Tuesday tips: Clove oil = mold-be-gone!

Raise your hand if you like the smell of cloves!  (ME!)  Let me introduce you to a little bottle of clove oil, something that will make cleaning your bathroom a far more lovely experience than you achieve with commercial stuff.

 

Clove oil inhibits mold.

Just add a few drops to tap water (maybe 3-4 drops oil for every 8 ounces water).  Pour the mixture into an empty spray bottle, and you have a handy, beautifully-scented mold inhibitor!  I find this especially nice in the bathroom as a final touch after a clean.  Just mist the clove oil-water solution on non-porous surfaces (tile, shower curtain, even your wall and grout are fine) and walk away.  Your bathroom will smell great, and no new mold will start sneaking in behind your back.  Other very effective, natural mold and mildew inhibitors are white vinegar and apple cider vinegar.  Just don't expect any of these to remove the black mold stain, if it had gotten that bad; you will need bleach for that.

A word to parents:  Don't be tempted to go crazy with clove oil and plastic bath toys. I recommend a white vinegar solution for those (LMNOP must have read my mind, and their latest blog post is on this very topic). You can, however, rejoice in clove oil's analgesic properties.  It is apparently excellent for toothaches (though not for sore gums or children under 2).

By the way, many commercial mold removers actually only remove the stain of mold (something clove oil does not do).  They can bleach the surface white, but the spores are still active.  I learned that nasty tidbit from the insurance guy who came to look at the house after we had mushrooms grow out of the carpet.  That whole room was a potential mold zone, and he scoffed at the bottle of Exit Mould our estate agent had provided.  The fumes would have been horrific, and what we needed was a preventative rather than a cover-up.  His suggestion was to wipe down the walls with apple cider vinegar diluted in water.  Much more pleasant, non-toxic and quite effective (also a good kitchen floor cleaner).  Thank you for that!

 

Unrelated, I noticed last week that Small Notebook posted a great cleaning tip I already use (hooray!) on Tuesday!  It's the alliteration: "Tuesday tips" are good!  Do you have any to share?

Comments

[Aussie Mum]

Yes clove oil in water is great for preventing mold in the bathroom - just be sure to dilute it - it is too strong to use on its own. We use it quite a bit in our house along with Bicard and vinegar which is great for cleaning the bathroom.

We also use a few drops of lavendar oil with a drop of detergent in a spray bottle of water which make a great lavendar air freshener for the bathroom etc.

[charlene]

hi there, wonder if someone could help me, i did the clove oil thing a little while ago - i found a recipe in a magazine but couldnt remember the exact dilution, and hence made the solution far too strong so its left a brownish stain on the edge of my plastic bath. i have tried to scrub it, bleach it, and bicarb and vinegar it, with no luck. would hydrogen peroxide do the trick to get the bath white again?? argh!

[heldin im chaos]

Hi Charlene! Thanks for stopping by! I cringe at your clove oil stain. Familiar. I did something similar when I thought a few drops of clove oil per 8oz was surely not enough (it is!). As far as I know, bleach is the only answer to getting that spot white again, though it's possible that stain is pretty tough. Bleach is hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide we keep in our medicine cabinets is such a diluted solution (1.5-3%) that it is useful for bodies, but not for stains. Good luck!