Keeping a bathroom clean—the place where all sorts of messy things happen—sounds like a pipe dream, but it is, in fact, possible with proper maintenance and an efficient organization system. As one of the most used and abused rooms in the house, bathrooms will naturally collect tons of dirt, residue, and clutter. Plus, the humid and warm temperature inside the room makes for a perfect breeding ground for mold, mildew, germs, and bacteria.
Fortunately, it’s not impossible to get rid of these things. Here are some tips to help you keep your bathroom clean and organized.
Set a Regular Cleaning Routine
Your bathroom gathers dirt, hair, residue, and grime every day, so it’s only right to clean it regularly, preferably daily. But most people don’t have the time to do that. That’s all right. You don’t have to thoroughly clean it every day, but you can do little things to control the clutter.
Set daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning routines or checklists to guide you. Taking out the trash and removing and airing out the bathroom should be done daily so the garbage doesn’t accumulate and moisture doesn’t linger and create an environment for mold to grow. Cleaning the toilet and the floor should be done weekly, while unclogging minerals from the shower and sink can be done monthly.
List all the tasks that need to be done to maintain the bathroom, and classify them based on the urgency. The most urgent tasks should be done daily, and the rest can be relegated to weekly or monthly cleaning.
Create an Organization System
Proper organization is the key to managing the clutter in your bathroom. You need to assign a place for every item in the bathroom. Used towels should be hung on the drying bar, clean towels inside the cabinet, cleaning supplies under the sink, and soap and shampoo in the toiletries rack.
Use organizers to keep things in order, and make sure all your family members know where to put things, using labels or telling them explicitly where to return stuff in the bathroom. Most of all, be consistent in following your system.
Remove Excess Moisture after Showering
Excessive amounts of moisture and heat are the bane of every homeowner’s existence. The combination of both creates a breeding ground for all sorts of unpleasantness—mold, mildew, germs, and bacteria, to name a few. If left to dry by themselves, droplets from the shower or faucet or soap and shampoo residue can solidify and leave watermarks, which are notoriously hard to remove.
Prepare a squeegee in your bathroom, and run it through your shower doors and wet surfaces every time after you shower. Make sure other people who use your bathroom do this too. This way, you can minimize the moisture in your bathroom and prevent certain problems from cropping up.
Ventilate Your Bathroom
In the average home, the bathroom is usually the smallest room in the house, and more often than not, it will only have one tiny window to let in some natural light. Because of privacy and security concerns, homeowners usually keep this window closed all the time. It’s a mistake that can cause you hundreds to thousands of dollars in the future.
More than other places in the house, the bathroom is one room that’s in the most desperate need of ventilation. It’s a small area, usually located in an isolated corner, so it doesn’t get much air circulation or sunshine, leaving it dark, humid, and damp most of the time, which is a recipe for disaster.
When you’re at home, leave your bathroom door and window open to let it air out. This helps the moisture dry faster, get rid of bad odors, and kill germs faster, thanks to the sanitizing powers of sunlight.
Remember to turn on the exhaust fan while you shower or bathe and leave it on for at least 15 minutes after using the bathroom. This will help keep the room clean for longer and keep away mold, mildew, bad odor, germs, and bacteria.
Prevent Common Bathroom Problems
Common bathroom problems, like clogging, running toilet, and leaky faucets, can result in a huge headache, from fixing the problem, paying the price of a plumber, and cleaning the mess after.
Fortunately, there are measures you can take to prevent some problems from arising. To prevent clogging your drains, use a drain cover to catch hair, residue, and whatever before they block the pipes. Avoid flushing toilet paper, wet wipes, diapers, tampons, and basically anything that’s not human waste. The small drainpipe in your toilet is not equipped to handle all those things, and they will cause a clog, sooner or later.
You can also consider switching to an upflush toilet to consolidate the water waste in your bathroom. This type of toilet uses an efficient upflush system that allows you to connect not only the toilet drainpipe but also the shower or tub drain and sink drain to a tank that is connected to your main sewage system or septic storage. The toilet tank has a built-in motor grinder, which further breaks down water waste to facilitate better drainage.
For leaky faucets, make sure to check the handle regularly to see if it’s tight enough. If that’s not the issue, then replace your faucet immediately. For plumbing pipes, adding insulation will help prevent leaking, as well as let warm water travel faster from your heater to the shower or faucet. Even it is helpful to hire fosa septica.
One Last Thing
Establishing good cleaning habits is still the best way you can maintain order and cleanliness to any area in the house. If everyone in the family picks up after themselves, the entire house, including the bathroom, will remain clutter-free for a long time. All the people living in the house should be responsible for keeping the home in good condition.
Photo URL: https://pixabay.com/photos/bathroom-wood-furniture-shower-2132342/
