- Including: Sink, Toilet, Tub/Shower and Floor.
- You Will Need: large container for water, 2 cleaning cloths, 2 hand towels, toilet brush, scrub brush, anti-bacterial soap.
[INDENT]Fill your large container with water as hot as you can stand it. If you are using an anti-bacterial bathroom cleaner, put in as much as directed. If you are using a plain old anti-bacterial soap (hand soap, dish soap, even laundry soap will due) put in half cup per half gallon. Remember to mix it up a bit, suds are always nice. (Tip:You can use bleach if you feel the need, but it is highly suggested that you use gloves that will prevent the bleach from touching your hands, it will burn the heck out of your skin.)[/INDENT]
Suggestion:
[INDENT]Don't use sponges while cleaning the bathroom. They horde bacteria, and that's the whole point in cleaning, to get rid of the funk and the bacteria. Not to mention, if you do use bleach and a sponge, it will eat the sponge up. You'll wind up with some kind of mushy mess in your hand, and that doesn't help much with cleaning.[/INDENT]
The Duty:
[INDENT]First off, remember while cleaning ANYTHING, start with the cleanest place and work your way to the dirtiest. Let me expand on this, for those of you who are not familiar with cleaning in any way, shape or form.[/INDENT]
[INDENT]When I first enter the bathroom, I usually start with the sink. While it may LOOK dirtier then anything else in the bathroom due to small facial hairs from the men in the house shaving or toothpaste around the basin, it's actually quite clean when speaking of bacteria.[/INDENT]
[INDENT]When speaking of surface areas such as the sink and the tank of the toilet, dip your cloth in the water and let it soak for about 30 seconds, swish it around a little if you feel the need. Once it's done soaking, drain it. You still want it to be damp, but you do not want it to be sloppy dripping wet. I know some of you guys will be tempted to lean toward that feel
but excess water is NOT good when we are speaking in terms of bacteria.[/INDENT][INDENT]Nowm just wipe the area clean. I personally will wipe the area down, rinse the cloth off under hot water, then dip it back in my bucket as to cut down on the debris I have floating around in my water container. I would suggest you wipe down the same surface a few times, just to make sure. Remember to rinse your cloth after EVERY wipe down.[/INDENT]
[INDENT]When cleaning areas like the toilet, take the rinsed off, re-soaked, drained rag that you used for the counter tops (it won't hurt anything, you've used anti-bacterial soap and alread removed any debris) and begin with the cleanest part of the toilet. I consider that to be the tank and the lid. The move to the seat (contrary to popular belief, that's one of the cleanest places in your bathroom), then the around the outside of the bowl and the base of the toilet. After that, I work on the rim of the bowl. The reason I do the outside of the bowl and the base first, is because that's generally just dusty with the possibility of some water stains. It's not extremely dirty. The rim of the bowl on the other hand is. You can use your rag to simply wipe that down and discard that particular rag.[/INDENT]
[INDENT]If you do not have a toilet bowl cleaner, you can use the soap you used in your water. If it is liquid soap, just go around the top of the inside of the bowl. Take your toilet brush and use the water in the toilet to work up suds. All I can tell you at this point is scrub every inch you can reach of that toilet bowl. DON'T FORGET UNDER THE RIM. It's easy to do because it's not easy to see, but once you do, you may notice why I told you not to forget. It can get quite gross if not maintained.[/INDENT]
[INDENT]Showers, the simple to explain but most labor intensive. I will generally run the bath water while i'm cleaning. Personally, I use Comet or Mr. Clean type stuff to clean it, but in all actuallity, you can use a little extra soap and dip your scrub brush/rag in the water that you poured. Basically, be detail oriented. Make sure you get in those spots you normally ignore. The soap dish area, the corners. All funk must be removed![/INDENT]
The Floor:
- Carpet - Carpet sucks in bathrooms. Alot of water gets on the floor and then can't be wiped up the way it should be, therefore, we get mold and mildew issues. All I can suggest is to vacuum and anti-bacterialize the floor around the toilet, sink and tub/shower. Spray some sort of anti-bacterial cleaner on it, let it sit for about 5 minutes and the come soak it up with a towel of some sort.
- Hard Floor - Obviously, get everything off of the floor. Make sure you clean everything, no sly boogying around the trash can or the mats. Just because they've been there doesn't mean something funky didn't manage to find it's way under there. Use the water you've had since you started cleaning the bathroom, unless you're super particular, like I tend to be. In that case, replace the water and the soap as directed previously. Dip your clean mop in the water and let it soak the way you did the rag. Make sure you drain the mop the way you did the rag. The rest is pretty self explanitory. If you want, you can allow the floor to air dry, I generally go over everything I clean with a hand towel to dry it off. I will wipe the toilet down very last, since it's was the nastiest. (No mop? Use a broom and a hand towel. Place the hand towel flat out on the floor, press the broom on top, use plenty of elbow grease. Also a good alternative if you have one of those cotton headed mops that tend to stay looking nasty.)
[INDENT]Remember all of that stuff you moved off of the surfaces? Clean that stuff. Anti-bacterial soap and hot water is the best thing you can use. Make sure to dry it off fairly good before you start replacing it. Remember, water is once of bacterias best friends. Throw bathrooms mats in washer on a short gentle cycle and either tumble dry or hang dry.[/INDENT]
Mold Issues:
[INDENT]If you are having trouble with mold in your bathroom, which I tend to have, just use bleach water and wipe off the mold. (Remember you gloves! If you do not use gloves, you need to rinse your hands off on a regular basis and make sure you wash them thoroughly after you are finished or if it begins to burn.)
It may not permanently take care of the problem, but continue to keep the mold away with the bleach, inhaling mold is never good for you.
[/INDENT]
The Clean Up After The Clean Up:
[INDENT]Rags and towels go directly into the washer. Mop gets soaked in anti-bacterial solution for 30 minutes, drained, dried.[/INDENT]
Keeping It Clean:
[INDENT]I would suggest that this gets done a WEEKLY basis. Not to mention, if you shave, wipe up your mess. If you get water on the floor, wipe it up. Just clean up after yourself and it won't be so gross when you do it next time.[/INDENT]
The End. Any questions, comments, suggestions then simply reply. Don't tell me how much of a loser I am, I already know.
