Keeping the bathroom clean is not an easy job. No matter how hard you try and maintain the cleanliness of your bathroom it always gets dirty and always needs a bit of extra elbow grease. But, some of the conventional methods just don’t cut the mustard when it comes to cleaning products. It is almost like sweeping dirt under the carpet; it is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Well, if you are anything like me, that isn’t acceptable. For one thing, it means more you have to spend more time cleaning and I do have a life! So, I have decided to try out the unconventional methods of cleaning because they cannot be any worse, right? Here are some of the weirdest and most wonderful cleaning tips I have come across.
Clean with Coca-Cola
It’s probably not want you want to hear, especially when your children love to knock it back by the bottle. But, regardless of what it does to peoples’ teeth, it can make cleaning your bathroom a lot easier. Coke is full of sodium and bicarbonates that react to lift dirt and grime from most surfaces. So, if you have stubborn stains on your toilet bowl or in the bathtub, you can always put some Coke on it and try that. Honestly, it works as well as any cleaning product that I have used.
Clean with Kool-Aid
Cleaning with Kool-Aid is the same as cleaning with Coca Cola, but it is worth knowing in case your first port of call doesn’t have the effect you are looking for. Some people prefer Coke and others prefer Kool-Aid, so it is up to you to choose and figure out which one works best. With Kool-Aid you just add a generous mixture to the area you want to clean and leave it for a while as it works its magic. After five or ten minutes flush the toilet and your dirty toilet down the drain!
Olive & Salt
If you have the wood if your bathroom, as a lot of people like to do, it can easily become marked. The problem with wood is that once it is marked it is very conspicuous and hard to ignore. It is also hard to get rid of unless you get creative and unleash the olive and salt mixture on your bathroom. All you have to do is put the mixture together and add it to the stains and leave it. But, once you have wiped the concoction off the wood don’t be disheartened if the stain is still there. Leave it a bit longer and once you go back, the stains should have magically disappeared. Just keep in mind that it is a slow burner and takes more time than most cleaning methods.
Clean the Silver with Toothpaste
Silver is a very expensive metal, so you would usually be right in leaving it to the conventional methods of cleaning. Let’s face it; if you ruin the family silver you will be devastated! But, toothpaste is legitimate and has been used on silver for longer than most people can care to imagine. It is organic, to a degree, and because of that it isn’t too harsh on the metal so it won’t ruin any of your precious silverware. Plus, it is a lot cheaper than buying the special cleaning products that most retailers sell and it will also leave your ornaments smelling good! If you do have any silverware in the bathroom, make sure you have enough toothpaste to go around.
Pick the right Style
What makes cleaning a bathroom harder is the style. Some styles are more conducive to maintaining than others, such as a suite or a wet room. If you want to cut down on the cleaning you want one of these alternatives. They are better with regards to cleaning because they are decorated with tiles and have wide open spaces. Tiles just need wiping down with a cloth or spraying with a bit of water and most of the bacteria and dirt are washed away. Conventional bathrooms tend to let the grease and grime build up, and that is when cleaning can become a problem. It sounds a bit drastic, but if you want to cut down time spent cleaning you want to take a look at different alternatives. If you need inspiration, check out Bella Bathroom suites and all the other options that such companies have available.
Scrub with Baby Oil
Chemical sprays might do the job, but they won’t do it quicker or more efficiently than baby oil. If areas in your bathroom are especially greasy, baby oil works better than any industrial spray anyway. The compound of baby oil cuts away at the grime and lifts it within a matter of minutes, leaving your bathroom sparkling clean. Plus, it smells good, and that is more than I can say for the likes of bleach and chemical sprays!
Use Coffee Filters
Paper towels are the usual suspects for cleaning because they are lint-free, so they don’t make any unnecessary marks. But, sometimes paper towels are not always to hand, and you need a good alternative, which is where coffee filters come into play. If you are a coffee fiend you are bound to have endless coffee filters lying around the house, so just pick one up and start buffing away. They work best on the mirrors because they leave them shining and gleaming.
Use an Electric Toothbrush
It is not a myth that a toothbrush does work better than most cleaning utensils. It is the way that the bristles get to most areas that other cleaning products can’t as they are thin and remarkably flexible. Trust me when I say that many a cleaning nut has got down on bended knee and scrubbed away at the bathroom tiles in the hope that the excess grout will finally up sticks and leave! It will, but there is an easier way, and it comes in the form of an electric toothbrush. An electric toothbrush has the same qualities of a normal toothbrush apart from the fact that it is powered by electric. That one little difference will save you numerous amounts of time and effort when it comes to the nooks and crannies of your bathroom.
Thoroughly Wash the Shower Curtain
The least part of any bathroom is the shower curtain. Just take a look at the bottom of your shower curtain and see what you think. Doesn’t look good, does it? That’s because you don’t give it a second thought, and when you do you are content to leave it as it is. It is not a good idea because masses of bacteria will set up camp on your shower curtain, and it can spread. That means if your shower curtain has mould, the rest of your bathroom could have mould as well. Chuck it in the washing machine and give it a thorough wash every week or so. It is a lot cheaper than buying a new shower curtain!
Buy Car Wax
Once you have cleaned your bathroom, you want it to stay clean for a long time. You can, of course, take time out of your busy schedule every day and do the cleaning to maintain it as best you can. Or, you can buy some car wax and spread it around your bathroom. The wax has two effects. Firstly, it leaves your bathroom with a sparkle that is hard to find anywhere else because that is wax’s primary function. But, it also stops the build-up of grime because dirt cannot stick to the surfaces like it normally can.
Clear Drains with Baking Soda & Vinegar
Every Nan throughout the world has been using baking soda and vinegar for years, so it is not a new age cleaning tip. But, it is a cleaning tip that doesn’t get the credit that it deserves. It is especially good at clearing drains, and your bathroom will always have problems with the drains. Any little blockage can be a problem, so it is always nice to have a backup plan, and the chemical reaction that follows will blast away any grime in the drains. Do you know what happens when you mix Coke and Mentos? It is the same thing so cover the drain and stand well back!
Clean your Toilet with Denture Tablets
You might not need denture tablets for the usual reason, but it is always good to have some lying around the house to keep your toilet clean. The toilet has to be the dirtiest place in the bathroom, obviously, which is why you need to get creative to keep it clean. Again it is all about the reaction when the tablet hits the bowl as they have an effervescent power that is hard to replicate. Leave it for ten minutes and give it a decent scrub and your toilet will never have looked better!
It is all about getting creative if you want to keep your bathroom clean all of the time, and these twelve tips are creative!
Both my husband and I have family who live 1,200 miles away – in opposite directions. Sometimes the only way that our families can really feel apart of our lives, and our kids, is to share those special times whenever possible. My kids love their sports, and being able to share their special moments with family across the country is important. The 
