Monday, 2 February 2015

De-clutter & spring clean bathroom

Ceiling & corners
 
Remove cobwebs from ceiling and corners

Corners, mouldings  and door frames
 – spider webs and dust aplenty here.  This area usually goes ignored, but here’s the laziest, easiest way to do it.  Grab a mop pole and old sport sock, flip the sock inside out and place over the end of the mop pole.  Now, you’ve got an amazing high-duster!  You can also use microfiber cloth secured around the pole with an elastic band.
 
Dust and wash light fixtures and vents (ceiling, walls)
  I use a feather duster or you can simply use a flat head mop (like a Swiffer) and use a Microfiber cloth sprayed with a bit of water.  No need to use an expensive product here!  Simply work the tool up and down the wall using a ‘W’ pattern to save time and energy and to ensure you are covering the entire space.
 
Change light bulbs where required
 
Walls, windows & doors

Light switch plates, door knobs and power outlets wiped (points of contact)
Wipe door, door frame, door threshold
Dust and clean the glass of picture frames, mirrors
Clean towel bar and toilet paper roll holder
Spot clean walls as required to remove marks and fingerprints
Shades, curtains, blinds, drapes, valences washed and/or dusted
Wipe window sills, tracks and frames
Clean and/or repair window screens and wash window panes

Vanity & medicine cabinet
Remove all items from vanity top and medicine cabinet, discard or donate any unnecessary items
Clean make up drawers/bags, get rid of old/expired cosmetics
Wipe shelves and exterior of medicine cabinet
Wipe clean bottles and toiletries, get rid of old and expired toiletries
Check all medications, dispose of any expired ones (according to your town’s rules)
Clean and purge hair care tools, brushes and accessories
Clean mirrors
Wipe vanity
Clean and dust electronic items (electric toothbrush, trimmer, etc.)
Brush around faucets remove limescale build up, remove build-up from faucet

Basically, a shower head, is constantly spouting water out, every day at your beck and call.  Naturally, water has calcium and other mineral deposits which over time can (and will) clog faucets, showerheads and coffeemakers.  This isn’t harmful per se, it just slows the flow.  It constipates, if you will, your system.
There are many corrosive products that are out there claiming to blast away calcium, lime and rust (catch my drift?) which I don't really want in my house.  Certainly, all you need to dissolve this build up is a good soaking in some plain white vinegar.  The acids in vinegar naturally break down limescale and rust and allow your shower heads to work like new again.  You can also use this trick for cleaning and unclogging faucets.

All you need for this trick is:

 a zippered bag or sandwich bag, heck you could even use a produce bag.
 an elastic band, tie wrap or hair elastic (I’m all about options)
white vinegar (no options here, just plain white vinegar)
 

Fill your bag about half way with vinegar and fasten the bag to the shower head.  Do this by enclosing the mouth of the bag over the shower head and fastening it tightly in place with the tie.  Ensure the shower head is fully immersed in the vinegar, it needs to be in order for this to work.  Let’s say yours is on a hose then I’d suggest taking the hose down and letting it sit in the tub.  Let this sit for 12 hours, or 24 if the shower head is really crusty and you have an alternative shower you can use.

When done, simply remove the bag (careful not to get any vinegar on you or worse, in your eye), and dump down the drain.  Yes, it will smell for a few minutes but shortly thereafter you’ll notice no smell.  If you want to be super sassy, throw some baking soda down your drain before you dump out the vinegar and you’ve now also cleaned our your drain in the process (go you!).  Let the shower head run hot water for a minute before getting in, you’ll marvel at your handiwork; it will run like new!
If you are having stubborn stain issues, you can soak the shower head even longer to see if it will blast away.  If you wish, you can use some baking soda and rub that in to the small nozzles with a cleaning toothbrush which will help break down any additional lime scale and remove the discolouration.  Rinse it clean and you should notice a difference.  Keep in mind that brown discolouration is ugly (I believe this has to do with iron content in water), but is not harming the functionality of the shower head. Green and white ‘crust’ is what you really need to work on, calcium and lime scale are the culprits in clogging your shower head.

 
 
Mould on tile grout is unsightly, to say the least.
It is typically caused by bacteria (that we all have growing in our bathrooms) combined with the hot, humid environment that our bathrooms provide, especially post-shower or bath.
Got Mould? Don’t worry, I can help, its been the Bain of the bathroom and I have to keep on top of it.
I have a few quick, cheap and effective tips you can use to help get rid of mould in your bathroom.

What You Need
To properly care for your bathroom and remove the mould from tile grout, you will need:
A Good Scrub Brush
Baking Soda

What You Do
SCRUB the mould away, treat the grout between tiles with a paste made of water and baking soda.
That’s right – the most effective mould removal  tool we have is elbow grease. Apply the paste, wait a bit, and scrub the mould away!

Mould Scrubbing Tips
Leave on for as long as you need to—for example, very dirty grout can use an hour or two.
Spray the tiles with water and use a scrub brush to clean the grout with a brisk back and forth motion.
Rinse well and buff dry.

Once it’s gone, keep it gone.
Once you have scrubbed the grout, you can prolong your mould-removing efforts so that you do not have to use as much elbow grease next time!
If your bathroom is not properly maintained between cleanings, it does not take long for mould to come back. In fact, think of mould prevention like oral care—we have to maintain our teeth to keep plaque away.
Like a dentist, I am going to suggest some preventative maintenance for you to keep mould out of your bathroom.  It only takes seconds to do and is much easier than what the dentist tells you!

Turn the fan on & open a window
When you have finished showering, turn on a fan or open a window until the humidity from your shower has dissipated.
You need to have top-notch ventilation to remove the humidity and moisture from the air.  The lack of humidity creates a poor breeding ground for bacteria and is the easiest way to maintain your mould-free space.

Mix Up Mould-Prohibiting Spray
To doubly protect your bathroom, keep a spray bottle nearby and quickly mist the tiles and caulking after your shower with this natural anti-mould solution that takes no effort to make.
The solution contains mould-prohibiting ingredients that when sprayed, protect your bathroom from becoming a breeding ground.

You need white vinegar or tea tree oil, water and a spray bottle.

Vinegar solution

Mix equal parts of vinegar and water in a clean spray bottle.

Tea tree oil solution

Mix 10 drops of tea tree oil into a clean spray bottle filled with water
Place the spray bottle on the ‘mist’ setting.
It takes about four seconds to spray the tiles and then you walk away

Now you are protected from mould
These ingredients are cheap, easy to find and are highly effective.
I particularly love the tea tree oil solution, as I find the scent soothing and spa-like!

Scrub and clean tub
This is no easy feat.  However, if you have the right tools, product and technique and do it regularly, you will be in good shape.  If your shower has not been cleaned in a while, expect more elbow grease to be required the first go.  Finally, I’ll share some tips with you designed to help maintain your shower between cleans.
What you’ll need:

Tub and tile cleaner.  For porcelain, glass walls, glass tile and ceramic tile, you can use any tub and tile cleaner that you like, there are great products that I love like Mother’s Choice, or you can use a homemade soap scum cleaner (vinegar and dish soap).  For natural stone such as granite, slate or travertine, you can only clean it with neutral soap or a specialty stone cleaner.
 Double-sided spongeLook for the non-scratching models, because you don’t want to scratch any finishes.  Don’t use a cheap sponge here, you need a good quality sponge or else you’ll be working overtime unnecessarily.
 Microfiber cloths for drying walls and the tub, a squeegee if you have one
 Baking soda for some added abrasion, just in case.
 Full-strength vinegar for heavily-stained glass shower doors.

Step 1

Remove everything from the shower, bottles, soap bars, sponges.  If you want to clean your loofas, you can fill your bathroom sink with a cup of hydrogen peroxide added to your bathroom sink, and let that soak for about 10 minutes while you clean.  Place bottles to rest on a towel or counter.  Remove a bath mat if required.

Step 2

Pull the curtains out of the way, consider flipping them up over the shower bar or removing them altogether.  Spray the tiles in the bathroom with your favorite bathroom cleaning product.  Do not, under any circumstances use vinegar or a traditional ‘bathroom cleaning product’ on stone walls or floors because you will ruin your walls.  You can also consider using a steam cleaner.  Let the product sit for about 5 minutes.  This ‘dwell time’ will allow the product to do the work for you, so the longer you let it sit, the better it can break down soap scum.  For dwelling, the surface has to be wet, so don’t be a stinge-meister when it comes to applying product, really let it soak.  Also be sure not to spray the tub or the floor of the shower, because we leave that until the end.  Don’t worry about spraying any higher than the tallest person that uses that shower, since you are not going to get much, if any, soap scum up there.  For glass shower walls, use full-strength vinegar and spray that on instead, it gets rid of everything.

Step 3

Take your non-scratching sponge and start at the far left wall of the shower, you are going to work clockwise until you tackle all walls. Starting at the top, use the scrubbing side of the sponge to wipe soap scum away, use an ‘S’ pattern to ensure you get the full surface.  Continue down until you get to the bottom of the wall, then move on to the next wall.  Work in sections if you have a long wall in your shower.  For heavy soap scum (on non-glass walls or tiles), you may want to sprinkle about a tablespoon of baking soda into your sponge and wet it before you start, squeeze it a few times to work the baking soda in.  The abrasion will help scrape off the scum.  Top to bottom, left to right.  And avoid the temptation to scrub in circles, total time waster.  Keep doing this until all walls have been cleaned. Do NOT rinse the walls yet.

Step 4

Now, repeat steps 2 and 3 for the tub.  Spray it down, leave it for 5 of 10 minutes, and then scrub, starting at one end and working your way to the other.  If your tub is acrylic, you will need to use the soft side of your sponge only as the scrubbing side can ruin the finish.

Step 5


Crank the shower on hot water.  If you have a removable shower head, start spraying the shower walls down, following the same pattern you used to clean it, far left clockwise to right.  If you don’t, run the faucet and use a container or milk jug to rinse the walls.  Once the walls are rinsed, use a squeegee to remove all water from walls, then follow that up with a buff with clean cloths.  Repeat for the tub.  Don’t forget to shine the chrome!  By rinsing everything at the end, you keep things a lot dryer for yourself and use less water.  It also makes the job easier, efficient and safer.

To check and see if all soap scum is gone, look at your tub and tiles on an angle, you should not see any greyish lines or dull spots.  You can also feel it, if you feel any resistance or tension when you run your hand along the surface, it means soap scum is still on the wall.
Always use a squeegee after your shower has been used.  It may seem like a lot of work, but it takes about 20 seconds to do and prevents any soap scum from building up on your tiles or glass, because no liquid is lingering.   The other thing you can try if you don’t have a squeegee, is just taking an old towel and wiping the walls quickly before you leave the shower.  If the walls are dry, you will never see soap scum because it won’t be able to settle!
You can also create your own shower spray by mixing 50/50 vinegar and water and keeping a spray bottle of that in your shower.  When you leave the shower, mist it with that mixture. That won’t allow the soap scum to cling to the walls.
 
If you have a shower, there’s a really good chance you have a shower mat and shower curtain liner.  And, there’s a super good chance that you haven’t washed them (lately or ever).
These plastic shower accoutrements get quite dirty over time.  Let’s explore why:

They live in your shower, and your shower is a damp, warm place (mould and mildew).
They are situated among bacteria, hard water, soap scum and body oils
I could go on, but these are the two key reasons.

Showers are damp and warm and what a perfect environment for mould and mildew to cultivate.  Mould and mildew come in a variety of colours, but the most common ones you’ll see in the bathroom are pinky/orange and greyish/brown.  Mould and mildew are not indicative of a ‘dirty’ shower per se, but they don’t help in creating a clean looking shower.  And, your shower will become dirtier as the mould and mildew builds up (because you are not cleaning it away), but the initial onset of the stuff doesn’t mean you are showering in some sort of pig sty.  To be clear, soap scum is the true indicator of a dirty shower.
So here is the lowdown friends, the simple and easy way to clean your plastic shower curtain (and shower curtain liners) as well as plastic shower mats so that they stay clean and mildew-free.

What you’ll need:
Laundry detergent
1 cup of baking soda
Washing machine
 2-3 towels (ideally light coloured or white).
Optional: 10 drops of tea tree oil (which can kill mould and mildew).

Here’s What to do:

Carefully remove the plastic shower curtains from hooks and peel up shower mat, take them to your washing machine (pretty easy so far).
Place them in your washing machine, along with the 2 towels.  Add regular detergent and a cup of baking soda (and tea tree oil).
Wash on the gentle cycle
Re-hang the plastic shower curtain to air dry, and hang the shower mat to allow all the water to dry off.  The towels can go in the dryer.
The towels act as a buffer between the washing machine and the delicate plastic curtain.  They also assist in scrubbing away dirt and mildew during the washing process.  The baking soda is a mild abrasive that will further scrub away the mouldy gunk and will also help deodorize any funk that’s been growing in the plastic.  Your total time involved here is under 10 minutes.  You will feel great in your much cleaner shower!
This can be done 4 times a year. 


A streaky mirror is not a clean mirror, despite the number of times you’ve tried cleaning it.

Streaks are frustrating, unsightly and off-putting.  We all think we know how to clean mirrors, but once you learn my secret product and technique you’ll have the shiniest mirrors on the block.
For starters, here’s what doesn’t work.  newspaper isn’t what it used to be.  The inks used today leave residues behind, making your mirrors generally streaky.  So if you try using newspaper and get unsavoury results, that’s why.  No more newspaper to clean mirrors.  Paper towel leaves small flecks of lint behind, which doesn’t look the greatest, plus it can get wasteful.  So what we need is an non-streaking, lint-free cloth to help us along the way. Further, there might be gunk on the mirror that requires cleaning prior to the actual mirror cleaning, so that we can easily tend to.  Another thing to remember is that it’s important to use a designated glass cleaner (either product or recipe), because they are designed to be non-sudsing meaning they won’t leave residue (streaks) behind.  If you use any old cleaning product, you’ll likely see a haze over the mirror and if that is the case, you need to clean that off with some glass cleaner.  See, no one tells you these things!

So to clean your mirror like a pro, here’s what you need:
A flat-weave microfiber cloth – any other cloth will not give you the same results, and remember, it’s your time spent cleaning, so the right tools saves you a lot of that time. You want flat-weave so that no debris can cling to the cloth, and further, they promote fast drying and lint-free finishing.
Rubbing alcohol - yes, that’s the secret.
Cotton pad – for the rubbing alcohol, stay tuned.

Glass cleaner – I use vinegar and water,  but I do like to use Method  this brand have a good selection of enviro friendly products, you can use your favourite brand or recipe.

Let’s get started!
Place some rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad, and scan the mirror for any globs or goopy build up (think: hairspray, toothpaste splatters, etc.) and scanning from the top to the bottom, rub them off one by one.
 Work quickly, because rubbing alcohol dries fast.  This is akin to spot treating stains on laundry before washing them.
Then, spray the mirror down with your glass cleaner, making sure it is misted, not soaking (this makes more work for you).
Fold your microfiber cloth into quarters, that way you’ll have 4 clean surfaces to work with and you can flip the cloth around as required to ensure you are working with a clean surface as required.
Start at the top left corner and drag the cloth across to the top right corner, then swoop down and head back toward the left side of the mirror, continue this zig zag until you get to the bottom of the mirror.  This is what I call the ‘S Pattern’ and it ensures you never miss a square inch of any surface (it also helps eliminate streaks and saves you energy).
Check for any scuff marks by checking the mirror at a 45 degree angle, this sheds extra light on the mirror and illuminates streaks you can’t see looking at the mirror straight on. Spot clean each stain by spraying your cloth and quickly wiping the streak and buffing dry.
And, you’re done!
The whole process should take you under 90 seconds per mirror.  I think this is the most efficient way to clean a mirror, I can assure you, this works like a charm.
The whole process should take you under 90 seconds per mirror.  I think this is the most efficient way to clean a mirror, and after years in the cleaning world, I can assure you, this works like a charm.
 


Toilet

Wipe toilet paper holder Clean entire toilet including the top, base, seat, bowl and area behind


Tools you’ll need
Rubber Gloves
 
Use separate ones for the bathroom (these ones are while, choose another colour for the kitchen).

Cleaning Toothbrush

Use an old one or a brand new one, the most important thing is that it is only used in the bathroom!

All-Purpose Cleaner

Here we’re using a homemade solution of 1 tablespoon dish liquid to 6 oz water, but feel free to use any one that you like.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

This is specifically designed to clean the toilet bowl and will break down dirt, bacteria and lime scale.

Paper Towel

It’s easier to use a few sheets of paper towel or pre-moistened cleaning wipes and not worry about mucking up cloths. Some people can’t stand the idea of using a cloth even after it has been washed if it was used to clean a toilet. Remember to throw the paper towel in the bin and NOT down the toilet  Just make sure you check for left over lint hair (paper towel can leave this behind).

Toilet Bowl Brush

The one I use has an extra brush to scrub strategically under the rim (it’s a Vileda brush in case you are curious).
 Spray your toilet with the all-purpose cleaner from top to bottom covering everything from the tank, flusher, hinges, both sides of the lid and seat, rim, exterior bowl and base. Just douse it with product, don’t be shy. Let it sit for a minute to start to break down the dirt.
 Add the toilet bowl cleaner into the bowl. You’ll notice that toilet bowl cleaners have an angled spout – this is designed specifically to make the application of the product under the rim easier for you. Gently glide the nozzle around the inner rim of the bowl and squirt out the product in a steady, even flow.
 Begin wiping the toilet bowl clean, literally re-tracing your steps from step 1. Start wiping the tank cover, flusher, tank, change paper towel. Get into the hinges (more on this later), wipe the lid top, flip it up and wipe the lid bottom, change paper towel. Wipe the seat top, flip it up and wipe the seat bottom, change paper towel. Wipe the top of the rim and then get the exterior bowl, sides and base. Get into those little crevices! You can always clean the floor and area behind the toilet with a mop as opposed to doing it by hand, either way, it needs to be done.
 Take your cleaning toothbrush and spray it with a little bit of all-purpose cleaner. Use it to get into those hinges and brush out any build up (if you haven’t cleaned your hinges in a while, you’ll understand the value of this tip).
 With your toilet bowl brush in hand, start to scrub under the rim (don’t do it too vigorously or else you’ll get backsplash) and work your way entirely around it (lots of build up lives here). Then, spiral the brush around the inside of the bowl, starting at the top and swirling it around until it gets to the waterline. Continue swirling until you get to the chute and pump the brush in and out of the chute a few times to clean it as well.
 DONE!! Hold the brush in the toilet and flush. Let the water clean the brush off so you don’t have to. To allow the brush to drip-dry, hold it on the rim and put the seat down. Let the brush sit for a few minutes and then replace it dry into the brush container (if it is wet and it goes back in, you get nasty build up).
OK people, it wasn’t that bad! Cleaning your porcelain throne is easy and really important to do. Don’t be afraid of work like this, it keeps you humble.
Want to know how to clean your bathroom cleaning tools? Any of your bathroom cleaning tools can always be cleaned by soaking them in a solution of 50/50 water and oxygen bleach for 10 minutes, rinsing and laying flat.

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