. Wear gloves and eyewear and open windows for ventilation.
Natural Alternatives for Yellow Toilet Stains. For those looking for a chemical-free option, Poppies' Managing Director Chris Wootton suggests a baking soda and vinegar paste as an effective, natural cleaning solution. He advises mixing a quarter cup of baking soda with about 50ml of warm water to create a paste.
While hard water stains are certainly difficult to remove, they are not permanent. There are several effective, non-toxic cleaners you can use to remove pesky hard water stains from your toilet bowl, including baking soda and vinegar, Bon Ami or Bar Keepers Friend, and borax.