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Most people buy a box of Borax, use it once for laundry, and then shove it under the sink and forget it exists for the next 2 years. That is one of the most expensive mistakes you can make in your own home because that same $7 box is sitting there capable of replacing dozens of products you are still spending money on every single month.
Today we are counting down 14 Borax uses that our grandparents knew and that somehow got lost along the way. >> [music] >> And number one on this list saves me more money every single year than almost anything else in my cleaning routine. So let's get into it.
Number 14, clean your outdoor furniture. Every spring people head straight to the hardware store and grab one of those specialized outdoor furniture cleaners in the bright yellow bottle with the fancy label. And I get it. It looks like it was made for the job. But here is what they do not tell you because they would rather sell you that $12 bottle. Borax does the [music] exact same thing. Mix 2 Tbsp of Borax into a quart of warm water and scrub your patio chairs, your resin tables, your plastic Adirondacks with a soft brush. It pulls out the green algae stains and the winter grime and the mildew that settles into the surface after months of sitting out in the weather. Rinse it off and those chairs look like you just pulled them out of the box. Our grandparents had one or two cleaning products and they made them work for everything. They did not have a different bottle for every surface in the house. This is exactly that kind of thinking. One tablespoon of Borax costs you a few cents. That specialty outdoor cleaner costs $12 and most of it sits in the bottle until you throw it away at the end of the season.
Number 13, stop musty smells in your basement. If you have a basement, you know that smell. That heavy damp closed-in smell that gets into everything stored down there. Most people buy those plug-in deodorizers or those little chemical packets that last about a week and then need [music] to be replaced. But the smell is not coming from the air. It is coming from the surfaces. The concrete, the walls, the wood shelving, all of it holds moisture, and that moisture is what creates mold [music] spores and that musty odor. So, mix half a cup of borax into a gallon of warm water and wipe down your basement shelving, your walls, any surface that tends to [music] hold that dampness. Let it dry completely without rinsing it off. The borax leaves a residue that actively discourages mold from taking hold on the surface. This is not a cover-up. It is actually addressing what is causing the problem in the first place. Do this at the start of spring and again in fall, and your basement stays fresher for longer without buying a single thing beyond what is already in that box.
Number 12, refresh your mattress. >> [music] >> You cannot throw your mattress in the washing machine. You probably paid a lot of money for it, and replacing it just because it has developed an odor or picked up some moisture over time is not something most of us want to do. Here is the fix. Sprinkle a light layer of dry borax over the entire surface of the mattress. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes, an hour if you have the time. Then vacuum it up thoroughly. The borax pulls moisture out of the mattress fibers and neutralizes the bacteria that causes that stale smell. It is a natural deodorizer and a natural dehydrator at the same time, which is exactly what you need on a surface that absorbs sweat every single night. This is a trick that professional cleaners use and charge you real money for. You can do it yourself for pennies and do it as often as you need to. Clean mattress, better sleep, no cost to speak of.
Number 11, make an all-purpose soft scrub. Every cleaning aisle has at least four or five versions of a soft scrub cleanser, the kind with the creamy texture for sinks and tubs and tile. >> [music] >> And they work, sure, but you are paying $6 to $8 for something you can make at home in about 30 seconds. [music] Mix borax and dish soap together in roughly equal parts until it forms a paste. That is it. Apply it to your sink basin, your bathtub, the [music] tile around your shower. Scrub with a sponge and rinse it clean. The Borax acts as a mild abrasive that lifts staining and mineral buildup without scratching the surface underneath. The dish soap cuts through grease and soap scum at the same time. Our grandparents called this a [music] cleaning paste and they made it from whatever they had on hand. There was no brand name on it, no marketing, no fancy packaging, just something that worked. You get the same result here for a fraction of the cost and you probably already have both ingredients under your sink right now.
[music] Number 10, unclog and deodorize your drains. Before you pour that $8 bottle of drain cleaner down your pipes, try this first. Pour half a cup of Borax down the drain followed by two cups of boiling water. >> [music] >> Let it sit for 15 minutes and then flush it with hot water from the tap. The Borax [music] breaks down the grease and soap build up that is slowing things down while also killing the bacteria that is causing the drain odor. For a slow drain that is not fully clogged, this handles it most of the time without any harsh chemicals eating away at your pipes. And if you do this once a month as a maintenance routine, you will dramatically cut down on slow drains ever becoming a real problem. That is the kind of simple prevention that saves you from a $200 plumber visit. One habit, almost no cost, and your drains stay clear and smell clean.
Number nine, get rid of fruit flies for good. Fruit flies are one of those problems that shows up fast and feels impossible to get rid of. Most people try those little apple cider vinegar traps and they catch a few. But the problem keeps coming back because you are catching adults while they are still hatching somewhere nearby. Here is the Borax approach. If you have identified where they are breeding, which is usually a drain, a trash can, or overripe produce, mix Borax with enough water to make a thin liquid and pour it where the larvae are living. It dehydrates the eggs and the larvae before they can develop into the next wave of adults. Then clean the area thoroughly. >> [music] >> No more cycle, no more cloud of fruit flies hovering over your counter every morning. A lot of people have spent $50 on plug-in fly traps and $10 on those sticky hanging strips and the flies just keep coming back. This gets to the source of the problem instead of just dealing with the symptoms, which is honestly how our grandparents handled every pest problem they ever had.
Number [music] eight, remove soap scum from glass shower doors. If your shower doors have that cloudy hazy film that no amount of wiping seems to fix, [music] that is mineral buildup combined with soap residue bonded to the glass. >> [music] >> Spray cleaners help a little, but they do not fully dissolve that bond. Here is what actually works. Dampen your shower door and sprinkle borax directly onto a damp sponge. Scrub in small circular motions across the glass. The borax is just abrasive enough to break the bond between the mineral deposits and the surface of the glass without scratching it. Rinse it clean and then take a look. The difference is dramatic. You get that clear streak-free glass that makes your whole bathroom look cleaner just by itself. And here is the part that should make you a little bit frustrated on behalf of your wallet. The specialized shower door cleaner you have probably tried costs $10 to $14 a bottle. The borax costs a few cents per use. Same job, completely different price.
Number seven, protect your garden beds from weeds and pests. Okay, and this next one is where it gets really good, especially if you have a garden or you spend any money on pest control in the summer. A diluted borax solution brushed along the edges of your garden beds creates a barrier that ants and certain insects will not cross. Mix 1 Tbsp of borax into 2 cups of water and apply it to the soil perimeter. Just the edge, not the growing area itself because too much boron in the soil will affect your plants. Our grandparents understood this balance because they worked with the land every day and they knew borax as a mineral, not as a cleaning product. They used it exactly this way. For the weeds pushing up at the edges of your beds or between patio stones, a more concentrated dry application directly into the cracks handles them at the root. One treatment usually covers the whole season. That is real savings compared to the herbicide sprays and the bug barrier products you might otherwise be buying every few weeks.
Number six, boost your dishwasher performance. If your dishes are coming out with that cloudy white residue on glasses and silverware, that is hard water mineral buildup and your dishwasher is struggling to rinse it completely [music] clean. Add 2 Tbsp of borax to the bottom of your dishwasher before running a cycle. It softens the water and helps the detergent you are already using work more effectively. It also breaks down the grease and food film that can build up on the inside walls and the door seal over time. The result is cleaner dishes, clearer glasses, and an appliance that stays cleaner longer and runs more efficiently. Those dishwasher cleaning tablets that [music] sit next to the detergent at the grocery store cost $6 to $8 for a small box. They are doing essentially the same job. Borax costs almost nothing per use and does it just as well. They do not put that on the label of those cleaning tablets because they want you to buy them. Now you know.
Number five, kill mold on hard surfaces. Most people reach for bleach when they see mold and I understand why. It works [music] fast, it looks impressive, and it makes the mold seem to disappear. But bleach is an oxidizer and on porous surfaces like grout, wood, and drywall, it mostly takes the color out of the mold rather than actually killing it at the root. Two weeks later, it comes back [music] in the same spot every single time. Borax is different because it does not just kill the visible mold, it changes the pH of the surface in a way that makes it harder for mold to grow back. Mix one cup of borax with a gallon of hot water and scrub it onto the affected surface. The key part is this, do not rinse it off. Let it dry [music] in place. That residue left behind is what keeps the mold from returning. This works on bathroom grout, on the wood in your basement, on the caulk around your tub, you are not covering the problem. You are actually solving it.
Number four, clean and preserve wooden cutting boards. Wooden cutting boards hold bacteria in the grain of the wood and standard dish soap does not fully penetrate deep enough to get to it, but you also cannot soak wood in harsh chemicals without damaging it. Borax [music] hits the exact middle ground you need. Make a paste with Borax and just enough water to get it workable. Apply it to the board, scrub with a brush, and let it sit for 5 minutes before rinsing. It kills the bacteria in the grain and deodorizes the wood at the same time without drying it out or warping it. Then condition the board with a little food grade mineral oil after it dries. This is how a good wooden cutting board lasts for decades instead of years. >> [music] >> A quality wooden board costs $40 to $60, and a lot of people end up throwing them away because they get smelly and stained thinking they are ruined. This routine keeps them going indefinitely. [music] That is the kind of maintenance our grandparents did without even thinking about it.
All right, we are getting close to number one, and I want you to stick with me because the last three on this list are the ones that are going to change how you look at that box under your sink permanently. [music] These are the uses that would cost you the most to replace if you kept buying the specialty products instead. And real quick, before we get there, here is something most people do not know about Borax. It is actually a naturally occurring mineral called sodium tetraborate that gets mined from dried lake beds, mostly in California and Turkey. It has been used as a cleaning agent since at least the 1880s, which means it has been solving household problems for over 140 years. Every cleaning trend comes and goes. >> [music] >> Borax just keeps quietly doing its job in the same green and white box. That is not an accident. [music]
Number three, deep clean your washing machine. Your washing machine is cleaning your clothes, but it is never cleaning itself. Over time, detergent residue, mineral deposits from hard water, and mildew build-up in the drum, the door seal, and the internal hoses. That build-up is what causes that musty smell that sometimes transfers to your laundry even after a full wash cycle. Run your machine empty on the hottest setting with half a cup of borax and half a cup of white vinegar added directly to the drum. That combination breaks down the mineral scale, kills the mildew, and flushes out the residue in the parts you cannot reach. Those washing machine cleaning tablets and pods, the ones they sell right next to the detergent for $12 a box, they are doing the same job. And they work, but you are paying premium prices for what is essentially a chemical [music] reaction that borax and vinegar handle together for almost nothing. Do this once a month and your machine stays cleaner, your laundry smells better, and your appliance lasts longer.
Number two, make a powerful grout cleaner paste. Grout is the most frustrating surface to clean in any house. It is porous, it stains easily, and most cleaners either do not penetrate deep enough or they are so harsh they damage the sealer and make the problem worse long-term. The specialty grout cleaners at the hardware store can run $10 to $15 per bottle and you burn through them fast. Here is the better way. Mix borax and hydrogen peroxide into a thick paste. Apply it directly to the grout lines and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Then scrub with a stiff brush and rinse it clean. The peroxide lifts the staining while the borax acts as the mild abrasive that pulls the grime out of the porous surface. >> [music] >> You are stacking two inexpensive household products to do the job better than a $15 specialty cleaner. That right there is the kind of stacking that actually makes a difference in your budget over time. That is $10 to $15 per bottle you are not buying anymore and the results are genuinely better. >> [music] >> Our grandparents would not have spent money on a product for every single surface in the house. >> [music] >> They found what worked and they used it everywhere it could go.
And that brings us to number one. The one I said was going to save you the most and I mean it. Number one, make your own laundry detergent that actually works. Okay, so here is where you are going to feel a little bit like you have been overpaying for years because you have the laundry aisle is one of the most heavily marketed sections of the entire grocery store. Those big plastic tubs with the bright colors and the fresh scent names and the promises about removing tough [music] stains. And most of them are doing a decent job. But you are paying 15s, 18s, sometimes $22 for a product that you can make at home for about $3 to $4 that does the same job and in some cases does it better. Here is the recipe that has not changed in over 100 years. One cup of borax, one cup of washing soda, which is different from baking soda and you can find it in the laundry aisle for a couple of dollars, and one grated bar of Fels-Naptha soap, which has been sold in hardware and grocery stores since 1893. Mix all three together dry and store it in a container with a lid. You use 2 Tbsp per load. That is it. A full batch of this makes 40 to 50 loads of laundry. At 2 Tbsp per load from a batch that costs $3 to $4 to make, you are spending less than 10 cents per load. The average family doing eight to 10 loads of laundry a week using a $15 tub of commercial detergent is spending close to $60 a month on laundry alone. With this recipe, that same amount of laundry costs you under $10 a month. That is $50 saved every single month. That is $600 a year from one recipe that your great-grandmother probably had written on an index card somewhere in her kitchen. They did not forget it because it stopped working. They forgot it because the grocery store filled an entire aisle with things that looked more modern and cost five times as much. The borax is the backbone of this recipe. It softens the water, boosts the cleaning power, and deodorizes the load all at once. And it works in both standard and high efficiency machines. This is the one that keeps on giving every single week for as long as you use it.
All right, so there you have it. 14 Borax uses that most people have completely forgotten about, and that $7 box just went from sitting under your sink unused to being one of the hardest working things in your entire house. So, I am curious, which one of these are you going to try first? Or do you already use Borax in a way I did not cover today? Drop it in the comments because I read every single one and I genuinely love hearing what you all are doing out there. And if someone in your life is still spending money on a dozen different specialty cleaners every month, share this with them. It might be the most useful thing they see all week. Hit subscribe if you want more of this kind [music] of straightforward practical advice that actually saves you real money, and YouTube thinks you are going to like this video next. I will see you there.