Meet the Bathroom

Meet the bathroom.

Meet the bathroom cleaning arsenal:

cool blue/green veggie scrub brush from the dollar store
distilled vinegar - but you can use any kind - I just don't want to waste homemade cider vinegar on the toilet. I buy cheap distilled vinegar in gallon jugs and refill my small Heinz vinegar bottle.
dishsoap - any kind will do. I buy mine in gallon containers from the restaurant supply store and simply refill my little old Palmolive container. I think this stuff is Joy. It's what was on sale.
cool blue spray bottle from the dollar store. I used to have a way cooler red one, but it started leaking everywhere except the place I wanted squirted. Those eight-year-old girls working in that Chinese factory were slackers.
toilet brush
rags

The only bathroom-dedicated tool in this arsenal is the toilet brush.

I used to hate cleaning the bathroom. It involved scouring powder, dedicated bathroom sponges with scrubbies, a special plastic pitcher for rinsing, bleach, disposable bleach wipes, toilet brush, and a whole lotta elbow grease. I kid you not, I used to scour the shower early in the morning, then strip down and take a shower because I was going to get all wet anyway just from rinsing away the grit!

So, in my quest for simpler, kinder, gentler, here's my new bathroom cleaning gig:

Heat one cup of vinegar in the microwave - I don't have to say, "In a microwave safe container," do I? - for 1 minute. Pour it in the spray bottle. Add 1 tsp dishwashing liquid. Gently swirl the spray bottle to mix vinegar & dishsoap. Spray the sink, counter and the inside and outside of the commode. Restock the spray bottle with more hot vinegar and dishsoap if needed, then spray down the tub/shower. All the way from the top of the shower walls to the drain hole. Wait 15-20 minutes. Wipe down sink and countertop with dry rag. Swish inside of toilet with toilet brush. Wipe down outside of toilet - all the way to the floor - with a dry rag. Make a couple passes over the tub itself with the vegetable scrub brush. The bathtub ring comes off with no elbow grease - just by running the scrubber over it. Wipe the tub walls down with a rag. Run water into the tub to rinse away scum. All that's left is to sweep the floor, run a damp mop over it and viola! Company clean.