OT - Inspired by Maid thread - how long & how do you clean your bathroom

[Piper]

My routine is very quick. Every morning I give the toilet a quick swish with the brush which is kept in a solution of old shampoo (you know--those bits in the bottom of the bottle) and water.----30 sec.

I brush teeth and wash my face. Then I take the washrag and wipe down sink, counter and outside of toilet 30-60 seconds. Put it in the wash.

After I soap myself in the shower, I give a quick swipe to the shower walls and use a squeegee to wipe it down --5 minutes for shower and clening
If I take a tub bath, I do the same thing as soon as the water is out.

I do a quick mop once a week.

When I had a stroke, my sister gave me the present of a maid service for a few weeks....She said the house was so organized and clean, she really didn't have anything to do.

Check flylady.net. I use her system modified for me and keep a clean house 15 (or less) minutes at a time

 

[hulagirl87]

only as long as I have to and whenever company's coming.

agreed! With a little one and 2 bathrooms to clean it's usually just maintenance and a good full scrubbing if there are people other than DH and myself that are going to see them

 

[Robinrs]

Today my bathroom cleaning routine started at the sink. I scrubbed- my teeth, spit, then rinsed the sink.
Sprayed the toliet down (not telling you with what!) then flushed.
Started the shower & tub next. I used soap...to scrub my body. Then lathered... up my hair. Cleaned...my face. Then final rinse of everything in tub.
After drying myself off threw towel onto floor & mopped & polished the floor by stepping on the towel with my feet to clean the excess water on the floor. Then tucked towel & dirty clothes into hamper. Entire routine took about 20 mins.
Next I'm off to the kitchen to clean-my plate. That routine is much quicker.

 

[mhsjax]

After reading posts about people spending HOURS cleaning their house I thought it might be neat to see how people do theirs. I'll start. We can do new topics with other rooms and/or routines.

This morning I did my 2 full baths - Master & secondary. It took roughly 40 minutes. Here's what I did:

2nd Bath:
- Using clorox toilet wand, swished the toilet bowl and let sit
- Using Windex Wipe, cleaned the mirror. Use up/down strokes to edges to reduce lint.
- Using Lysol scrubbing wipe, cleaned sink, counter & fixture.
- Using Scrubbing bubbles flushable wipes, cleaned all surfaces of the toilet. Use old power toothbrush on stubborn or hard to reach areas (hinges are the worst).
- One last swish with toilet wand and flush.
- Using Lysol Scrubbing wipe, wiped down bathtub (rarely used so this is mostly to dust.)
- Using Lysol Scrub wipe, wiped down light switches, door handle and spots on door.
Done.

Master Bath:
Same routine plus:
- First thing - sprayed tub & shower (incl inside door) with Scrubbing Bubbles Max and let sit.
- continue with rest of routine
- wipe down with lysol wipe the 'stuff' on the counters. Don't keep anything out but a soap dispenser in the 2nd bath but DH & I keep stuff out in the Master (soap dispenser, facial cleaners, shaving cream, etc).
- With a scrubbing sponge and a filled bucket of hot water, wipe down tub and shower. & door.
- Fill bucket with hot water and rinse all shower & tub surfaces
- wipe outside shower door with Windex Wipe
- use Magic Eraser on textured shower floor (not done today).
Done.

I mopped the floors on Monday with a rope mop when I clean all my hard floors (that job takes about 20 minutes) and vacuumed yesterday the perimeter when I vacuumed the bedrooms (about once every two weeks).

I do this cleaning weekly but sometimes if I am pressed for time (company coming) I'll use Mr. Clean All Purpose spray and paper towels and use that one product to clean sink, mirror & toilet. This wipe down takes about 5 minutes each bathroom. About every month or so I get a bucket of hot water mixed with bleach cleaner and scrub the tile grout, baseboards and toilet base. We don't keep hand towels, simply use the towel we showered/bathe with last (We use fresh towels every day). Trashes are emptied, lysol sprayed and new liners (old Walmart bags) on Sunday for trash pick on Monday. As needed, the trash are filled with bleach water and soak (every 3 months or so).

So what do you do and how long does it take?

Now there is a lady that knows how to clean a bathroom. This is why I say it takes me more time than an hour here and there to clean. This is the way I like to do it. I am not as regular as you, but I love a spotless and sanitized bathroom.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I live in a two bedroom apt. I usually do a deep spring clean everytime about every two weeks. Of course bathrooms and the like are kept up with cleaning the toilets and sinks and the floors. I have trouble with my feet and I really need to get help again as if I stand to long my foot gives out and then I am unable to walk. The whole full spring clean takes about 6 hrs. Including my windows.

curiou s to know whats your deep cleaning routin?

I have a party this weekend and I'm lost where to start. Besides, dusting, sweeping, moping, bathrooms what else needs to be done? What do people notice? I'm cleaning the window sills tonight , I always cleaning the enitre tolient including the part that contects to floor most people miss that, I also will use a wet rag to clean baseboards/triming in the bathrooms

 

[surfergirl602]

Wow. I just use a Mr. Clean erasor on everything. Bam. Done.

I find they clean much better than all those chemicals.

 

[surfergirl602]

Wow OP, you use a lot of products!

I spray a bleach solution in the shower and let it sit. I spray a bleach solution in the toilet and let it sit. I rinse the shower the next morning.

I spray a vinegar solution on the mirror then wipe. I spray the sink then wipe. I spray the outside of the toilet then wipe. Then I spray the floor and wipe it with another larger rag with my foot.

5 minutes, max. I don't let it get dirty enough to do a deep cleaning.

Yep. a bleach and water solution in a spray bottle is all I need to clean the shower/tub. Spray, let sit for 5 minutes, rinse off. So easy.

I don't understand why people buy soooooo many chemical cleaning products when you can use vinegar and water and bleach for a third of the price, with better results.

 

[2disneyboys]

I have a very similar routine as the OP.. but can't use as much of the products she uses due to dh and son's asthma. I also use a steamer and that helps! I have 2 f and 1 half bath and usually spend about 30 mins a week total on both of them. and when I say "I" I am refering jointly to myself, DH and my 2 boys, as we all have our "jobs" and do them.

with that said, from the time my boys were potty trained (and DH was "brought" into the house) we have had a house rule! If you are male, and insist on standing and can't get it where it goes, you learn REAL early how to make it if you don't want to spend YOUR time scrubbing down the bathroom. and yes, we consider it disrespectful as it's disrespectful of the person who has to clean it' time. I may be your momma/wife, but I'm not your maid! imagine my MIL's horror when she found out that my 4 year old had to "clean" the bathroom (of course w/ my supervison) because he was disrespectful and made a mess with his "wee-wee" poor abused baby having to learn to clean up after himself. Guess what... my husband, my 2 sons, my 5 nephews all seem to be able to "make" it in my toilets. Makes it a lot easier to keep up with the cleaning when you don't have to pressure wash the walls,floors, toilets etc to get off old dried "wee-wee" (can I use that word on the board?)

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

tell me about your steamers. What brand? how do you use it?

 

[Gokstate]

I second the steamer question - more details please!

 

[MommytoaSweetie]

Wow. I just use a Mr. Clean erasor on everything. Bam. Done.

I find they clean much better than all those chemicals.

I'm so curious about those Mr Clean erasers! How exactly do you use them? Do you put a cleaner on them or they just get stuff clean? Not disinfected, I guess?

For those who do vinegar or bleach solutions, how much do you use and how often do you change the solution? I've wanted to start that (although with coupons I end up getting cleaners for pretty much free, but I still don't like the chemicals inside), but I have this idea that it would take too long - when I was a preschool teacher, we had to make bleach solution every day for it to be active... that would be more work for me because my bleach is kept in the basement with my laundry stuff. I'd love other ideas, though!

 

[neatokimmo]

I'm so curious about those Mr Clean erasers! How exactly do you use them? Do you put a cleaner on them or they just get stuff clean? Not disinfected, I guess?

For those who do vinegar or bleach solutions, how much do you use and how often do you change the solution? I've wanted to start that (although with coupons I end up getting cleaners for pretty much free, but I still don't like the chemicals inside), but I have this idea that it would take too long - when I was a preschool teacher, we had to make bleach solution every day for it to be active... that would be more work for me because my bleach is kept in the basement with my laundry stuff. I'd love other ideas, though!

I've never heard of bleach becoming stale or inactive, that is interesting. I probably use a half/half solution. Way less for the vinegar, I'm mostly removing hair spray residue with it (that stuff gets everywhere!).

 

[wdwmom0f3]

The only thing that I'll say about my cleaning routine is that it probably takes less time for me to clean my bathroom than it did for you to type out your routine.

Me too!!

I clean my bathrooms every single day to keep it looking good. I Windex the mirrors & counter tops and I sweep & mop. My girls and all of this hair they they get everywhere is a headache! It takes me about 15 minutes to do all three bathrooms. I scrub them every week or two, and that takes longer. I would say 15-20 minutes per bathroom.

 

[talulabelle]

My routine used to be alot like the OP's. It took me forever and I hated it. I was breathing way too many fumes of chemicals. Mine was actually a little more detailed and involved taking the glass light globes down to rinse the dust out and dry., wiping down and disinfecting all baseboards, and I always ended by emptying the trash, and spraying the wastebasket with Lysol spray to disinfect, then relining.
I hated cleaning so badly that I didn't do it often enough, let the bathroom get pretty gross before I had the energy to do it again. After talking to many friends whose homes were ALWAYS clean and tidy about their cleaning routines and not understanding why my house was usually a mess and I spent WAY more time cleaning than they did, I realized I had some OCD issues (I was eternally trying to clean "invisible dirt" and germs. By "invisible" I mean, even if a surface looked clean, I assumed it was crawling with germs and had to clean and scrub it like it was filthy anyway. For some crazy reason, I thought that others could see this invisible dirt, that I did not see.

I have realized (after some therapy) that I developed this problem while growing up. One of my chores was to clean the bathroom that I shared with my siblings. My mother was always in a bad mood when cleaning and would take it out on me. Even though she NEVER cleaned half as thoroughly as I described, I could never do it quite right. No matter how hard I scrubbed or tried, she would come in and say something like "psh, did you EVEN CLEAN the tub yet? I still see a speck of soap over there, if you're going to do it, do it right, don't you KNOW how to clean?" -even though she never taught me- I was supposed to just "know". Every week, I would scrub longer and harder,determined to please her the first time. I never did. Therefore, I hated cleaning with a passion.

So anyway, after therapy, I have realized, there really isn't any pleasing my mother. It's not really possible because she is not pleased with herself. My routine now consists of more of a maintenance regimin than a full spring clean. I don't feel the need to use scrubbing bubbles or bleach every time I clean - heck there is usually enough toothpaste left in the sink from my kids in the morning to swish with one of their washclothes and make the sink really shiny. Sure once in a while it gets a spray of bleach (esp if there is sickness in the house) - but usually, I just wipe it out. My house is always much cleaner now, because I'm not busy OCDing over everything.

This morning, I was taking off my tshirt to get dressed, realized there was dust bunnies under my night table and used my tshirt to swish them up before I tossed it in the hamper. Done. My pj pants did a quick swipe of the top of the dresser for a light coat of dust. No harm done to old tshirt. It washes out beautifully. And my bedroom looks way cleaner than it would have if I did it my old germaphobe way. See, in the past, I would have looked at the dust bunnies and thought "I need to bring the heavy vacuum, all my cleaners and rags up from the basement and give this room a complete vacuum, change the sheets, dust, clean the ceiling fan, wipe down the mirrors, spray lysol in the wastebasket to disinfect. etc etc etc. Even though the only thing that really showed any dirt in my room was the dust bunnies under the nightstand. I would have wasted most of the day. AND that would be if I ever got to it. It would have looked so overwhelming to me that I would have put it off for as long as possible, all the while hating the look of my dust bunny bedroom. But this morning, I spent about 2 seconds on the same job and the results look the same to any outsider. I do it my old way about once every six months, with a lighter true dusting and vacuuming maybe every month. Now, my house always look tidy, clean and manageble. i have more time left for organization of all the stuff I never had time for before, like the garage, the basement, the stacks of papers on my desk.

Life is WAY better, and I am so glad I saw the light while I still had lots of life to enjoy and my kids were little.

 

[luvsJack]

I've never heard of bleach becoming stale or inactive, that is interesting. I probably use a half/half solution. Way less for the vinegar, I'm mostly removing hair spray residue with it (that stuff gets everywhere!).

You don't have to use near that much bleach for it to disinfect. I haven't made a solution in a long time (prefer other disinfectants), but it wasn't much at all in a spray bottle. Also, the pp is right, you need to remake the solution daily. It breaks down and is no longer strong enough to disinfect.

Personally, if I was going to go chemical-less I would get away from bleach and just use the vinegar. After cleaning with bleach at the center for years and years, just one whiff and it gives me a headache.

 

[mhsjax]

I do use vinegar sometimes, I just can't stand the smell and it doesn't get it as clean as I like it to be, seems it leaves stuff on the counters especially hairspray. I love anything that smells good. I sue Mr Clean bathroom cleaner with Fabreez, it smell so good and does a good job.

My kids fuss at the smell of bleach or vinegar.

 

[SaraJayne]

I live in a two bedroom apt. I usually do a deep spring clean everytime about every two weeks. Of course bathrooms and the like are kept up with cleaning the toilets and sinks and the floors. I have trouble with my feet and I really need to get help again as if I stand to long my foot gives out and then I am unable to walk. The whole full spring clean takes about 6 hrs. Including my windows.

You do a "deep spring cleaning" that takes 6 hours every TWO WEEKS??

 

[angierae]

I have a really small bathroom, but here's my thing:

Vinegar and water spray on the mirror, wipe it down.
Move everything to one side of the sink, spray and wipe.
Spray the sink/faucet and wipe it down
Move everything back over to the clean side of the sink, spray and wipe the other side.
Vinegar and water for the outside of the toilet
One of the toilet brush thingies from Scrubbing Bubbles on the inside of the toilet.
Vinegar and water to spray down the outside of the shower doors and the outside of the tub.

Go off to do something else while all the random vinegar/water spray that got on the floor dries.

Sweep the bathroom.

Spray the floor with a vinegar water mix and mop with a rag stuck on an old swiffer.

As for the inside of the tub, I scrub it down while I'm in the shower on Saturday mornings. Usually with a magic eraser unless things get really bad for some strange reason.

It probably takes me 15 minutes to clean everything but the tub.

 

[rubato]

My routine is as follows:

Empty countertops of everything.
Windex the mirror.
Spray disinfectant on the light switches and door knobs.
Spray cleaner on sinks and countertops and scrub as needed.
Dust and clean everything that goes back on the countertops.
Clean outside of stool with same spray cleaner.
Softscrub with bleach inside stool.
Sweep or vacuum.

I only mop every other week in my bathroom and the guest bathroom, but every week in my sons. Sons bathtub is every week with Magic Eraser.

My shower only gets cleaned every other week. I make a mixture of Oxyclean and bleach and use a toothbrush to clean the grout. Then, I use a scrubby sponge to use that solution on the floor and walls of the shower. Next, I use a Mr. Clean Eraser on the glass door. They are wonderful at getting rid of those "baked in" water spots.

 

[surfergirl602]

I'm so curious about those Mr Clean erasers! How exactly do you use them? Do you put a cleaner on them or they just get stuff clean? Not disinfected, I guess?

For those who do vinegar or bleach solutions, how much do you use and how often do you change the solution? I've wanted to start that (although with coupons I end up getting cleaners for pretty much free, but I still don't like the chemicals inside), but I have this idea that it would take too long - when I was a preschool teacher, we had to make bleach solution every day for it to be active... that would be more work for me because my bleach is kept in the basement with my laundry stuff. I'd love other ideas, though!

Mr. Clean eraser = just add water. I make my bleach solution right in my laundry room (but it's on the first floor). Nothing gets my shower cleaner than it does.