Let’s talk toilets, potties, Johns, loos, porcelain thrones, you get the idea. The fun stuff!
Cleaning the toilet does not have to be a pain (or scary!). Here are some toilet cleaning tips that I use.
Toilet Talk
Tip #1: Clean toilets based on frequency of use, and level of disgusting, which ladies & moms are masters at determining.
We have one toilet in the house that never gets used at all. A few times a month, I just do a quick wipe down of the dust on the outside, and use a toilet brush to clean out the bowl to prevent an algae ring from forming. If you have toilets that are getting used a lot, you may need to do a more frequent cleaning. There is no right or wrong when it comes to cleaning your toilet. Heck, it’s a toilet! I like to use a brush for the bowl. Be careful that you don’t scratch your bowl with your brush. I clean under the rim by hand. It’s better than a brush, in my opinion. We get a hard water stain where the water comes out to fill up the bowl. It’s not noticeable, and I have to become a contortionist and practically stick my head in the bowl to see it. But, I know it’s there, so it drives me crazy. I scrub those stains with a little brush. Use whatever cleaners you like. I like certain cleaner smells over others. Sometimes I just go with whatever I have a coupon for. Basically if my bathroom smells like a bleached out hospital room, I’m a happy camper.
Tip #2: Don’t forget the outside and around the toilet.
I clean the outside of the toilet each time. The grossest thing about our toilets is that the water often splashes back out a little bit when we flush. This can get the outside messier than usual. And yes, ladies, you can blame men for the rest of the outside disgustingness. They spray, they dribble, they gush! They’re gross!! My guys are actually fairly neat with the toilet, and I can’t shame them too much about it. I taught my son to clean up his toilet dribbles and messes from the time he potty-trained at 2-years old. Teach ’em young! You can’t go wrong with that. Your son’s significant other will thank you one day for it!
I clean around the back of the toilet and around the floor of the toilet by hand. It’s the best way to reach back, under, and around. If there has been a nuclear incident around the toilet, I break out the heavy artillery using a scrub brush to scrub the grout around the toilet. Anything gross that gets into the grout around or under your toilet can make your bathroom have a lingering stinky smell.
Tip #3: Oh! So that’s what that little picture of a lock on my toilet seat is!!
Many toilets have hidden grossness and smells in the seat, where yuckiness gets into little nooks and crannies that you may not see. If you have a more modern toilet, you probably have a removable seat. Make use of it, it’s super easy! If you have an older toilet, removing the seat may be more of a pain. Consider upgrading to a newer seat.
If you have a newer toilet, your seat may have this little picture of a padlock, opened and closed, with an arrow in between it. This means you can unlock your toilet seat and take it off for a quick, easy clean.
Twist/turn the knobs toward the unlocked side.
Pull up on the seat. If you’ve never done this, or don’t do it that often, it might seem tough and not budge very easily. Keep pulling up. It will come off. You can also use this opportunity to tighten the seat if it’s become loose. I usually give mine a quick tightening while I have the seat off.
Lift off! Once you lift your seat off, you can clean the actual toilet under the seat, where hidden messes like to hide. You can also easily clean your seat by hand. I like to run the seat under super-hot water in the bathtub, so that it rinses out all the yucky stuff that accumulates in the hinges, etc. Let the seat dry. I actually dry the seat off though, because I have found that water spots or cleaner spots can stain and damage the seat if I don’t dry it right away.
If all else fails, just buy a new seat. If your seat has gone beyond the point of no return, it’s worth investing in a new seat. It’s a relatively inexpensive thing to do. I get new seats for our toilets every so many years, because I’m a neat-freak like that.
That’s it! Have a happy (or happier) potty time!
Do you have any toilet cleaning tips or shortcuts?
–Mellie
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