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How to Clean a Bathroom Thoroughly and Quickly

I once looked on in horror as a house guest used the sponge I keep under the sink in the guest bath to wipe down the outside of the toilet and then proceeded to clean the counter top with it. That was a good example of avoidable transference.

Cleaning the bathroom is no fun. It’s more of a necessary evil. Some people put it off until the filth is an inch thick. This is not a good idea. Know why? Because of unavoidable transference. A certain amount of this happens each time you use your john. You get up in the middle of the night. You walk, barefoot, across the bathroom floor. You raise your nightshirt and sit on the toilet seat. The nightshirt and your backside come into contact with the seat and lid. You wash your hands and get back into bed. You take whatever germs were on the bathroom floor and toilet seat with you. If you don’t clean your bathroom (and change your sheets) regularly, imagine how much that bacteria can multiply. A restful thought, isn’t it? No? It’s easy enough to fix. Here’s how:

Gather These Materials

Clean rags. Tear up old towels and tees or buy a pack of cheap white washcloths.
Your favorite cleaning liquid. I like lemon Pine Sol. Bleach and water is good, unless you’re an asthmatic, like me,and bleach is one of your triggers.
Your favorite scouring powder
A clean sponge
A cheap sponge mop. This is for the tub and tile, not the floor. You know how to wash a floor. We’re not going to talk about that.
Your favorite window/mirror cleaner
Rubbing alcohol
A few paper towels
The Clorox Toilet Wand or something similar.

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Break the Job Up

In the interest of spending as little time at this as possible, I do different parts of the job on different days. For instance, I wash the bathroom floors once a week on the same day that I wash the kitchen and hallway floors. I also sanitize the baths once a week. I scrub the tubs and try to get the soap scum and hard water deposits off the tile twice a week. To do all of this in the same day would take more time than I care to devote to this task at one stretch.

Work from the Cleanest to the Dirtiest Part of the Room

We’ll start with the one exception to this rule. The inside of the toilet. You can do this first because the tool you’re going to use won’t be coming into contact with anything else in the room. As much as I hate spending money on cleaning products, I broke down and sprung for a toilet wand. I love this thing. The cleaning heads are a bit pricey but they come loaded with disinfectant, get under the rim better than any toilet brush, and you never have to touch the nasty things. Just press the button and into the trash it goes. So worth it! Here’s how I get my money’s worth. After scrubbing under the rim, I flush then scrub again while the water is running before tossing the cleaning head. I’m always amazed at how much more gunk comes loose this way. Sorry if that was gross, but the water here is very hard, so I’m always trying to get rid of the deposits.

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Next, run a sink full of cleaning solution, glove up and grab a rag. Terry cloth rags have the most scrubbing power, but tee shirts are easier on the paint if I need to wipe down the walls. I don’t do the walls each time I sanitize the baths, only as needed. When they need it, I do them first. Then I do the doors, doorknobs and light switches, cabinets, counters and faucet*. I wipe down the toilet just before tossing the rag into the waste bin.

Tub and Tile

Take down the shower curtain. Put it, and the bath mat into the washing machine. Use the delicate cycle, regular detergent and a little bleach to deal with any mildew. If your curtain is made of a colored fabric you may substitute non-chlorine dry bleach for the liquid bleach. I wash my colored mat and curtain with about half a cup of Clorox all the time and it’s never damaged them. I have a vinyl curtain in one bath and a fabric curtain in the other. I’ve noticed that the fabric stays clean a lot longer. It’s also more durable and it didn’t out-gas when I first brought it into the house the way the vinyl ones do. I always had to put the vinyl ones out on the screen porch for a couple of days before hanging them due to the fumes.

Wet all tub and tile surfaces to soften everything up while you go to start the machine. Get the sponge mop.

Either sprinkle scouring powder or pour your cleaning liquid onto the floor of the tub. Use the mop to wash down the tub and tile just as you would use a sponge. The long handle saves you a lot of back -aching bending and stretching. It also saves you the dough you’d have to lay out for a bath wand. Rinse and repeat if necessary. Use the mop to sop up the excess water on the rim of the tub. Spray any mildewy spots in the grout with bleach and water.

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Curtain Rod and Shower Head

If your fixtures are enameled or plastic, clean them with scouring powder on a damp rag. If they are metal, use rubbing alcohol on a dry one.

*Be careful what chemical you use on chrome faucets. Acids will permanently mar the finish. If you do use bleach or vinegar or anything you’re unsure of, be sure to rinse it off with clear water right away. You can then just polish the water spots off with a soft, dry cloth or put a little alcohol on the cloth first. It polishes chrome beautifully without damaging it.