6 Quick Things People with Spotless Bathrooms Always Do to Make Spring Cleaning Easier
Stave off the stress of deep cleaning with these transformative maintenance tips
Sanitizing bathrooms is tiring at the best of times, but when dirt, bacteria, and watermarks have been left to build up over busy periods, such hosting season in winter, it can become overwhelming.
While there is no escaping the need to deep-clean your bathroom to keep it hygienic, there are six quick tricks people with clean bathrooms always do daily to maintain cleanliness in the colder months, and make deeper spring cleaning easier.
Things People with Clean Bathrooms Always Do Ahead of Spring Cleaning Season
Sticking to these quick cleaning tips in our lazier months is a surefire way to clean a bathroom in under 30 minutes when deep cleaning season arrives.
1. Run Extractors While Bathing
Reducing lingering humidity will make it harder for dust and grime to settle in a stickier mess.
One of the most important things people with clean bathrooms always do in the colder months is improve bathroom ventilation and lingering humidity levels.
Chris Willatt, cleaning expert and founder of Alpine Maids says, ‘Always run the exhaust vent whenever you are taking a shower. The hot water creates steam that can lead to mold and mildew growth. Using your air vent will help remove a lot of that steam, which will cut down on that mildew growth.’
In the colder months, this is particularly problematic as the lack of fresh air makes it easier for mold spores to settle and grow. You can use quick shock ventilation to refresh the air and reduce humidity, whilst avoiding excessive heat loss in the colder months.
Knowing how to clean vents around your home will also ensure your bathroom exhaust fan runs efficiently, but you can boost its function by placing a dehumidifier in the hallway, as you should never put a dehumidifier in the bathroom.
2. Clean the Glass After Every Shower
Manually removing the majority of the liquid that has splattered onto shower tiles and shower glass will reduce the amount of water that will have to evaporate and disperse into your air, as well as reduce 'pink' mold colonies.
We are not talking about deep cleaning a shower here, but removing excess moisture and cleaning your glass shower doors to prevent watermarks and limescale build-up that will prove difficult to remove later. Doing this every time you shower only takes a couple of minutes, and builds lasting relief from limescale and colonies of bacteria known as 'pink' mold.
Chris Willatt says, ‘Purchase a small squeegee for your shower. After each use, wipe down the walls of your shower. If you have glass or faux glass doors, be sure to wipe them down as well. This will once again help prevent the growth of mold and mildew.’
You can grab a squeegee with a wall storage hook from Amazon, which we like as it's available in six colors to help match your bathroom aesthetics with ease.
Head of Solved, Punteha van Terheyden, swears by this. She says, 'Keeping a squeegee in the shower drastically reduces mineral deposit build-ups in our bathroom as it's so easy to use it after use. We live in a hard-water area, and this step is a must for reducing the elbow grease needed to break the buildup that's been left to accumulate for a while.'
She has a set, quick bathroom routine after bathing to help make cleaning easier year-round.
3. Wipe Counters Daily to Stop Stubborn Grime Building
Counters in bathrooms get a lot of use, from holding our cosmetics and bathing essentials, to splashes of water, soap and more. Clean yours daily.
Vanessa Bossart, cleaning expert and owner of GreenTerra Cleaning says, ‘Regular maintenance is key to a clean bathroom. Doing a quick daily wipe of faucets and counters can make weekly cleanings so much easier. The finishing touches are what make a bathroom truly shine.’
To make it easier come spring cleaning time, keep your countertops clear by decluttering your bathroom and only keeping your daily essentials out on display. For anything left out, Marla Mock, cleaning expert and president at Molly Maid USA adds, ‘periodically lift and clean under containers to prevent rings or stains.’
You can also invest in bathroom organizing products that come apart easily for straightforward cleaning. The Joseph Joseph cosmetic organizer, available from Amazon, comes in multiple dimensions and configurations, but can be easily dismantled so all bathroom bacteria and grime can be easily wiped away.
4. Change and Wash Towels Regularly
Towels should be washed after every few uses to maintain their hygiene and avoid musty smells building up from repeated wet-dry cycles in humid bathrooms.
Knowing how often to wash towels is common knowledge for people with constantly clean bathrooms. Switching out towels every few uses is a tip cleaners swear by for fresh-smelling bathrooms, helping to reduce musty odors while keeping your towels in better condition by preventing mold growth.
This is especially important in the colder months, when humidity lingers for longer, fresh air circulates less often and lower temperatures mean longer air-drying times for towels.
Understanding how to wash towels the right way to prevent scratchiness and remove musty odors is another thing people with nice-smelling bathrooms always do for a spa-like space.
Punteha van Terheyden, Head of Solved, says, 'In the colder months, I actually wash my bath towels after every two or three uses, and put them in the dryer for a full dry in the dryer. Whilst this uses up a little energy, it saves me the cost of replacing towels more often due to musty smells that won't shift, as well as lovely-smelling bathrooms.'
She also adds a few drops of her favorite geranium essential oil, available at Amazon, to a damp, clean towel and puts that in the dryer, making her towels and her bathroom smell like a spa.
5. Keep the Bathroom Floor Dry
Leaving your bathroom floor damp or wet after bathing leaves the grouting and tiles more at risk of mold in colder months when humidity is high.
Keeping your bathroom floors dry will go a long way in making your bathroom easier to clean come spring. As you may already know, getting mold and stains out of grouting and tiles is no easy task.
Delah Gomasi, cleaning expert and SEO of MaidForYou says, ‘I can’t stress this enough, keep your bathroom floor dry! With foot traffic, even a small spill of water can lead to dirty stains. Use a bathroom mop, from Walmart, to dry the floor, as well as to spot-clean it when needed.’
Because of this, it should be one of your top considerations when designing a bathroom that is easy to clean, to avoid small tiles with lots of grout, or flooring ideas that are tricky to clean quickly.
If you have one of the best robot vacuums, it'll make quick work of hard floors as you can set it to mop daily. Using a versatile steam cleaner, such as the Black + Decker 7-in-1 available at Amazon, which we have tested and loved, also makes light work of cleaning bathroom floors without harsh chemicals.
6. Take Out the Trash Regularly
Leaving trash in bathrooms can make these spaces smell awful, especially if your trash can sits next to a radiator or heated towel rail.
Rhonda Wilson, quality lead cleaner at FreshSpace Cleaning says, ‘Even the cleanest-looking bathroom can lose its charm if the trash starts to pile up or smell. It doesn’t have to be daily, just as long as you notice the bin is full or already smelly.
'Tissues, wipes, or hygiene productsbuild up in even the tiniest bins, so this easy habit counts.’
You may also find that trash cans placed near radiators or heated towel rails smell faster in winter due to the constant heating.
Be sure to clean the outside and inside of your bathroom trash can, including the lid, to banish bad bathroom smells. Using a little squirt of dish soap, such as Dawn, available in bulk at Target, and hot water, along with a good scrubbing sponge, will make this task easy and cheap to complete. Fully dry before use to avoid mildew smells.
FAQs
Why do bathrooms get dirty so fast?
Bathrooms get dirty quickly because of the amount of moisture in the air, which quickly leads to the build-up of dust, bacteria, mold, and soap scum. This can increase in the winter with busy hosting seasons pushing cleaning schedules out of balance, and more guests, bringing more mess than usual. A lack of ventilation and increased indoor humidity can also accelerate mold growth in colder months.
Regular cleaning and reducing humidity levels, even without dehumidifiers, by dotting the best bathroom plants around, and shock ventilating daily, can help keep your bathroom clean and mold-free for longer.
How do you prevent grout from getting dirty so quickly?
The best way to keep grout clean is to use a sealant, available from Lowe's in a squeezy bottle with an applicator tip built in for ease, to prevent stains from setting into the grout.
Then, stay on top of cleaning grout. Using a steam cleaner with a grout brush will kill bacteria, whilst vinegar kills mold and lightens mold stains.
What to Shop
Steam cleaners are great options for bathrooms, helping to kill bacteria and loosen limescale without the need for harsh chemical cleaners.
This budget-friendly 1800 ml dehumidifier has a timer and auto shut-off function. When you're not using it near (but not inside) your bathroom, you can place it next to any laundry you are air drying to speed up the process.
You don't need to use a cleaning spray on your counters every day, but it can help to prevent stains and kill germs. The Method cleaners smell amazing and are made with plant-based ingredients for a safer clean.
Dusting a bathroom feels like a never-ending task. A damp duster helps to pick up the dust and fully removes it, rather than spreading it around by utilizing moisture. These can be rinsed or washed and reused for months.
Keeping a stack of microfiber cloths in your bathroom makes quick cleaning a lot easier. Simply throw them into the washer after use, and launder without fabric softener to help maintain their absorbency.
Seal your grouting quickly and easily with this straightforward applicator-tipped squeezy bottle. Always use gloves and ventilate the room well during use. This product forms an invisible barrier once dry, which is moisture and stain-resistant.
Even with these quick hygiene tricks, cleaning expert Chris Willatt urges, ‘Clean your bathroom at least once a week. Do not allow your bathroom to go uncleaned. Doing so will only allow mold and mildew to grow at a more rapid pace causing it to become harder to clean. I highly recommend creating an achievable cleaning schedule for your bathroom and sticking to it.’
