Most don’t love the idea of scrubbing icky grime and stains from the room where you take your daily poop in but it’s a necessary evil. If the idea of giving your bathroom a frequent clean repulses you then these toilet cleaning tips might just be for you.
From unclogging a toilet without a plunger to keeping your shower screens frost-free, the following toilet cleaning tips are here to make toilet cleaning easier with ideas that will put your toilet cleaning routine to shame.
1. Clean badly stained grout lines with bleached soaked cotton pads
Image credit: Snoking Carpets
Most toilet floors have grout lines that inevitably accumulate dirt and grime over time. Dirt or mould – it’s hard to tell but most of us dread giving our floors a good scrub down, even if you possess all the brushes to supposedly make that job easier.
A worthy low effort but high reward life hack to get rid of the dark look is to use bleached soaked cotton pads to easily clean the crevices. For the best results you can leave the cotton pads on the grout lines for a few minutes before wiping it away.
For the particularly nasty and dark areas, try leaving the cotton pads on the grout lines overnight so that the chemicals can sufficiently soak into the mold and whiten those areas. Give it a good rinse after and enjoy the fresh new look.
2. Use an old toothbrush for grime around the faucet
Image credit: The Spruce
One of the most overlooked areas in the bathroom is the faucet thanks to its tight spots and weird angles that make it hard to clean. To help with the tough areas, you can use an old toothbrush to get into the corners. Other than its small size, it’s also helpful thanks to its bristles which remove grime and build-up much more effectively than the usual sponge or cloth.
Other than helping with the cleaning, repurposing an old toothbrush can help you save money on cleaning supplies and reduce your amount of waste.
3. Fill toilet brush holder with bleach
Image credit: TheSmartLocal
The toilet brush is probably one of the most disgusting things in the toilet, especially when it sits unused in its holder allowing bacteria to multiply if left unchecked. Yikes. One way to keep it clean would be to fill the toilet brush holder with bleach. This way, the germs on the brush get easily cleaned when not in use and the brush also manages to whiten the bowl.
4. Use gel bleach bath for a clean toilet bowl without scrubbing
Image credit: Cleanipedia
From poop stains to water stains, our toilet bowls are notorious for collecting nasty looking spots that are a chore to scrub away. One of the best things to invest in to easily get rid of stains would be tried-and-tested brands like Magiclean stain and mold remover to coat the bowl before simply rinsing it away.
Getting a good gel bleach bath for the toilet can reduce your workload by quite a bit. For the most effective results, home-owners I’ve checked in with recommend letting the chemical sit for at least 30-minutes before flushing away all the grime.
5. Use shaving cream to keep water stains off shower screens and mirrors
Image credit: The Star
Wiping your shower screens and mirror down after every shower can be a hassle which might leave unsightly water stains over time. Other than replacing those screens with anti fog glass, you can coat them with shaving cream which acts as a moisture repellent to keep away condensation. This will allow your mirrors to stay shinier and cleaner for a much longer time.
6. Coat screws with nail polish to prevent rust
There’s nothing worse than a dingy-looking toilet with rusted screws. To tackle the rust problem, you can coat screws with clear nail polish to keep oxidation at bay.
For the best effect, it’s a good idea to coat the screws when you first install the toilet to keep it looking fresh as long as possible. If you find that there are areas of rust already forming, you can try using a paste made of baking soda and water to remove the rust before giving it a coat of nail polish to preserve it.
7. Use a bleach tablet in the toilet tank to sanitise the bowl when you flush
Image credit: Lazada
Some homeowners recommend putting a bleach tablet in the toilet tank to help you sanitise the bowl with every flush. This helps whiten the bowl and allows it to stay cleaner for a longer time, reducing the number of times you need to give it a good scrub every week. These bleach tablets can be easily purchased off Amazon or your nearby Fairprice.
That said, some say that the bleach tablets can be corrosive to the mechanisms in the toilet tank so an alternative would be to pop those bleach tablets into the toilet bowl itself. But bleach tablets aside, TikTok has recently blown up a flower stamping toilet cleaner that can be a non-bleach alternative to having a fragrant toilet with every flush.
8. Use hot water to unclog your toilet without a plunger
Image credit: Mr Rooter
Yes, we know that plungers exist. But if the thought of splashing any dirty water on yourself in the process of unclogging your toilet leaves you squeamish, try using hot water to clear the choke instead.
Whether it’s toilet paper or abnormally large poop, hot water will clear it all. If you’re still skeptical, take heart in the fact that this tip has been tried and tested by fellow desperate toilet users and have proven effective.
Keep your toilet clean with these tips
Armed with a couple new ideas on how to get through chore day, you can now cut corners in your cleaning routine and make your life a little bit easier. Cleaning is never the most exciting but having a pristine home is one of the best ways to keep yourself content.
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