I tried this amazing Nancy Birtwhistle grout cleaning hack

As a result, people are always looking for ways to make these tasks a bit easier, and if it can be relatively cheap as well of course it's a bonus.

Therefore, I decided to look for a grout cleaning hack that could be used from household items rather than buying a cleaning spray at the supermarket.

This is where I came across a grout cleaning spray in the Nancy Birtwhistle book Clean & Green: 101 Hints and Tips for a More Eco-Friendly Home.

Birtwhistle first became famous for winning the Great British Bake Off in 2014 and has since published several books around baking and cleaning tips.

This is a book that my Mum has utilised quite a bit around the house, so I thought it might be good to try out for this grout-cleaning task.

According to the blurb, these methods should be "cheaper, faster and easier" than the usual supermarket products.

Additionally, there is an emphasis on these tips being sustainable and much better for the environment and our waterways.

The idea of having an eco-friendly way to complete this task sounded great on paper so I decided to test out how effective it would be.

How to make the grout cleaning spray

The Nancy Birtwhistle grout cleaning spray can be made using several items mostly found around the home, which are:

The ingredients to make the solution (Image: Newsquest)

• a plastic or glass bottle with a spray attachment (likely from an old supermarket cleaning product)
• 150ml of water
• 60ml of white vinegar
• 40ml of rubbing alcohol or surgical spirit
• 20 drops of lemon or tea tree essential oil 
• 2-3 tbsp of bicarbonate of soda
• an old toothbrush

All of these items can be found around the home or purchased cheaply online to make this product.

The solution was very easy to make, as all you need to do is measure the water, white vinegar and rubbing alcohol and pour them into the spray bottle.

Then add the 20 drops of lemon or tea tree essential oil and mix together.

The solution all mixed together (Image: Newsquest)

According to Birtwhistle, these ingredients will help to dissolve mould and limescale and kill germs.

The focus of my grout cleaning was my shower tiles, which I'm ashamed to say I have neglected for a while.

There was plenty of mould and grime build-up as a result so it was definitely a job that needed doing.

The grouting was sprayed and left for 15 minutes (Image: Newsquest)

All I needed to do was spray the tiles with the solution and then leave it for 15 minutes.

After that, I took a sponge and wiped as much of the mould off as I could, before utilising the bicarbonate of soda.

After the spraying the grouting was then wiped (Image: Newsquest)

I dipped a damp old toothbrush into the bicarb and gently scrubbed the grouting to lift the grime.

After a final wipe with the sponge, my task was concluded.

Bicarb of soda was then scrubbed into the grouting using an old toothbrush (Image: Newsquest)

How effective is the Nancy Birtwhistle grout cleaning hack?

Overall the experience of the grout cleaning wasn't too painful and also didn't take up too much of my time.

Recommended reading:

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While the process did not remove all the mould from the grouting in the shower it did make some decent progress.

Some decent progress was made (Image: Newsquest)

This can particularly be seen on the bottom section of grouting which was very black with mould but has definitely faded.

Some improvement was made (Image: Newsquest)

Meanwhile, some trickier smaller sections of grouting around tiles got completely clean.

This section was cleaned very effectively (Image: Newsquest)

In my case, it might take another round of spraying the solution and applying bicarb to the grouting to clean it completely.

However, I had also not cleaned the tiles in an absolute age, so most people will likely not have as much mould to worry about.

All in all, I would argue it is worth giving a go, especially if you're keen to keep your cleaning habits environmentally friendly.