Your Frugal Bathroom Cleaning Tips
These bathroom cleaning tips are from The Non-Consumers Digest.
This is a free, weekly ezine of nothing but various tips and tricks for tight times.
A couple of these bathroom cleaning tips have been sent in by my readers.
TOILET BRUSH HOLDER
A use for the one-gallon jars, such as pickles, mustard, etc., come in is to decorate them with a pleated cloth skirt and a complimentary ribbon and then use them to hold your toilet brush.
- Effle Landy, Springfield, MO
SOFT CHROME POLISH
Another use for Avon’s Skin-so-Soft is to use it as a chrome polish on your sink and bath fixtures. It will also remove the hard water spots, too.
- Opal Eastwood, Glenns Ferry, ID
And the rest of these bathroom cleaning tips have been collected from various sources, such as friends and neighbors.
BATHTUB CAULKING
Use rubbing alcohol full strength to clean the caulking
NON-STREAKING WINDOW CLEANER
2 tbsp. corn starch
½ c. water.
Mix well, apply with cotton cloth, dry with another.
RUST REMOVER
Make a paste with hydrogen peroxide and cream of tartar for use around faucets and drains
TOILET BOWL CLEANER
Add one gallon white vinegar to commode. Let set for several hours, flush. Do this instead of chemical bowl cleaners if you have a septic tank.
GROUT CLEANER
Use cloth moistened with white vinegar to kill mildew on grout and clean at the same time.
DRAIN CLEANER
Pour ½ c. baking soda into drain, followed by ½ c. vinegar. They will foam and fizz. Wait 2 hours, then rinse with hot water.
AIR FRESHENER SPRAY
1/4 cup baking soda
4 cups warm water
2 tablespoons ammonia
1 teaspoon scent of your choice: cologne, lemon extract, strawberry extract, raspberry extract, vanilla extract, almond extract or pine oil.
Into a clean spray bottle pour baking soda, ammonia and the desired scent. Slowly fill with warm water. Mist the air as needed. Avoid spraying on or near furniture or pets.
GLASS CLEANER
Mix in a sprayer bottle:
1 cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
1 cup water
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Use with old newspapers instead of paper towels.
HAIRSPRAY REMOVAL
If you have trouble cleaning hairspray from the bathroom mirror, try using straight rubbing alcohol. Not only will it clean the spray off, but it will cause the mirror to sparkle.
DRAIN CLEANER
1 cup salt
1 cup baking soda
1 cup vinegar
Pour the salt and soda into the drain, followed by the vinegar. Let stand for 15 minutes and then pour 2 quarts of very hot water down the drain.
CHROME CLEANER
Simply use an old dryer fabric softener sheet to polish your chrome.
The following bathroom cleaning tips are really just related to the bathroom.
SHOWER TILES
One way to help avoid a soap scum and/or a hard water build-up on your shower walls is to use a squeegee after each shower. Rubbermaid sells a squeegee that is designed to hang over the shower head. The one we use has a hook that attaches to the wall of the shower and is always handy.
CLOGGED SHOWER HEAD
Disassemble shower head (keep the parts in order for re-assembly) and soak them overnight in vinegar, rinse and re-assemble.
SHOWER CURTAIN SOFTENER
Use a few drops mineral oil in a pail of warm water to dip your shower curtain into to make it more pliable.
HOT WATER EXTENDER
For those of you who enjoy a l-o-n-g, h-o-t bath, but don’t like to keep adding hot water, try using some bubble bath in the water. The bubbles will act like a blanket of insulation and keep the water hot for up to an hour or so.
SOAP SLIVERS
You can melt down soap slivers in a double boiler the same way that you melt paraffin. If you save your soap slivers in a separate can, they can be recycled into new bars by melting them and using old milk carton bottoms as molds, or any other throw-away carton that will hold the liquid soap until it hardens. Be sure to keep stirring the soap as it melts and make sure that your mold won’t melt from the heat of the soap. Embarrassing.
THROW-AWAY GLOVES
If you have a messy job to do, such as cleaning a toilet, staining a chair, blacking a stove or other such fun things and don’t have any rubber gloves handy, just grab a couple of empty bread sacks from the kitchen and work with your hands inside them. You can keep them in place with a couple of rubber bands around the wrist.
TUBE WINDER
If you have an old style slip-on clothes pin, or even a very large cotter pin, you can use either one as a key for winding up your toothpaste tubes and other such containers.
RUBBER BABY BUMPER
If you give your baby tub baths, try filling a hot water bottle about 2/3 full and placing it in the tub for the baby to sit on. It will be more comfortable and also safer, as the bottle won’t slide around like a bare bottom does.
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