A Step-By-Step Guide To Deep Bathroom Cleaning

Bathroom cleaning.

You can practically hear the cartoon *womp womp* sound effect ring out alongside those words.

Strangely enough, though many of us were raised in tidy houses, few of us were actually taught how to clean by an adult. That means that entering adulthood was filled with confounding questions about cleaning various spaces: "How often?" "With what?"

Have no fear: Your guide is here! Despite being a particularly nasty space in terms of germs and bacteria, bathrooms are actually one of the easiest rooms in a house to clean because you can follow a specific protocol with almost every one.

Walk with me.

Before You Begin

Cleaning your bathrooms should be a weekly task, which means that it needs to be as convenient as possible. One of the best ways to ensure you stay motivated is to keep all your cleaning supplies together in a bucket that can travel around your house. Invest in a $2 plastic bucket or tub that nestles neatly into a linen closet, underneath a bathroom sink, or some other tucked-away place and can be easily whipped out when it's time to clean. Don't create more work for yourself by flitting around the house gathering cleaning supplies from four different places: Store them together.

The one item that doesn't need to travel? For obvious reasons: a toilet brush. Each bathroom (primary, guest, pocket, water closet—whatever type you have) needs to have a toilet brush that lives next to the toilet and stays put.

You'll Need

• Rubber gloves
• Toilet brush
• Spray/foaming disinfectant
• Disinfecting wipes
• Paper towels
• Windex or other glass cleaners
• Foaming disinfectant
• Soft bristled brush
• Swiffer or other duster
• Vacuum and/or broom
  
• Damp rag (optional)
• Boiling water (optional)

Step 1: Tidy Up And Hair Removal

First is an obvious one: Put everything back in its place. Make sure all surfaces are free of stray hair products, makeup, toothbrushes, and the like. Your counters, shower, and tub should be totally clear and ready to be wiped down, including removing towels (this is a great chance to refresh and change out dirty hand towels and bathmats!).

Once you've gotten large items put away, time for my least favorite step (though it's a critical one): removing all that hair (human, pet, or otherwise) from the floor and surfaces of your bathroom. Use a vacuum or a broom to make sure that your surfaces are totally free of hair and other debris so that the products you use later are most effective.

Step 2: Spray Disinfectant

Using your spray disinfectant of choice, spray down your shower, tub, and sinks – but don't wipe it away. You're going to let this spray disinfectant work on the bacteria in your bathroom while you complete other steps for maximum effectiveness. Don't forget to spray inside the basin of the sink as well as the faucet and handles.

When spraying disinfectant on your toilet, the process is slightly different: lift the toilet seat to spray your product in the toilet bowl, then use a toilet brush to evenly distribute the product around inside the bowl (don't neglect the very top of the toilet bowl where water stains can often build up). If you're doing an extra-deep clean, remove your toilet seat from the bowl to ensure your product makes it all the way into those hard-to-clean crevices. But don't flush the toilet—let your cleaning solution do the hard work for you. You'll come back to the toilet in a bit.

Step 3: Dusting, Glass, And Countertop Cleaning

While your disinfectant is working hard to lift stains and grime, start dusting. Follow this rule: high to low. Begin with the light fixtures, then use your glass cleaner to wipe away any stains or dried on toothpaste from your mirrors. Wipe down your countertop with your favorite disinfectant wipe, avoiding the sink basin (we'll get to that next!). Dust all the way down to the baseboards, removing all tiny particulate from the surfaces of your bathroom.

Step 4: Scrub And Wipe Away Disinfectant

Now that you've taken care of the rest of your bathroom, your spray disinfectant has had time to work on soap scum and dried-on stains from the surfaces where it was sprayed. Using a soft bristled brush, work high to low again. Starting in the shower, scrub the walls, hardware, and floor. Rinse with warm water.

Move on to your tub, scrubbing out the disinfectant and using a large cup to rinse away any remaining cleaning product.

Finally, tackle the toilet. Wipe down the exterior toilet bowl, tank, and behind the seat with disinfectant wipes as you use double your cleaning power (spray disinfectant + disinfectant wipes!) to make sure it's sparkling. Using your toilet brush, give the disinfectant one more pass around the interior of the toilet bowl, then flush it away. Never re-use a rag or wipe used on the toilet anywhere else in the bathroom – and be careful not to transfer a wipe you've used on one part of the toilet to then disinfect the handle. Yuck!

Use a disinfectant wipe to remove any debris from the stand where your toilet brush lives (there's usually a well that catches extra water – that's what you'll want to clean). If you removed the toilet seat, replace it, then lift it and lay your toilet brush so that it's pinned between the toilet bowl and toilet seat. This way, your brush can drip dry into your toilet. We'll come back to that in a minute.

Step 5: Take Out The Trash

The least dirty job of all: taking a small trash can to be dumped into a larger trash can! Before completing this step, make sure all of your wipes, paper towels, and other things used to clean your bathroom have been disposed of in this trash can. For added freshness, soak a cotton round in drops of your favorite essential oil before replacing the garbage bag in your wastebasket. Your bathroom will smell great without candles or diffusers!

Step 6: Clean The Toilet Brush

Does cleaning your cleaning supplies seem overkill? Maybe, but it's the most effective way to make sure every single time you use a toilet brush, you've got something clean to work with (plus, who wants the pool of old toilet water sitting in the toilet brush stand? No, thank you!).

Spray your disinfectant all over the head of your toilet brush. Then, using a kettle or just a pot on the stove, bring a few cups of water to a boil. With your toilet brush still sandwiched between the seat and the toilet bowl (the head should be hanging directly over the toilet bowl), slowly pour boiling water over the head of the brush to remove any unwanted debris trapped in the bristles. Rotate the brush as you pour for a super effective, thorough clean.

Let the brush drip dry, then return it into its squeaky clean home. Voila! Done!