Cleaning expert shares simple hack to unclog your drain with three household ingredients: 'I've done this for years'

If you've noticed that your bathroom sink isn't draining, don't call a plumber just yet. As one cleaning expert revealed, the key to an unclogged drain is waiting just steps away in your own pantry. 

The scoop

Sarah McAllister, the founder behind the natural cleaning solutions at GoCleanCo (@GoCleanCo), shared her favorite way on YouTube to use natural, common household ingredients to unclog a drain.

She demonstrated using her own home's actual drain, which was draining slowly and even flooding back into the basin, bringing a tide of beard hair and gunk with it.

First, Sarah pours hot water down the drain "to loosen up any gunk" before adding 1 cup of baking soda and 2 cups of vinegar.

"The chemical reaction will start immediately and start eating away and clearing away anything that's stuck in the pipe," she says. She follows the steps with another round of hot water.

As it happened, this particular clog necessitated an extra round, and Sarah opted to pull out and clean the drain stop as well. And as she demonstrated, with one final round of hot water, the sink was back to draining immediately.

How it's helping

Natural cleaning products like baking soda and vinegar are surging in popularity for thrifty homeowners (and renters) who want to save money doing their chores. After all, while a bottle of drain cleaner can regularly cost upward of $10 and last for a single use, most people already have baking soda and vinegar at home. "Don't drain your resources," Sarah jokes.

But another, perhaps even more significant, benefit of natural cleaners is that they don't expose your home and the environment to toxic chemicals.

For example, many homeowners might reach for an unclogging product like Drano, unaware that plumbers generally advise against it. As True Plumbers explains, "The chemicals in the product are designed to break down the clog, but if left for too long, they can start to break down the pipes themselves."

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Not only can this damage your home, but once the chemicals enter the septic system, they can make their way into the environment, contaminating the habitat and food chain for numerous species.

What everyone's saying

Many commenters were enthused about their own success. "I've done this for years!" one person shared. "Except the person who taught told me to put baking soda down drain (I use paper funnel and jiggle powder in), pour in vinegar and put hand over drain (so most the reaction is happening in drain) and that forces stuff through quicker."

Another advised that in the case of tough clogs, "add a squirt of dish soap with the baking soda to help get rid of greasy gunk." Similarly, another suggested: "For extra oomph (and grease-cutting) I use soda crystals rather than baking soda."

Similar all-natural, easy natural cleaning hacks include using vinegar to clean a coffee maker, using lemon and baking soda to make faucets shiny, and even refreshing wool sweaters using only snow.

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