Cleaning Bathrooms

I have resolved myself to the idea of blogging about totally mundane things. This is the first in a series about house cleaning.

I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to housecleaning. I like actually doing it; I have a negative attitude towards the time that it takes (I would rather be playing, reading, blogging, lounging, shopping, et cetera). Last year I began to pray about my attitude towards cleaning because I wanted to instill in my children that we must be stewards of our resources and that cheerfully doing the work of the day is important; the work itself is important on earth and the attitude with which it is done is important in heaven.

This is how I clean my bathrooms:
1.Gather supplies: I use a laundry basket
Lysol wipes
Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Toilet Brush
Scrubbing Bubbles spray
Windex
A small thin rag, two tea towel type rags.
squigee if you have shower doors
If you have a porcelain tub then add Bar Keeper's Friend and a magic eraser.
A notebook and pen

Visit your area where you stage your housegoods, extra toilet paper big container of handsoap, fresh towels etc. and get what you will need.

2. Take everything off of every surface: Kleenex, shampoos, soap dispenser, EVERYTHING. Trust me, this one step is what makes a huge difference. Don't skip this step. Try it once and you will really notice how much cleaner everything is once you are done. Pile everything up on the floor or in the hallway. Take a piece of kleenex or toilet paper and go over the sink and tub to get up any dust or hair or fuzz or whatever that is going to be harder to clean if it gets wet.

3. Windex the mirror. Spray scrubbing bubbles on the sink and tub/shower (if they are porcelain then use Bar Keeper's Friend instead.) Starting as high up under the rim as possible use the Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner, let it run down the insides of the bowl. Notice I did not say wipe anything! Let the products work.

4. While all the products are sitting, scrubbing and sanitizing; empty out the trash bin. Change out the towels. Restock the toilet paper from your larger stash that is kept somewhere else. Note in your notebook any supplies that are running low including cleaning supplies, toiletry items and prescriptions. Refill your soap dispenser from your larger bargain stash. Clean out the drawers and cabinets if anything has gotten into the wrong spot over the course of the week. Clear out mail or magazines or reading material that winds up in there. Don't get so absorbed in this that you let the products actually dry. This should all take about 3-4 minutes. If you don't finish that's OK, just work on it over time. Eventually once you do it weekly then it won't build up on you.

Do not leave the bathroom if you can help it, throw everything in the hallway.

Housework takes forever because of distractions, so try not to leave the room you are concentrating on. If you find you keep forgetting things then make a list so that you are more efficient the next time with what you take in there.

5. Wipe the mirror with one tea towel. This is your "dry" towel, don't use it for anything but mirrors and shower doors. Use the thin rag to wipe out the sink. Rinse the rag and use it to go over the counters. Be sure to clean the lip of the counter where it meets the mirror. I use a thin rag because I can feel dirt and the lip of the drain with it, I can use my fingernail to scrub through it. Use your 2nd tea towel to dry everything off, including the sink and faucets. Pick up and dust or wet wipe all the stuff that goes back on the counter.

6. Take a Lysol wipe and wipe down the top of the toilet tank, the handle and sides. Then SKIP the toilet seat area and clean the tile and baseboards behind and around the base of the toilet. Lastly use the wipe to clean the toilet seat pieces,top, bottom, and the lip of the toilet. If the hinges need work then try spraying some scrubbing bubbles in there. If you do this weekly then you can probably just use one wipe for the whole thing. If you are playing catch up or in a house with small boys or tall men, then you may need more.

Finally use your toilet brush and scrub out the toilet, get down and peer into the inside of the top of the rim, get the kind of toilet brush that will let you get in there really well.

7. Scrub out the tub or shower. Scrubbing bubbles will really get shower doors very clean. You must squigee your doors after every use if you want them to look nice. You can skip this if it isn't that important to you, they will still be clean but will have water spots that will basically become impossible to get off without using CLR or something like that. Use your Tea Towel #2 to dry off the faucets and the lip of the bathtub. Use windex and your dry towel to give a final shine to faucets and shower doors and counter tops (for granite only use water and dry cloth) Put everything back in the shower/tub area.

8. Start dispening all the stuff that is left; the laundry in the laundry room, the toys, magazine and mail etc. Don't get sidetracked on those tasks those, just set the items in the room where they go. They will get put away when you get to that room. Go on to the other bathrooms.

The only exception I make to the concentrate on one room at a time thing is with regards to laundry. I know this is counter to what Fly Lady does but it makes no sense to me not to keep the laundry going while you do other stuff.

We do floors separately after the whole house is done; so we'll cover that at another time.