PreparednessMama

Food Storage, Gardening, and Self-Reliance for Busy Moms

  • Home
  • Food Storage
    • Canning Techniques
    • Other Preservation Methods
    • Long Term Food Storage
    • How Do I Store That?
    • Grains, Beans, & Seeds
    • Wholesale Bulk Buying
    • Kitchen Tips
    • Food Storage Recipes
    • Thrive Life
  • Gardening
    • What’s Your Garden Style?
    • Composting & Soil Building
    • Gardening for Food Production
    • Tips, Tricks, Sprays & Brews
    • Grow & Use Herbs
    • Organic Harvest 15
  • Preparedness
    • 72 Hour Survival Kits
    • Make a Plan
    • Water Storage
    • DIY Preps – You Can Make It Yourself
    • Finances
    • Preparedness Reference Library
  • Resources
    • Fresh Fruit And Vegetable Guide
    • eBooks & Printables
  • About
    • Disclosure & Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
Home » Blog » 22 Unexpected Uses for Borax Around the House

25 Unexpected Uses for Borax Around the House

By PreparednessMama on July 10, 2020 * 18 Comments

This Old Time Product Has Many Uses Besides Your Laundry

22 Uses for Borax Around the House (infographic) | PreparednessMama

 

What is Borax?

Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. Unlike boric acid, sodium tetraborate is not toxic.

Sodium borate is a soft white crystal that dissolves easily in water. If exposed to dry air, it loses its hydration and becomes sodium tetraborate pentahydrate. This can be found in the same section as laundry detergents in the supermarket.

In this article, we will discuss some lesser known uses of borax.

What is Borax Made of?

The white, powdered borax that you usually find in the grocery store consists of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water. It is not boric acid, which is more acidic and might easily turn toxic if absorbed through broken skin.

I’ve been using borax as an ingredient in homemade laundry detergent for several years now. It’s inexpensive and easy to find at any grocery store.

Borax has a wide variety of uses around the house. Did you know it has many other cleaning uses besides the laundry?

Sodium borate is different from its more acidic parent, but are there any cautions? With a pH around 9.5, Borax is highly alkaline, which makes it irritating to the skin and eyes when used undiluted.

In any form – borax, sodium borate or boric acid – undiluted borax should not be used as an eyewash or skin scrub nor should you drink it, (which I’m pretty sure you already figured out.)

But for occasional indirect contact, using sodium borate in things like cleaning products is safe.

So, what are the common (and less common) uses for borax? Continue reading to learn more.

Check Price

Uses for Borax

Borax Cleaning Uses

Is borax safe as a cleaner? Let’s find out.

  1. Used as an aid to your carpet cleaning machine. Just add 1/2 cup of borax sodium tetraborate per gallon of water. See a more detailed recipe in the “Other DIY Recipes Using Borax” subtopic.
  2. Pour one box of sodium borate powder into the toilet bowl and leave overnight. You’ll see amazing results the next day!
  3. Clean mold and mildew. Mix one cup of borax with one quart of hot water. Pour into a spray bottle. Spray on mold and mildew until it is saturated. Wait several hours, then rinse thoroughly.
  4. Clean the floor. Put one-fourth cup of borax and one-half cup of vinegar into a bucket. Fill it up with hot water. Add a small amount of dish soap. Use the solution to mop your floors.
  5. Used as an all-purpose cleaner. This is one of the most common borax uses. Mix two tablespoons of borax with two cups of water. Mix the solution in a spray bottle, and you have your very own all-purpose cleaner.
  6. Borax cleans violin strings! Just dampen a brush then dip in borax. Then, rinse with warm water. But make sure that the water or borax does not get in contact with the body of the violin.
  7. Borax removes rust. Mix borax with warm water and lemon juice to create a paste. Then, apply to the area with rust.
  8. Used in cleaning outdoor furniture. Combine borax with warm water and dish soap. Place the solution in a spray bottle then start spot cleaning.
  9. Clear clogged drains. Borax is a much less toxic alternative to regular drain cleaners. Pour 3.5 oz (100 mg) of borax down the drain, then add 13.5 fl oz (around 400 ml) of boiling water. Let sit at least 15 minutes and flush with several more cups of boiling water. If necessary repeat until the obstruction is gone.
  10. Get rid of urine smell. Borax is very effective at removing persistent urine odors from a mattress. So, if your kid has wet the bed, dampen the problem area, rub it with borax, and use a vacuum cleaner to remove the solution once everything has dried off.
  11. Keep windows and mirrors stain-free. Add 1 tbsp of borax to 10 fl oz (300 ml) of water, soak a clean sponge in the solution and give your mirrors and windows a nice wash.
  12. Disinfect the garbage disposal. To keep nasty bacteria and mold buildup at bay, give your garbage disposal unit some TLC every two weeks. Just pour 3 tbsp of borax down the drain, leave it there for around one hour, and flush with hot water afterward.
  13. Make (crazy cheap) DIY laundry soap. You’ll need just borax, baking soda, and a bar of Fels-Naptha. Preparedness Mama has a whole step-by-step guide to making this lifesaver. Check it out here: Stocking Up On DIY Laundry Soap.

Borax Uses in Your Garden and Backyard

These less known uses for borax include non-invasive ways to improve the health of plants and animals.

14. Used as a solution to promote fruit and seed development for fruit trees. Just spray a solution of borax powder and water (10:1) onto the soil around, say, a full-grown apple tree every 3 to 4 years. The borax solution will add boron to the soil. Click here for the tops signs of boron deficiency in plants.

15. With the help of borax, freshly-cut flowers can be preserved for an extended period of time.

16. Sprinkle sodium borate powder on the floor to get rid of mice.

17. Borax can be used to combat bugs including ants, cockroaches, and other pests. Just sprinkle equal parts of borax and sugar on the area where you think the pests are present. However be wary that borax can be very toxic to small kids and pets if ingested in large quantities. (Here are several more natural methods of pest control for your yard and garden: Natural Garden Pest Control Methods)

Warning: Don’t use borax freely in your garden as it can be toxic to plants. Use a diluted solution on some plants and see how they react. If it is too much dilute it some more.

Other DIY Recipes Using Borax

18. GooGone Remover: Mix 1/2 cup borax with 1/4 cup of water (always use this 2 to 1 ratio) until completely incorporated. Rub on hands or household items to get rid of adhesive residue.

19. Carpet Cleaner: In a pint mason jar, mix 2 cups of cornmeal with 1 cup of borax. Sprinkle the mixture over your carpets and leave for at least an hour. Add an essential oil if you choose. Vacuum it up and enjoy fresh carpets. You can use a regular jar lid into a shaker by punching nail holes through it.

For more DIY natural cleaners that are just as effective as their commercial counterparts – but much milder on your health and pocket, see our related post: Make a DIY Natural Cleaning Kit. 

20. Weed killer: Sprinkle borax on unwanted weeds and in sidewalk cracks. Not watering is necessary. Be sure you do not get any in your garden as it will kill any plant it lands on!

21. Flea destroyer: The humble borax can help you get rid of some of the nastiest home flea infestations. Just mix the chemical with regular table salt in equal parts and scrub the mixture onto furniture, carpet, cracks and other places fleas might have set their base. Wait 24 hours and vacuum.

Repeat the process until you get rid of all the fleas (in serious infestations, you might need to do it every 12 hours). The borax-based solution will dry out both the fleas and their eggs. Warning: Do not use this solution on your pets’ coat as it is toxic to them.

22. Old-time pink eye remedy. Before people rushed to their GP for every minor ailment, pink eye used to be treated in just a few days with a mild borax-based treatment.

Check Price

Mix 1 cup of warm distilled water with 1/8 tsp Mule Team Borax. Sterilize the entire area around the eye with a cotton ball soaked in the solution and add a couple of drops of the mix in the affected eye.

23. Athlete’s foot treatment: Borax is very effective at fighting off stubborn fungal infections such as athlete’s foot. You’ll need to make a borax – hydrogen peroxide solution to soak your feet in. Borax is the key ingredient but hydrogen peroxide will help it get into the skin better.

Mix 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide with two parts of hot tap water, not boiling, to dilute the hydrogen peroxide to 1 percent. You need to get the hydrogen peroxide down to 1% because otherwise it would be too abrasive on your skin. The human skin produces hydrogen peroxide on its own so you need to give it just one gentle boost in case of a fungal infection.

Next add 1 cup of borax to the peroxide-water solution and stir. Make sure that all the borax is dissolved then add a spoonful of borax and dissolve that too. Keep adding borax until it no longer dissolves. At that point, the solution is saturated with borax.

Use 3 quarts of the solution to soak your feet. Make sure that the solution is warm and that is covers your feet entirely. Before the soak, gently clean your feet with mild liquid soap. Don’t use too much soap as you don’t want to strip your skin of its protective natural oils when dealing with a fungal infection.

Repeat the treatment every day for about one week. Then, repeat every other day until symptoms subside.

24. Crystals: Yes, you can make borax crystals with boiling water! Just mix borax with hot water. Hot water molecules will allow the crystals to form.

25. Natural joint pain relief. Borax in minuscule doses has been used internally for decades as a natural treatment for arthritic pain and even osteoporosis. It is believed that the powdered white mineral is so effective at it that it prompted Big pharma pull some strings in Europe, Australia, and other parts of the world to get it banned.

We don’t know how much of this story is truth or fiction, but there are legions of arthritis sufferers that swear by the method.

Final Thoughts 

What other ways can you use borax? Cleaning, disinfecting and pest control will most certainly be involved. Be sure to check out the infographic below (pin it for later) and learn some old-fashioned ways to use borax for more than your laundry. This is the kind I purchase at my local grocer or on Amazon: 20 Mule Team Borax.

Thanks for supporting PreparednessMama by using the Amazon affiliate links on this page!

Disclaimer: This post was not designed to diagnose, give medical advice or prescribe any kind of treatment. It is intended only for educational purposes. For any health issue and conditions consult with a healthcare professional.

You might also like: 16 Fantastic Uses for Super Washing Soda | PreparednessMama

More Uses for Borax:

22 Uses for Borax Around the House (infographic) | PreparednessMama


Source: eReplacementParts.com

PreparednessMama
Preparedness Mama and its collaborators have created a one-stop shop of critical resources for families looking to prepare for disaster. We know firsthand that getting ready for the worst with a big family poses some particular challenges.
 
We’ve learned from the past so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes again. Fear of the unknown is one of the scariest things in life, but we hope that Preparedness Mama’s treasure trove of practical advice will make that unknown less daunting and ultimately help take the scared out of being prepared for every single one of our readers.

Comments

  1. diane @smartmoneysimplelife says

    August 22, 2015 at 5:13 pm

    Who knew?! I’m definitely going to try it as a path weed killer. It has to be better than the toxic stuff like glyphosate.

    Reply
  2. Emma Newman says

    September 14, 2015 at 9:51 am

    Borax is just great! I can’t imagine keeping the household without using it! It has so many wonderful properties as a cleaner, weed killer, laundry detergent, mold cleaner and so on! Thank you for sharing these great recipes! I am always looking for new recipes and ideas. The post and the infographic are lovely! Great job! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Irene Chapa says

    February 6, 2019 at 4:17 pm

    I need to know if Borax kills termites?

    Reply
    • A Biology Teacher. says

      July 13, 2020 at 6:10 pm

      I don’t know how it is dry, but I killed a few thousand hatchlings in an emergency by sweeping them up and dumping them into a bucket of water with 2 cups of borax in it. Frankly, dish soap would also have drowned them, or anything that would eliminate the surface tension of the water.

      Reply
  4. overwatch aimbots says

    August 17, 2019 at 6:21 am

    Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I am very glad to see such great information being shared freely out there.

    Reply
  5. Jay S. says

    January 30, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    A couple corrections: 1.) boric acid is not “caustic” (which implies very high pH/alkaline), it is actually mildly acidic; 2.) sodium borate is synonymous with “borax” (there’s sodium pentaborate, sodium decaborate, etc.), and 3.) borax is not extremely alkaline. It is moderately alkaline, about 9 on the pH scale when fully dissolved in water (about the same as baking soda). As a comparison, pure water is 7 1/2 pH, blood is about 8 pH, ant-acid tablets are about 10 pH, bleach is about 13 pH and drain cleaner is about 14 pH.

    Reply
    • PreparednessMama says

      February 28, 2020 at 5:12 am

      Hey, Jay! Thanks for the great input. We’ve made the corrections where necessary.

      Reply
    • Stephen Spencer says

      July 29, 2020 at 4:14 pm

      I’m curious how you get two cups of cornmeal and one cup of borax into a two cup pint jar???

      Reply
  6. Yvonne says

    March 19, 2020 at 2:31 pm

    love this info. Just cleaned the toilet and intend on using a lot of your info. thank you so much

    Reply
    • PreparednessMama says

      March 25, 2020 at 8:24 am

      Hello Yvonne,

      We’re glad we could help.

      Thank you for stopping by!

      Reply
  7. Khanyi says

    April 4, 2020 at 5:38 pm

    Hi,

    I saw a bed bug crawling can I use borax for the ugly bugs😠

    Reply
  8. Carla Ser says

    April 10, 2020 at 5:40 pm

    These aren’t quite unexpected uses, although it makes for excellent clickbait. Ugh.

    Reply
  9. SP.VIJAYAN says

    April 17, 2020 at 5:52 am

    hai how to use birax in laundry to clean cotton terrycotton cloths. with borax any other items should be used. what are they? please explain thourghly. i know a little english.
    thanking you in anticipation
    sp.vijayan

    Reply
  10. Katie says

    May 24, 2020 at 9:43 am

    Hey thank you for the tips you offered me I am so excited to see how it. work on my mice problems and Thank you.katie in borger texas

    Reply
  11. Amanda White says

    May 25, 2020 at 7:10 pm

    I am dealing with ringworm
    Can I make a solution to spray on furniture that will kill ringworm spores?

    Reply
  12. Hugh Rouse says

    June 24, 2020 at 3:52 pm

    For years I have used Borax as a skin cleaner. I had a friend in the movies who used it each night] to remove facial makeup. She never retired without her face being completely clean of all makeup. She was noted for her clear skin and beauty which she maintained into her seventies. I know that you used to advertise this product to clean greasy hands and leaving soft skin. I have used it for some forty years with no adverse effects. Do you have any research on this use? I thank you iron advice for your reply.

    Reply
    • PreparednessMama says

      June 25, 2020 at 7:06 am

      Hi Hugh

      Interesting use for borax. We don’t have any research on it, but I’m personally intrigued.

      Thanks for sharing. Have a nice day!

      Reply
  13. Barbara says

    August 29, 2020 at 8:04 am

    My dad “thinks “ his mom used it, borax , on cold sores! He touched his dampened finger in a small amount of the borax and then applied to cold sore on lip .
    Think that could have been the case?
    He is 93 , not absolutely sure it was borax!
    Any ideas ?
    Thanks !!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

  • How to Condition Straw Bales
  • Basic Food Storage Recipe Resources
  • How to Effectively Pull Off Long Term Water Storage
  • The Backyard Bread & Pizza Oven
  • Day 11 – Long Term Food Storage, Part 1
Some posts on this blog contain affiliate links. At no additional charge to you, I receive a small commission whenever a product is purchased through these links. Occasionally I receive products in exchange for a review or giveaway post. PreparednessMama.com as an Amazon Associate may earn from qualifying purchases.
I am not a doctor and the statements on this blog have not been evaluated by the FDA. Any products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
  • About
  • Disclosure & Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Food Storage
  • Gardening
  • Preparedness
  • Resources
  • About

Copyright © 2021 · Style theme by Restored 316

We Use Affiliate Links - View the Disclosure Page for details.

Copyright © 2021 - Preparedness Mama LLC - Gardening, Food Storage, & Self-Reliance Tips for Busy People