Monday, May 16, 2011

How I Keep the House Semi Company Ready - Bathrooms

As a little bit of a germ-a-phobe, I really hate bathrooms (even my own).  I also REALLY struggle to keep the bathtubs clean.  However, I do find it one of the easier rooms to keep superficially clean.  A few years ago we finished our basement and added a second bathroom (that was for my sanity!) so the 'girls' have the downstairs bathroom and the 'boys' have the upstairs bathroom.  The steps I list below for keeping it company ready are required for both bathrooms but my husband does take care of his on a daily basis.

  • Dirties are to be taken out and put in the laundry room when leaving the bathroom.  Every once in a while the kids need reminding of this but everyone is fairly good about it. I tend to get crabby with them if they forget - no one likes a crabby momma.
  • Any beauty products used must be put away in it's proper place before leaving the bathroom.  I tend to leave the drawer/cabinet open and put back immediately upon using, this saves me time versus pulling everything out on the counter and then putting everything away as I'm done.
  • Toothpaste must be rinsed from sink (seems like a non-issue doesn't it, it's not)
  • Mirror, counter and toilet top are wiped down with the damp towel before leaving the bathroom. This is adults only, I'm lucky the kids put away their stuff and remove their dirties.
The above steps take me probably less than 5 minutes.  The bathroom at this point isn't going to be passing a white glove test, but it is being kept presentable.

Once a week either I or the kids will go through and scrub the toilets, clean the mirror, sanitize the counter tops and clean the floors.  I wish I could tell you the bathtubs get done every week but they don't.  My husband will do his own shower when he can't stand it any more (I know, some of you I'm sure are cringing but I have to pick my battles and his tub isn't one of them).  My tub gets scrubbed about every 2-3 weeks.  Once I'm done paying for Jenny Craig I'm considering getting a cleaning lady to come in and do some of the heavier cleaning - it's just a dream at this point.

As I promised in one of my earlier posts, in addition to the 'clean' picture I'm showing you one of my shameful secrets.  My cupboards and closets tend to be a mess.  I figure if the guests want to snoop and see my mess they can, I'm sure all of us have messes somewhere.  Except maybe my sister-in-law, she's perfect :)

We found this sign at an antique store and thought it would be fun for the bathroom door.  Of course it doesn't stop the guys from using it.



This is what I try to leave the bathroom looking like in the morning




Here's the shameful secret.  Half the stuff in there is my daughter's, anyone who has a teenager can relate to how much beauty products they need!  I like to think this is an insurance policy against snoopy guests, if they open it up the contents may fall out = :)



Do you have any good tips for keeping the bathroom clean?

If you like this post you may like the others in this series

How I keep the House Semi Company Ready - Living Room
How I Keep the House Semi Company Ready - Kitchen

4 comments:

  1. To make it easy to put away stuff immediately, if you are replacing your mirror, get one that has a cabinet behind it and another mirror INSIDE the cabinet door. We wound up with one of these by accident (the cabinet whose exterior look we liked happen to have an interior mirror) and it's great! Not only is it easy to put away things, but those toothpaste droplets get on the inside mirror where guests don't see them, instead of on the outside mirror!

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  2. My teenage daughter has a tote for all her things. She takes them with her to her room and puts the tote in her closet. This keeps the bathroom clear of her clutter, and keeps her stuff "safe" from a little sibling getting into it. My teenage sons have totes too, but they don't remember to take their tote with them so much and leave it in the bathroom. :( Working on that. :)

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  3. Good ideas - Isn't it crazy how so many toothpaste drops do end up on the mirror? Makes me wonder where else they go that we don't see! I like the tote idea except I would say that my daughter would not remember to take it with her and it's one more thing for me to have to nag about. Getting that bathroom cupboard cleaned out and finding a better place for our downstairs cleaning stuff will certainly help the situation.

    I'll put that on my to do list!

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  4. If you have a linen closet in your bathroom, maybe use a hanging shoe organizer for the items you use regularly, to de-clutter the under-sink cabinet. My vanity has no drawers so I ended up using one of these & love it. Have my hairbrushes, hair spray, headbands, face moisturizer, jewelry cleaner, everyday jewelry that I take off at night, contact lense stuff, extra shower gels, etc., in it & it's made things so much easier. As for the cabinets under the sink, I use lidded containers. I've separated items into groups by hair stuff, bath/shower stuff, first aid items, mani-pedi items, oral hygiene items, etc. It takes getting used to, pulling out the containers for the wanted items, but I'd rather do that & keep the cabinets neat & organized. I was buying a lot of un-needed items because I never knew what I had because it was such a mess. :-)

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