Guide to Cleaning Your Bathroom for the Spring

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Guide to Cleaning Your Bathroom for the Spring

Ah, the bathroom: home to our morning rushes and…well, other gross outputs. That makes cleaning it for the Spring an undesirable task. But, alas, it has to be done. Luckily, it’s the next room in our Spring Cleaning tour! I’m going to show you how to clean the bathroom without grossing or stressing yourself out. Ready? Let’s go!

Before You Clean

Make sure you have enough ventilation in your bathroom. You don’t want to close yourself off in a room you’re cleaning with vinegar. It won’t harm you, but the smell will be pungent. Open a window, keep your bathroom door open — keep your bathroom fan on while you clean if you have to!

Keep the cleaning accessories you’ll need on hand. Getting them while you clean will take more time and effort. Here’s what you’ll need: scrub brushes, microfiber and cotton cloths (you can use old socks, T-shirts, and a pillowcase), a cloth on an extender pole, a bucket, a mop and vacuum (with its attachments), possibly a steam cleaner, white distilled vinegar, baking soda, maybe lemon juice, Castile soap, hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, some trash bags, and maybe a ladder or a stepping stool. Don’t forget your gloves and mask!

Step One: Declutter

Clean the trash can out. Your bathroom trash bin sees lots of nasty garbage. It’s important to keep it suitable for use. Put the trash in one of your trash bags. Put your can in your bathtub/shower. Fill the can halfway with white distilled vinegar solution (lemon juice may help mask the smell, and it has antibacterial qualities) or soap and water, use your solution to wipe down the entire can, and let it sit near a drain for at least 5 minutes.

Take all the laundry out of the bathroom. Put the rugs, window treatments, and misplaced clothes in another one of your trash bags (but wash them, don’t trash them). Remove the accessories on your countertop. When you put everything back later, remember that there should only be a few things on your countertop.

Clear out your medicine cabinets. Use this time to get rid of the old products (like shampoo that’s been there for eons, or lotion you don’t use anymore) in your bathroom. Note: if you have any medications to discard, do so properly. Look it up before you do anything.

Step Two: Work Your Way Down

If you’ve read my previous Spring Cleaning posts (https://conta.cc/3KMEedV and https://conta.cc/3KQo4A8) you knew this was coming. We don’t engage in cyclical cleaning here, so start by cleaning your light fixtures and fans. Use a microfiber cloth (or an old sock or pillowcase) to clean fan blades and recessed lighting. If you have removable light coverings, get rid of the dust they collected inside, and clean them using your white vinegar solution or soap and water.

The toilet sprays germs around, so disinfect the walls with soapy water (or hydrogen peroxide) rather than clean them with a vinegar solution. Give it a few minutes to work before wiping it off.

Wipe the bathroom door, cabinet doors, faucets, handles, and knobs with soapy water (or hydrogen peroxide). Clean the inside of your cabinets, too. Clean your windows with a vinegar solution so the window panes won’t be streaky.

Step 3: Scrub-a-Dub-Dub!

You can use your vinegar solution to clean your bathtub/shower or sink. A baking soda paste and vinegar or dish soap brighten set-in stains. Use vinegar (NOT vinegar solution) to kill most types of mold.

Wipe the outside of your toilet with your vinegar solution. Use Castile soap and baking soda to clean your toilet bowl’s interior. You can clean the toilet’s tank by adding vinegar (without draining it) and letting it sit for 12 hours. Flush the toilet twice, turn off the toilet’s water valve, and flush it again. Use your scrubbing brush and vinegar solution to clean the tank’s walls, turn the water valve back on, and flush again.

Wipe off the counters and mirror with your vinegar solution, mop and/or steam clean your floors, put your thing back, and pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Deep cleaning your bathroom can be daunting, and other things will distract you from giving it the attention it so desperately needs. So why try to do it all yourself (and stress out) if you can contact Andy’s Quality Cleaning? We’d be happy to give your home some love and cleanliness. Your home deserves it, and so do you.