20 Best Borax Uses

If you aren’t using borax in your house, you are missing out. There are so many good borax uses that you need to know about. But first, what exactly is borax? Borax, also known as sodium borate is actually a mineral that was first discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet. Borax first came into common use in the late 19th century, and is now a popular ingredient in various household laundry and cleaning products.

The most popular brand is Mule Team Borax, which you can find at most local grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and even online on Amazon. Because it is relatively inexpensive and a little goes a long way, borax is a great choice for cleaning and many other household uses.

20 Best Borax Uses


Remove Pet Odors from Furniture

20 Best Borax Uses

Sprinkle borax on furniture and under cushions and let it sit for a couple of hours. Vacuum it up and you will remove any pet odors, or just odors in general on your furniture. Just keep your pets away until you vacuum it up, as it is not good for them to eat.

Unclog Drains

20 Best Borax Uses

You don’t need expensive drain treatments, you just need half a cup of borax. Pour the borax down your drain followed by about two cups of boiling water. Leave for about 15 minutes, and then run your tap for a bit to flush it all out. The borax will clear up any clogs, as well as disinfect and eliminate odors.

Rust Remover

To remove rust from surfaces you just need a little borax, lemon juice and some elbow grease. Mix one cup of borax, 2 cups warm water and 1 tablespoon lemon juice into a paste. Scrub the rust, rinse and pat dry. You can do this on old pots and pans, old outdoor furniture, appliances, or basically anything metal that has rusted.

Pest Control

20 Best Borax Uses

One of the most popular borax uses is pest control. You can keep pests like cockroaches, ants, water bugs and other pests away by mixing equal parts of borax and regular sugar. The sugar draws the bugs in and the borax rids you of them. Just be sure to only use in places pets and small children won’t be able to ingest.

Homemade Goo-Gone

No need to purchase any products to remove stickers, labels and other sticky things from household items. Just pour a small amount of vegetable oil on the sticky surface, then rub a small amount of borax onto it. The borax and the oil work together as a mild abrasive and lift off the glue or sticky surface.

Remove pencil or crayon marks from walls

20 Best Borax Uses

A small amount of borax will take pencil or crayon marks off of your walls, which is a great mom hack! Just test a small spot first to make sure it doesn’t remove any of your paint.

Humidifier Deodorizer

Have you ever noticed your humidifier smelling musty? You can keep it smelling fresh and clean by mixing just one tablespoon of Borax per gallon of water and leaving it to sit for a while. Before using, be sure to rinse out your humidifier and refill with clean water.

Cat Litter Deodorizer

20 Best Borax Uses

There are so many borax uses, but this one may be your favorite if you’re a cat owner. Mix a little bit of borax into your cat’s litter to keep it smelling fresh longer. The high pH of the borax works to eliminate the ammonia smell that comes from the lower pH of the urine.

Weed Killer

Sprinkle a small amount where you’ve seen weeds pop up in driveway cracks and walkways. Just don’t put it directly in your flower bed or it may kill your flowers or plants too.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

20 Best Borax Uses

Make your own homemade dishwasher detergent using borax and a few other simple ingredients.

Carpet Deodorizer and Stain Remover

20 Best Borax Uses

For anyone that has carpet in their homes, we have some great carpet cleaning hacks for you. Borax does a great job of removing odors and stains from carpet without leaving it feeling tacky like a lot of the store bought powders do. Use 1/4 cup borax to one cup of water. Mix to dissolve the borax into the water. Spray or pour this mixture directly onto the stain (great for pet accidents). To deodorize, just sprinkle borax onto carpet and let it sit for a while before vacuuming it up.

Laundry Booster

20 Best Borax Uses

One of the most popular borax uses is to use it as a laundry booster. You can use borax for your laundry in two ways. To make clothes cleaner and fresher, add about 1/2 cup of borax to your loads of laundry. If you have really stubborn stains, you can do a pretreatment using 1/2 cup of borax with one cup of warm water. Soak the clothes in this mixture for about half an hour before washing.

Remove Mattress Stains

All moms will mostly likely have to deal with mattress stains at some point. That’s another reason why it’s a good idea to have some borax handy around your house. Mix one cup water with one cup of borax to create a paste, then scrub the mattress stain with it. Leave it until it dries and then simply vacuum it up.

Fix a Cell Phone that Gets Wet

20 Best Borax Uses

You may have used the rice in a bag trick when your cell phone has gotten wet, but did you know you can also use borax? Just place your cell phone in a plastic bag with about one tablespoon of borax. Be careful not to let it go directly into any cracks or outlets in your phone. Leave it for about an hour and your phone should turn back on. Borax to the rescue!

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Borax can be used just like a store bought soft scrub, except that it’s cheaper. Sprinkle some borax in the toilet bowl, let it sit a few minutes, scrub and wipe clean.

Preserve Fresh Flowers

20 Best Borax Uses

You may have flowers from a special occasion that you want to preserve or you may just love dried flowers. Either way, there’s a borax trick for that too. With borax and corn meal you can preserve flowers yourself at home.

Homemade All Purpose Cleaner

20 Best Borax Uses

Borax makes a great all-purpose cleaner for your home. Mix 2 tablespoons of borax with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle, and you have your own all-purpose cleaner. You can add lemon juice or your favorite essential oils if you want to make it scented. This makes a great cleaner for kitchen and bathroom surfaces, and is much cheaper than most store bought all-purpose cleaners.

Floor Cleaner

20 Best Borax Uses

There are so many household borax uses, especially when it comes to cleaning. Your floors can benefit from borax too. Just mix one teaspoon of dish detergent with 1/3 cup of Borax, one tablespoon of lemon juice and one gallon of hot water, and you have a great floor cleaner! This homemade floor cleaner is safe on tile, linoleum and hardwood flooring and will remove stubborn stains, even if they’ve been there a while.

Homemade Floam

If your kids love floam, they will love it even more when you make it at home for them! Not all borax uses involve cleaning. One fun use for borax is making homemade floam, and it’s easier than you might think!

Garbage Disposal Cleaner

20 Best Borax Uses

Garbage disposals are tough to clean and great for bacteria and odors to thrive. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of borax into your garbage disposal and let it sit for about fifteen minutes. Run your garbage disposal with hot water for a few minutes, and you’re done!


Homemade cleaners and cleaning without chemicals is becoming more and more popular, and for good reason. Not only are chemicals dangerous for our families, but most safe ways to clean are more affordable too. Now that you know all of these awesome borax uses, make sure you pick some up in store or online so you have it handy and check out these natural cleaning recipes for more great ideas.


WANT TO READ MORE?
Check out our Home section for more tips and tricks on everything from cleaning to organization and DIY.

20 Best Borax Uses

Sources: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent, How to Preserve Flowers with Borax, Homemade Floam

DON'T MISS THE TIPS

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER AND GET THE MOST HELPFUL ARTICLES ONCE A WEEK
+ GIVEAWAYS

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Jessica LeBrun
Jessica LeBrun
Jessica is a work-at-home-mom living in Florida with her husband, 5 year old little boy, 3 year old daughter, and 2 lab pups. Their family will grow by March 2019, when they expect to welcome a new baby boy! Jessica has been working as a freelance web developer for over 10 years but her real passion is writing. When she’s not chasing kids and finding pockets of time to work at home, she enjoys exercise, reading, perfecting her succulent garden, and trying new restaurants with her husband. Connect with her on her website at On Moxie & Motherhood.

LATEST

MORE LIKE THIS

TRAVEL

LIFESTYLE

FINDS

FAMILY

PARENTING

HOME

FASHION

GIFT GUIDES