Bathroom Cleaning Tips

I used to slave over cleaning the whole house every Saturday morning. Bathroom cleaning took up at least an hour of that time. But, not anymore since I discovered these simple cleaning tips.

Who wants to spend an entire day or even half a day cleaning? No one, and if you follow these easy bathroom cleaning tips and think like a janitor, you won’t be a slave to cleaning your bathroom anymore.

Here's the bathroom cleaning tips we'll be covering below:

• Think like a janitor to save time and effort.
• Cleaning products. What to use and how to make it do the work for you.
• One of the most productive bathroom cleaning tips... Clean daily, or when things are dirty. Doesn't it make sense to clean when things are dirty and avoid nasty grim buildups?
• The best way to clean that toilet in and out.
• Sinks, showers, and tubs. How to clean and what works best.
• mold and mildew. They're inevitable. How to fight back!

The basic key to cleaning anything is to think like a janitor.

Think like a janitor by...

• Cutting down on cleaners and using only basic cleaning products (use only what you need)
• Store these cleaning products where you clean in this case the bathroom (locked up if you have little ones) or in a portable caddy (like a janitor) and...
• Clean daily, or as needed (when things are dirty) whenever you have free time in the bathroom (no it’s not as bad as it sounds and there is free time)

Cleaning Products

Whether you decide to go “Green” or not, there’s an excess of cleaning products on the market. Be careful in choosing cleaning products, most importantly to safeguard your family’s health and protect your home from damage that improper use and harsh chemicals can cause.

My preference of bathroom cleaning products is a mixture of green and non-green products listed below:

• Method Shower Spray
• Squeegee tool for the shower
• Clorox Clean Up for tubs, showers, sinks and fixtures
• Window or glass cleaner (Sprayway is my favorite)
• Toilet cleaner (disinfectant or toilet bowl cleaner)
• Household disinfecting wipes (Clorox)

One of the best time and money saving bathroom cleaning tips is to use one cleaner for all these items. I used this method prior to having kids and it works pretty good. After having kids, I’ve become partial to my list above as it’s just easier now.

If you decide to go this route, then go to the local janitorial supply store and purchase a disinfectant cleaner for home use. You can use this cleaner to clean everything from the mirror to toilets. Just mix the cleaner with water according to the directions and place in a spray bottle and spray from top down, mirror, fixtures, sinks, counter tops, tub, shower, toilets, and surrounding floor. Let the product sit and work for a minute or so and wipe from top down… wipe the toilet and the floor around it last and you’re done with your daily clean! It’s that easy.

You may be wondering why I don’t use this method for bathroom cleaning now since I have kids. I found it hard to spray everything and let it sit for a minute then wipe it down with little ones running around getting into everything. You see, one of the best bathroom cleaning tips is to use every spare minute in the bathroom to do a quick clean up, which I do while the kids are using the toilet, washing their hands, brushing my teeth, etc. So, use whichever method works for you and gets your bath clean and you out of there in record time.

As mentioned before, I’m partial to certain bathroom cleaning products so, here’s my method which also works great, but may take a minute or two longer. (Again, this is easier for me with kids under foot, do what works best for you).

To avoid nasty buildup of dirt, grim, and hard water, be proactive and clean daily. It takes less time than you’re weekly clean because you're not going to be cleaning nasty buildups of dirt, grim, and hard water.

• Twice a week spray and wipe the mirror (with glass cleaner)takes 30 seconds or less
• Daily - wipe the fixtures, sink, toilet, and floor surrounding toilet, door knobs, and light switches (with disinfecting wipes) takes a minute or less
• Once a week or more if needed - clean inside of the toilet bowl (see below for the correct way to do this) less than a minute
• Daily - after the last shower, squeegee and spray the shower down with a daily shower cleaner such as Method Shower Spray. Takes less than a minute

That’s it and I’m done with my bathroom cleaning. I perform routine maintenance that cleans the bathroom avoiding buildup of nasty dirt, grim, and hard water. The overall result is a cleaner bathroom in a lot less time! You won’t even have to worry about expensive deodorizers as the germs that cause a smelly bathroom are killed on a daily basis.

Some great bathroom cleaning tips mentioned before are to store a set of bathroom cleaning products and tools in each bathroom. You will save huge amounts of time as you won’t be running back and forth to grab what you need.

Be sure to use any free time in your bathroom for quick bathroom cleaning. For example, the other night as my toddlers brushed their teeth, I grabbed some disinfecting wipes and wiped the toilet down including the floor surrounding it.

Prior to my shower, I spray the shower down with Clorox Clean Up and let it sit. Then before jumping in the shower, I lightly scrub (if needed), then rinse as I shower.

Before brushing my teeth I either spray the fixtures and sink down or wipe them down with a disinfecting wipe. These are just a few great bathroom cleaning tips on how to find extra time for bathroom cleaning.

Let’s talk about the once or twice a year (depending on your usage) bathroom cleaning tips for your sink, shower, tub, and toilet. I’ll teach you how to clean these quick and easy and with a lot less elbow grease.

Toilets…Inside

If you don’t clean your toilet this way, you’re wasting hard earned money on toilet cleaner and not getting your toilet clean.

Whether you’re doing a big clean or the weekly toilet clean you must first force the water out of the toilet bowl. You need to force the water out of the toilet bowl before your apply your cleanser, otherwise you’re just diluting the cleanser in water and it won’t work as well or at all.

To force the water out of the toilet, plunge the water with your bowl brush until all the water is out of the toilet bowl. Apply your cleanser and work it around the inside of the bowl and under the rim. Let the cleanser sit for a minute of two to work.

While you’re waiting for the cleanser to work, go clean and wipe down something else so you get out of your bathroom sooner! Once you’ve waited and let the cleanser do its job, come back and scrub the bowl and under the rim once more. Flush the toilet and rinse out the bowl brush and you’re done.

For the nasty ring in your toilet, you can either purchase a pumice stone and stick your hand in the toilet to scrub it out or you can go to the local janitorial supply store and buy an acid toilet bowl cleaner and use the method I mentioned above. Just ask the clerk at the store to point you in the right direction of acid toilet bowl cleaners.

Toilets…Outside

As mentioned before, clean daily with disinfecting wipes or spray with a disinfectant and wipe down. Clean the outside of the toilet working from top down making sure to clean the handle, lid, seat, under the seat, the rim, and finish up with the base and surrounding floor.

Sinks, Showers, and Tubs

Sinks along with fixtures are wiped down daily or as often as your time allows with disinfecting wipes. If you don’t have time for this, you can also use Clorox Clean Up weekly, just spray on, let it sit to work, wipe up with a sponge, and rinse off for a great clean.

For a more deep bathroom cleaning, I use a product I found at the local janitorial supply store called Green Cream. I spread this stuff on and let it sit for about five minutes. I come back with a honey comb scrubber (also from the janitorial supply store) and scrub the product into the sink, shower, and or tub and let it sit for another minute or two. I come back again and scrub one more time, then I rinse and the sink, shower, and tub come out sparkling.

Green Cream works wonders to remove rust, scratches, and hard water stains really leaving your bathroom sparkling and you with a great sense of clean.

Mold and Mildew

Mold and mildew are inevitable in almost every bathroom and in this case, the best defense is offense. In other words, fight mold and mildew before they happen.

There’s no exhaust fan in the bathroom of my old home. I fight the good fight against mold and mildew by doing the following:

• Everyone uses a squeegee and Method Shower Spray after showers
• Keep the door to the bathroom open to air it out
• Periodic bleaching when mold and mildew pop up

For periodic bleaching, I spray on the bleach and let it sit before scrubbing with a scrub brush and rinsing. Make sure to ventilate the area by opening a window and or door. If mold is really stubborn in your home, you can try soaking cotton balls in bleach, then placing them on the tough mold spots to penetrate and soak, then scrubbing and rinsing.

There you have it, some great bathroom cleaning tips that show you how to clean your bathroom in little time.

In addition to saving time, these bathroom cleaning tips save you elbow grease and money on cleaning products too.

Just remember to let cleaning products sit a little to soak in and work before scrubbing and rinsing (this saves both cleaning products $$$ and elbow grease).

And... clean a little at a time as you have time (saves time by not having to clean nasty buildups of dirt and grim).

If you follow these easy bathroom cleaning tips, your bathroom will be sparkling in no time.