Battling the Bathroom

So many people are petrified of (or despise) cleaning the bathroom. But for me, it's one of the best rooms to clean. Let's face it, it's a small room! It's so much faster to clean the bathroom than to vacuum the entire house. For those of you that HATE cleaning the bathroom, hopefully these tips can help you get in there, get the job done, and take the "chore" out of cleaning the bathroom.

1. Have a Cleaning Caddy! This is a must for anyone that doesn't have a cleaning service coming to their house. I don't know how people clean without having a little "toolbox" to tote along and house all the goods. This doesn't need to be huge, but it should have all the materials to help you clean. There are also two options. Some people only have one cleaning caddy, while I have two. I have one for our bathrooms (3 bathrooms on 2 different floors) and one for the kitchen- it holds more stuff. Here are the main things I keep in my bathroom caddy: Windex (or mirror cleaner), Scrubbing Bubbles wipes, Clorox toilet bowl cleaner, Tilex, rubber gloves, Kaboom, paper towels, and usually a harsher cleaner. *I'll go over my kitchen caddy later on.

2. Put stuff away as you go. This tip isn't just for the bathroom. I've had to learn that instead of wasting my entire weekend cleaning the house, if I do a little bit at a time, and it lessens the load. Instead of stepping over the piles of dog hair that the baby ripped off of him (and didn't try to eat), pick it up and throw it away. If you get the nail kits out to do your nails (you know, in your free time), when you are finished doing your nails, put the stuff away exactly where it should go. This rule shouldn't be that difficult. I mean we tell our kids to put their toys away...I have even started teaching the dog a command for "clean up". Why wouldn't we follow our own rules? Put stuff away right after you use it. It cuts down on clean time.

3. Check expiration dates. This one doesn't just apply in the kitchen. Expiration dates are put on all kinds of products- especially in the bathroom. *STORY TIME! I have a friend that was going to a festival/concert. He is very fair skinned and wanted to take sunscreen with him but ran out of time to go get some. He decided to just grab whatever was in the bathroom. (It was a bit old but still SPF 40) He was very careful to apply the sunscreen and turned out that he got FRIED! The sunscreen was about two years old and had the opposite effect. Morals of the story: 1. Wear sunscreen to protect against harmful rays. 2. NEVER use expired products. Even makeup and cosmetic items have an expiration- follow them. Even Bath and Body Works stuff gets funky after a certain period of time. Besides the fact that these leftover things can clutter up your bathroom, they can grow bacteria after so long. YUCK! Imagine using a mascara that you've had forever...gross. All kinds of bacteria and germs going so close to your eyes- yikes! Stick with the expiration dates and if you aren't using something, get rid of it. There's no reason to keep that around, in your bathroom, just to take up space and carry germs.

4. Combine bottles. If you shop like my husband tends to, you probably have 4 opened containers of nail polish remover, 3 different shampoos, 8 lotions, and countless bottles of Advil/Tylenol. Noah is notorious for forgetting whether or not we have soaps, shampoos, conditioners, etc. This means we always have a supply, but usually we have a ton of opened bottles and nothing ever gets used up. One big thing I've decided to do to minimize clutter is combine bottles of like materials. Obviously if the shampoos are different brands or scents, you may not want to combine those but nail polish removers, Advil tablets or capsules, rubbing alcohol, Peroxide, cotton swabs, and hand soaps can all be combined. One important thing to remember is that even though you have 4 opened bottles of Advil capsules, CHECK THE EXPIRATION DATES! Always do this first, then combine. *Another side note to this tip: This helps you know what you have and what you need. Most of the time when I'm going through stuff, I notice that I already had contact solution in the closet, even though I just bought two more bottles. This will help keep the clutter down AND save you money in the long run.

5. Do it weekly! This doesn't just go for the bathroom. I know that after I come home from a long day at school, the last thing I want to do is make dinner and vacuum the house, do the laundry, clean the bathrooms, dust, and clean the dog snootches off the windows. So I decided to break things down and do them one day at a time. I wanted to be able to handle all the majors cleaning chores that need to be finished throughout the week. Then I decided to break these "chores" down to once a day. It's important to do what works for you. Here's my schedule for you to use as an example:

• Sunday: I usually try to spend Sunday relaxing and gearing up for the upcoming week. The only thing I may do on Sunday is create the menu for next week. I'll go over this when I get to the kitchen blog.
• Monday: Dust. I really don't enjoy dusting at all BUT it only takes me around 15-20 minutes to do the entire house so I dust on Mondays, which tend to be my busy day of the week and least favorite day. *yes. I always have a case of the Mondays.
• Tuesday: Clean bathrooms. (Thus the Tuesday blog about bathrooms) By clean, I do not mean reorganize. That usually takes more time so I just go through and clean the sinks, toilets, wash mirrors, and wipe down showers (if needed). This usually takes me around 30 minutes to thoroughly clean all 3 bathrooms. 
• Wednesday: Clean windows. Mac LOVES to look out the window but clearly has no idea how long his puppy nose is. By about Tuesday it looks as though he's been trying to write in Chinese on my windows for all the neighbors to see. Cleaning the windows in my house usually takes about 20 minutes and it always looks so much nicer after they are done. The good thing about this day is that if I am running low on time or it's not too bad, I just spot check and clean what needs to be cleaned. ** Product recommendation: Windex is always good for windows but it tends to streak for me. I LOVE Invisible Glass! It never streaks and seems to really get all the dog snootches. **
• Thursday: Vacuum. Living in a 3-floor townhouse, this is my LEAST favorite thing to do but when Noah helps it goes very quickly. We have an upright vacuum for the carpets and a smaller Oreck for the stairs and vinyl floors. We divide and conquer. Noah usually takes the stairs and floors, while I take the upright for carpets. If we really focus we can get this done in about 20-25 minutes. It always goes faster if we remembered to clean up all the other stuff that usually lands on our floors as the week went on. 
• Friday: Steam floors. Once the vacuuming is done, this is always the next thing on the list. Besides the fact that I HATE having a sticky floor, I realize that before I know it I will have a crawling baby. I don't want him crawling around on a dirty kitchen floor. I usually steam the bathrooms, kitchen, sunroom, and foyer. This can be completely done in about 20 minutes, plus I always feel better after the food drops in the kitchen are cleaned off. 
• Saturday: Laundry. I always put laundry off during the week because I know that I'll just have a ton more on the weekends. It's easier for me to focus on laundry on Saturday, unless we have plans or will be going away. If that is the case, I can move laundry around throughout the week. Plus I put laundry to the end of the week so that I can get all of the towels (both bathroom and kitchen) into the laundry without forgetting things.

All in all, that's how I spend my week cleaning. Each day is no more than 30 minutes a day. I find that if I just get right into it after I get home from work, it always gets done. If I come home, plop down on the couch and watch tv, I am wasting time. Let's face it...we can easily spend hours in front of the tube but cleaning our home for 30 minutes is like a bad dentist appointment. Why is that? So while you're already moving from work, come in and get to it. It'll be done quickly and then you can relax...or in most cases, continue to work, make dinner, take care of the kids/dog, etc. A woman's work is never done...we might as well just keep the ball rolling.

Hope these tips help and you can create a schedule for cleaning that you can manage. I'd love to know if you already have a schedule...I'm always willing to adapt. :-) Have a great bathroom cleaning Tuesday!