Let’s face it-no one likes to ‘Spring Clean’. It involves a personal and up close confrontation with you, your stuff and your shopping habits. We buy stuff-it seemed like a good idea at the time but months later…there it sits unused, possibly expired or growing like a science experiment gone horribly awry.
The worst offenders are the kitchen and bathroom-in that order. Let’s deal with the bathroom shall we? If you can commit 10-15 minutes a day, you’ll have this room in order inside of a week. If you’re ambitious, you can do this in about an hour.
We’ll start easy and work our way to difficult. You’ll need a trash bag, a good will box and the cleaning products of your choice.
1. Medicine cabinet/Under Sink Cabinet- if it’s more than a year old, if you can’t remember why you have it or it’s a I *might* need this someday-toss it. Wasn’t that simple? Now wipe out the cabinet, the shelves and the door-front and back.
The goal is not to rush out and buy replacement stuff you will throw away next year. Instead, free up some other valuable bathroom real estate by putting items in the medicine cabinet. Besides, the bathroom is the WORST place to keep medicine…and perfume. Humidity really does a number to both of ‘em.
2. Sink Counters/Toilet Lid-this is valuable real estate. If it’s cluttered with decorative stuff aka dust collectors, time to thin out the herd to the best pieces (read: pretty AND functional) and put the rest in the goodwill box.
If your counter is a wasteland of hair/skin/personal products, throw out the stuff that isn’t working for you. If you have gadgetry that you meant to use but didn’t-goodwill. Broken gadgets go in the trash. No you’re not going to fix them one day…no really you aren’t.
Tip: Sticking to personal care products that work for you-even if they are pricey-saves you money in the long run.
Wipe down the counter, sink and faucet. Cross it off the list!
3. Toilet-first things first. If you have a drop in, clip on or any other kind of toilet cleaner/freshener in there-THROW IT OUT. No it’s not my green cleaning showing. The drop ins eat away at the inner workings in your toilet tank. They don’t clean or freshen anything…and yeah it’s bad for the environment-mainly yours.
If you have toilet lid covers/toilet rug and a pee smell-these are probably your main offenders. Throw ‘em out and don’t replace them. Your other 2 offenders are the seat itself and where the toilet meets the floor. Toilet seat-remove and soak in tub or replace.
Spray the entire toilet top to bottom and let it sit for a few minutes. Wipe it top to bottom making sure to get all the nooks, crannies, behind the toilet and the baseboards/floor surrounding it. If you did not use your toilet brush in this process-THROW IT OUT. Wipe down the seat that’s been soaking in the tub, replace it and…you’re done. For pee smell try rubbing alcohol, Listerine or a pet enzyme spray for urine.
4. This leaves-the bathtub. Take EVERYTHING out. If you don’t use it-pitch it. That includes the shower caddy. If you don’t use it. what’s the point in adjusting it every so often? If you hate your shower head-this is a great time to replace it with one you love. If you have shower curtains, replace or throw in the washing machine along with the bathmats/rugs.
Now to the actual cleaning-you’re going to be tempted to use a bleach based tub and tile product if you have grout mold, caulk mold or any other kind of black icky going on. Bleach is going to leave tell tale spray marks and you’re still going to have to get in there and scrub at it.
An easier way is to just get in the tub and start scrubbing from top to bottom with…are you ready?? A mixture of liquid dish washing detergent and water. Dish washing liquid is safe for all surfaces and will cut soap scum like nobodies business. If you need a little extra oomph, use that box of baking soda from the kitchen and/or a magic eraser. If after this you still have mold, try hydrogen peroxide.
Glass shower doors-if they ‘feel’ clean after cleaning but still look bad, it’s probably hard water stains or etching. If you can live with it great-if not-try Bar Keepers Friend and expect to really scrub at it. To keep your glass fixtures scum free a little longer, use Rain-X. I don’t recommend using furniture polish on glass as it may over spray into the shower/tub…it will definitely come off the glass first time you shower.
To help keep soap scum away permanently-throw out your drugstore bar soap and switch to a liquid shower soap or a quality handmade soap.
Put the bathtub stuff back, wipe the front and back of the bathroom door, mop the floor and turn out the light on your way out.
…and if all else fails…Call a professional. peachycleantulsa.com. Private Independent Green Maid Service in Tulsa, OK.
