National Cleaning Week: Bathrooms

If your house is like mine (full of nasty little boys) then today is going to be your worst day of the entire National Cleaning Week.  Today, we are going to tackle the bathrooms – remember, this is not your daily cleaning session, but deep cleaning to get the places that sometimes get missed!

Steps to Deep Clean Your Bathroom:

• Get out the linens! Remove curtains, blinds, mats &/or rugs, and, if you have one, the shower curtain. Wash and dry the curtains, mats &/or rugs, and shower curtain while continuing your bathroom deep cleaning. Clean any blinds according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Remove everything you can see! You don’t have to empty the cabinets at this point, but now is the time to get everything else out.  Everything from the counters, tub, floor, etc need to go out for now.  It is such a little room that the easiest way to get it scrubbed is to start with a blank canvas.
  • • Do your kids have bathtub toys? How about soaking them in a bucket with a little bleach to kill all the slimy nasty’s that tend to grow on them. This is also good for scrubbing your toothbrush holder, soap dish, and trash can.
• Cobwebs need to go! Grab a broom or your favorite duster and tackle any cobwebs lurking in the corners, under the ends of cabinets, etc.
• Spray down the tub, toilet, and sink. Get a good spray on cleaner like Scrubbing Bubbles and spray it on  – allow it to soak in while we do the next few steps.
• Light fixtures, fan cover, air conditioner vents! How long has it been since you pulled the cover off the bathroom fan?  Yeah, that’s what I thought!  Pull it off and scrub it down.  Remove light fixtures and scrub them in some hot soapy water, too.  Plus, take that rag and really scrub that a/c vent.
• Clean the window! If you have a window in your bathroom, now is the time to clean it up.  Use a toothbrush to get the tracks really well and be sure to get all around the window sill!
• Clean the tub, toilet, counter, and sink! Now that the cleaner has been sitting for a bit, this part should be fairly easy.  Just don’t forget to get all the nooks and crannies as well as the outsides of them!
• Attack the cabinets! Start with one little section and pull things out.  Do you need them?  Do you use them?  Are they expired?  Do you have 4 more behind them?  Time to start cleaning out the extras.  I am sure your local Church or Shelter would love to have some of your extras.  If you have several open bottles, combine them into one.  Make a new scent if you have to.
• Scrub the floor! Time to sweep the floor really well and then attack it on your hands and knees.  Get the corners, baseboards, etc really well.
• Last step – put it all back! Now it is time to rinse out the things you had soaking plus start putting everything else back.

How does it look?  Better yet, how does it smell?  Maybe tonight you can enjoy a nice quiet bubble bath in your “new” bathroom!