USEFUL TIPS
How Often Should You Clean Your Bathroom?
6 min read
6 min read
There are some chores that somehow end up at the bottom of the list, time and time again. It’s easy to just… keep moving certain tasks you don’t really want to do to tomorrow over and over again. Cleaning the bathroom is definitely one of those tasks.
Even if you’re the tidiest person you know and devote regular time and energy to keeping your living space spic and span, we can all probably agree that giving the bathroom a scrub isn’t the most fun you’ll have all week.
So—How Long Can You Put It Off?
The answer to this question actually depends on the part of the bathroom you’re talking about. Naturally, some areas of your bathroom experience, shall we say, have higher traffic than other areas.
The frequency with which you need to be giving your bathroom a good scrub also depends on how many people are contributing to said traffic. You probably have a little more leeway if you live on your own or with just one other person. But if you have a large family, you’re going to want to be sure you’re cleaning slightly more often.
We jest about wanting to put off bathroom scrubbing forever, but the truth is it’s really important to the health and safety of your household to keep up with cleaning, especially in areas we come into contact with frequently.
Here’s a breakdown of how often you should clean each particular area of your bathroom:
The Toilet
If you live with three or more people, you should be cleaning your toilet daily. If you live on your own or in a couple, you probably don’t need to scrub your throne down every day. In this case, weekly might suffice. But if there are a few people in your household, you’ll want to up that accordingly.
The Tub or Shower
Your bathtub or shower stall (or both, if you have them) should get a good rub-a-dub-dub every one to two weeks. Use your best judgment here.
For instance, let’s say you live alone and shower at your gym every weekday. You’ll need to wash your shower at home less than, say, a family of four with two large dogs they regularly bathe in their tub. Even still, nobody’s shower or bath should go untouched for more than a couple of weeks at most.
The Sink
Just thinking about all the things that pass through your sink during the week should encourage you to be a little more diligent about washing it down. As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to give your sink a weekly wash.
The Floor
Your bathroom floor will see so many damp, bare feet throughout the week, no matter how good you are at remembering your bath mat. You should give your floors a scrub every one to two weeks, again, depending on how much use your bathroom sees on a regular basis.
How To Clean Your Bathroom Properly
The area of your bathroom makes a difference to how best to go about it. One thing that applies across the board is that you should do your best to keep your bathroom dry where and when possible.
It’s all too easy for dampness to accumulate, but damp areas are prone to mold, which can have adverse effects on your health. If you notice your bathroom never seems to dry out properly, you might want to look into some additional ventilation.
Otherwise, you’ll want to get familiar with best practices for cleaning and disinfecting. Your bathroom is basically the epicenter of all the germs and bacteria you and your family bring into the house, so it’s essential to keep things clean. Allowing the bathroom and its components to go uncleaned for too long can lead to disease, infection and also… it doesn’t smell too nice, either.
Stay Germ-Free
The toilet is the most important part of your bathroom to regularly disinfect. You’ll want to clean the toilet often, possibly even daily — but that doesn’t mean you need to be scrubbing on your hands and knees every evening.
It just means you should at least be giving the parts of the toilet you touch during normal use with a disinfectant spray, wipe, or solution to make sure germs don’t have time to proliferate. You can do the full scrub just now and again.
You can give your sink a good scrub once a week with a disinfectant wash to get out any stains, dirt, or toothpaste that’s accumulated. Don’t forget the faucet and the handles. It’s easy to neglect if you’re focused on the grime that can end up in the sink bowl, but how you turn the water on should probably get more frequent attention to prevent the spread of germs.
All That and the Kitchen Sink
It’s also helpful if you can dry out your sink bowl to keep mold from accumulating and prevent degradation due to lingering dampness.
Likewise, while giving your shower or bathtub a quick wipe to clean or dry them out on a regular basis is helpful, you only really need to clean-clean once a week or so, depending on how often you use it. Don’t forget to wash the showerhead if you have one! Soap scum will accumulate over time and be difficult to remove down the track, whereas if you keep it clean throughout its use, it’ll last longer and work better.
Lastly, you don’t need to give your bathroom floor a total mop every week, although if you have the time and energy — more power to you. You should clean messes as they occur.
Act Now
Try to make an effort to ensure that big puddles of water, which tend to happen in the bathroom, don’t linger. Water on the floor may seep into any grout you may have between tiles and create mold.
What you should do slightly more often is use a disinfectant on the floor that surrounds your toilet. It’s good to keep an eye on the area where any of the white goods in your bathroom are connected to the floor, actually, because that’s one area where grime and dust tend to accumulate.
Tricks To Keep Your Bathroom Tidy Between Cleans
Now that you have a better idea of how to clean your bathroom and how regularly you should be doing it, you might be wondering if there’s a way to buy you more time. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t keep up with cleaning your bathroom.
But, there are a number of small things you can do to ensure your bathroom stays cleaner longer. Plus, you can prevent any harmful germs and bacteria from lingering too long on any surface.
Small Tasks for a Big Impact
As with everything, one useful tactic is to add some small things to your routine daily that won’t meaningfully impact your energy or daily schedule. These little tasks will contribute to keeping your space shining longer between major cleans.
Giving your bathroom surfaces a quick once-over in the evening or in the morning with disinfectant wipes can take very little time, making bigger cleaning sessions less of a burden. It will also make your bathroom a safer, healthier place overall! You can also give surfaces like your sink, bathtub, or shower a quick once over with a towel to dry them off so that nothing has time to settle and mold.
Banish Moisture
It’s also critical to keep wet textiles, like bath mats, towels, and robes, from accumulating on the floor. While one wet towel thrown in the corner after use may not seem like a big deal, it’s the perfect environment for bacteria to proliferate.
While simply removing any towels from your bathroom at the end of the day is one way to handle it, you can also utilize a Miracle Towel. This towel is not only super plush and cozy but also contains all-natural silver that kills 99.9% of bacteria. (This will also up your comfort level when it comes to washing bathroom towels with other household goods because you know they’re not a breeding ground for bacteria.)
You’ll want to switch out your bathroom towels, from hand towels to washcloths and everything in between, about every other day. Make sure you’re washing them properly in between uses, too!
A Clean That Gleams
Cleaning the bathroom isn’t anyone’s favorite task. But almost especially if it’s a chore you try to avoid, it’s essential to know how often each part of your bathroom needs to be cleaned.
By keeping up with daily maintenance and changing out soft items on a regular basis, your bathroom will stay cleaner and safer for longer, while also creating less work for you when it’s time to break out that mop.
Sources:
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Making Homes Healthier for Families | US Department of Housing and Urban Development -
Basic Facts About Mold and Dampness | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
