What is a good alternative to borax?
What Is a Good Substitute for Borax? Borax can be substituted by a number of natural ingredients, including vinegar, baking soda and coffee grinds. Many people substitute out Borax because of its harmful qualities. Borax has traditionally been a component of many cleaning solutions. It has been linked to some health and safety concerns.
What are the dangers of borax?
Some potential risks if a child ingests borax include:
- diarrhea
- shock
- vomiting
- death
How to use borax in frugal and effective ways?
How to Use Borax in Frugal and Effective Ways
- Laundry Booster. Borax will whiten your whites, soften hard water, help remove stains, and deodorize your wash. ...
- Stain Remover. Remove stains from stainless steel or porcelain sinks. ...
- Toilet Bowl Cleaner. Loosen the grime buildup in your toilet bowl with borax. ...
- Dishwasher Detergent Boost. ...
- Preserve Fresh-Cut Cut Flowers. ...
- Control Pests. ...
What is borax and is it safe to use?
Borax, also known as sodium tetraborate, is a boron mineral salt. Advocates of borax claim it is natural and safe to use as a cleaner, as it is mined directly from the ground. Opponents of borax remind people that anthrax is found naturally in soil too, but that certainly doesn't make it a good cleaner.
Laundry Booster
Got hard water? Then try boosting the effectiveness of your laundry detergent with baking soda instead of borax. It lowers the pH of hard water just as well as borax does, but is gentler and not toxic.
Deodorizer
Zap odors with gentler ingredients like vinegar. You can use it as a room deodorizer in spray form, such as in this DIY All-Purpose Aromatic Vinegar Spray, or add it to your washing machine rinse cup to deal with a load of particularly smelly clothes. As a bonus, vinegar even acts as a natural fabric softener.
Toilet Bowl Cleaning
Combat toilet bowl odors, mineral stains, and even mildew with a non-toxic green cleaner, such as Eco-Me's Phil Toilet Bowl Cleaner, or simply pour in some baking soda, add a little vinegar, swish, and let it sit. Voilà! You have a clean toilet without using borax.
Porcelain
Want sparkling clean porcelain surfaces? Then use a simple paste of baking soda and water, or if you want to jazz up your cleaning routine with a little aromatherapy, whip up a DIY aromatherapy cleanser or disinfecting cream cleanser. They work just as well, or even better than borax, and are non-toxic.
Delicates
Be gentle with your delicates by using a ready-made green laundry soap or your own homemade linen wash. You can make a lavender citrus linen wash, that is just as gentle on you and the environment as it is your delicates.
Garbage Pails
Instead of sprinkling borax in the bottom of your trash can, try baking soda or even coffee grinds. They work wonders. You can also use baking soda to clean your trash can. Throw in some vinegar for extra odor fighting action.
Refrigerators
Considering borax is something you really don't want to get on your food (it can cause nasty acute health effects like vomiting, nausea, etc.), the last place to use it would be in cleaning out the refrigerator, right? But that's one of the suggestions on the borax box.
Borax Alternatives
Borax isn’t for everyone, and because you can’t actually buy it in the UK, here are some alternative products you should consider using instead…
Conclusion
So, borax cannot be bought in the UK, but there are alternative products you could try instead. The products listed above will work wonders around your home and they’re all fairly safe to use.
FAQs
No, they are not the same thing. You can learn more about the differences between the two products here.
DIY Ant Killer without Borax
The combination of white vinegar and dish soap is an excellent DIY ant killer without Borax. Not only is this all natural ant spray an ant contact killer, but the solution also removes the pheromone ant trail.
Homemade Ant Trap without Borax
There are a few different ways to trap ants, whether you decide to bait ants with a commercial product such as Terro or make a non-toxic trap with household items.
Homemade Ant Killer without Borax
Insects cannot stand the scent of peppermint and avoid it whenever possible. Ant spray made with peppermint essential oil is an excellent tool for eliminating many types of bugs and is also a common ingredient in natural roach spray.
How to Get Rid of Ants with Diatomaceous Earth or Cornmeal
While it’s easy to kill fire ants with Borax, there are other ways to get rid of an ant problem. Consider using food grade diatomaceous earth to eliminate most types of ants around your home.
Archive: Can I Use Boraxo Instead of Borax?
I thought I was buying Borax, but when I received it I actually bought Boraxo? Can it be used the same way? If the cleaning recipe calls for Borax, can I use Boraxo? Does anyone have any cleaning recipes for Boraxo?
Can I Use Boraxo Instead of Borax?
I believe that's just the "brand name" for Borax. Seems I have a box here so I'll go take a look. I'll post again once I look at my box. (06/06/2006)
Can I Use Boraxo Instead of Borax?
Sorry, I was wrong. The box I have is 20 Mule Team Borax. It is a 4 lb 12 oz box. Says it's a natural laundry booster and multi-purpose household cleaner.
Can I Use Boraxo Instead of Borax?
Boraxo is just Borax mixed with soap flakes. They're both put out by 20 Mule Team, so it's no surprise anyone would accidentally buy the wrong one. Boraxo is mostly just meant as a powdered hand cleanser. But if you want other uses for it, plug "uses for Boraxo" into a search engine. That's what I'm doing just out of curiosity. (02/24/2008)
Can I Use Boraxo Instead of Borax?
If you are trying to make crystals for a science project you can absolutely NOT use boraxo instead of borax. It needs to be the one in the green box for the crystal snowflakes. (01/06/2009)
