One of the hardest rooms in the home to keep up with in terms of regular and thorough cleaning is the bathroom. Out of all the other rooms in your home, it sees regular and heavy use and doesn’t always get the restorative attention it deserves.
Now more than ever, it’s essential to feel safe in your home. Sanitation and hygiene practices play a significant role in creating that comforting, secure environment where all your family members can feel relaxed.
If you’re anything like us, the bathroom is one room that’s terribly easy to procrastinate cleaning. There are so many nooks, crannies, and surfaces that need regular upkeep.
However, finding good solutions to cleaning these bathroom surfaces can help make the experience less intensive and easier to keep up as a regular habit. Today, we’re diving into 5 tips to help you get a satisfying deep clean effect in your bathroom every single time you clean.
1. Find a Good All-Purpose Cleaner
While this may seem like a no-brainer, it can be a difficult thing to achieve. Many all-purpose cleaners claim that they can make any surface in your bathroom sparkle, totally free of dirt and grime, but then don’t totally deliver on that promise.
Many all-purpose cleaners will do exceptionally well for cleaning flat areas like around your sink or in your tub if you don’t have too much grime built up. However, when it comes to cleaning hard-to-reach places that might need more elbow grease or even your bathroom mirror, these products can fall short.
So, look for an all-purpose cleaner that particularly claims to clean glass as well. Even though it would be lovely to truly only use one cleaner for all the surfaces in your bathroom, for that deep clean you crave, it can’t be that simple.
However, if you get a good all-surface cleaner, you can clear the bulk of the everyday messes and surface stains as a great start.
2. Find a Good Cleaner with Some Texture
After using your all-purpose cleaner on the surfaces of your bathroom, you’ll probably be rewarded with a lot of shining and sparkling porcelain, countertop, and mirror space. However, you’ll still have those grimy corners and even some stains left in places like your tub and toilet that might get neglected.
For these tough jobs, a cleaner with a little grit in it will go a long way. It’s important not to use these cleaners over all your bathroom surfaces, as you might risk scratching or damaging some of the more delicate materials. You’ll also need to take care that you don’t combine them with any other cleaning agent.
However, for a grimy tub, nothing works better than a good, grit-utilizing cleaner like Barkeeper’s Friend. It’s the special trick up your sleeve when you come face to face with hard water stains, rust, mineral deposits, and other messes that take a little extra time to sort out.
These types of cleaners don’t have to be loaded with chemicals, either. Heavy-duty, strongly acidic cleaning chemicals may be appropriate for toilet partitions or other commercial uses, but for our purposes a safer, oxalic-acid cleaner will more than suffice. Usually the ingredient lists are fairly simple—simple enough that you can make your own if you want to. They’ll also pull double duty in other areas of your house, like the kitchen and mudroom.
3. Don’t Forget the Showerhead
One of these often overlooked sources of bathroom grime is the showerhead. It seems a little counterintuitive since it’s where all the clean water comes when you bathe. However, since hard water deposits and constant moisture can accumulate into quite a bit of nastiness, you’ll want to make sure the showerhead is clean so you can be after your showers, too!
The easiest and least intensive way to deep-clean your showerhead is with the tried and true plastic bag method. All you’ll need is a gallon plastic bag and some rubber bands, baking soda, vinegar, water, and a pitcher.
Because this method uses elapsed time instead of elbow grease, this is a great first task to undertake when starting your bathroom cleaning. Affix the bag and cleaner first thing, see to all your other cleaning tasks and remove it as the last thing before you finish your cleaning.
4. Mind the Moisture
When sanitizing your bathroom, moisture is your greatest enemy. In a room like a bathroom that constantly sees moisture of all kinds, this can be a tough battle. However, if you’re aware of moisture sources, especially while cleaning, it can be easier.
Moisture is an issue to be eliminated because it’s a breeding ground for all sorts of bacteria and mold that can be harmful to your health. Pair the standing moisture of un-dried countertops or floors with the heat of a shower, and you’re almost certain to have unsafe organisms of some sort.
So when you’re cleaning, be sure to not leave water or cleaning products standing for long. Of course, some products need to be left sitting on the surface for a bit to break down grime and stains. When you clean the products off, though, make sure to go back over the surface with a towel or washcloth to dry the surface thoroughly.
Cutting down on moisture will help ensure that your bathroom stays cleaner longer and even that it smells its freshest. That musty, unpleasant smell that some bathrooms can develop is often due to unseen sources of mold, which are easily addressed by cutting down on moisture.
5. Don’t Forget the Fan
The ventilation fan near the toilet or shower is another often overlooked source of uncleanliness in the bathroom. Because it constantly filters the air for humidity, it can accumulate a great degree of dust and build-up.
And unless you look up, it’s easy to miss! However, continuing to breathe in air filled with particles of this sort of build-up can also be dangerous for your health, especially in a room you so consistently frequent.
Making sure to not only clean the outside and inside of the vent but also replace the filter will help ensure that the air in your bathroom remains fresh and clear of pathogens or dust.
Final Thoughts
While many of these sanitation steps might seem laborious, it’s much easier to fall into the habit of cleaning every week or so. Performing these tasks often makes them easier and easier over time, as surfaces will have progressively less build-up and grime accumulation.
With these tips, you’ll be able to manage a cleaner bathroom and will benefit from the peace of mind that comes from keeping this very important part of your house clean and sanitized.
Thanks to Ryan LaDue for consulting on the post.
