Green Clean Your Entire House – The Bathroom

Just in time for the back-to-school season and the crazy mad urge to clean and organize EVERYTHING that goes with it (or is that just me), we’ve got another green cleaning post.

This time our contributor, Kaley, is tackling the bathroom with green cleaner recipes for the floors, toilets, drains, counters, mirrors and more plus a detailed order-of-operations about how to go about it all most efficiently. Whoo hoo!

The bathroom is one of the hardest working rooms in the house. And also the grimiest. Which is why there is an entire aisle at the store dedicated to bathroom cleaning products.

There is the tub and tile cleaner. The mirror cleaner. The toilet cleaner. The floor cleaner. The drain cleaner. And then the super duper mold killer.

The majority of these products are made with extremely harmful toxic chemicals. Definitely not something I want in my house.

You could buy the eco-friendly version of each of these products. But then you might be spending a small fortune on cleaning products just for your bathroom.

Not to mention having to dedicate and entire cabinet to all of these products, whether they are eco-friendly or not.

I prefer to skip that aisle all together, and use just a few ingredients and supplies to clean the bathroom. It takes up much less storage space, and costs just pennies to keep the bathroom sparkling clean.You will need:

distilled white vinegar
baking soda
dish soap
rubbing alcohol
water
spray bottles
squeeze bottle or small container
cleaning rags
scrub brush

Directions:

After a lot of practice, I have found that this is the speediest way to deep clean your bathroom without chemicals. If you clean in this order, you will make effective use of the “wait” times that some of the solutions need.

Spray the shower, tub, sinks and tiles.
Spray the outside of the toilet, and squirt toilet cleaner into the bowl.
Dust any shelves or surfaces.
Clean all mirrors and windows.
Go back and finish the toilet.
Scrub the sinks and clean the counter tops.
Vacuum or sweep floors.
Finish the shower, tub, sinks and tiles and take care of any mold or mildew that you find.
Clean the drains.
Clean the floors.

Shower / Tub / Sinks / Tile

In a spray bottle, mix 1 part HOT water, 1 part distilled white vinegar, and a few squirts of dish soap. Shake to combine everything. Spray the inside of your sink, tub or shower liberally and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Using a wet textured cleaning rag, or wet scrub brush, scrub all surfaces well. Add a little bit of water, if necessary. The soap scum and hard water spots should scrub away easily. Rinse well with warm water.

Toilets

Spray the outside of the toilet, including the seat and toilet rings with full strength vinegar covering the entire surface. Let that sit while you clean the toilet bowl.

In a small squeeze bottle (or dish if you don’t have one) mix 1/2 cup baking soda, 3/4 cup HOT water, and a few squirts of dish soap until combined. Then add 3/4 cup full strength white vinegar. It will start fizzing.

Squirt it into the toilet bowl, under the rim, and make sure that all surfaces are covered. Let it sit while you wipe down the rest of the toilet with a cloth. Then scrub the toilet bowl with a toilet brush and flush.

Mirrors / Windows

Fill your spray bottle with full strength white vinegar and spray your windows generously, covering the entire window.

Rub with your cloth in circular motions until all of the vinegar is wiped off and there are no streaks remaining. If there are stubborn spots, repeat, focusing on those areas.

Mold / Mildew

Follow the directions for showers and tubs, above, to clean the surface mold or mildew out of any corners, grout lines, or crevices. Once it looks clean, spray with a little bit of rubbing alcohol to prevent the mold from returning.

To help mold and mildew prevention, try to reduce moisture in the bathroom by opening a window or running a fan.

Drain

After cleaning the sink / tub / shower, pour a pot of boiling water down each drain, or run the faucet as hot as it will go for about 30 seconds. Then dump a full cup of baking soda into each drain. Follow with a cup of full strength white vinegar, and let it bubble and fizz for a few minutes.

Then pour a pot of boiling water down each drain again to completely clean and deodorize the drain. This will also help if your drain is a little sluggish.

Counters / Floors

Spray the counters and floors with full strength vinegar covering the entire surface. Let it sit for at least a minute, then wipe clean with a cloth. If there are hard water spots or stubborn stains, follow the directions for tile, above.