The toilets in your home are the most used, yet the most ignored places in the house. Everyone uses it, but you barely think about keeping it clean at all times. All you do is flush the toilet and on some days, wash the floor with water. However, that is not enough! A clean bathroom is crucial to the health of the people in the house. It requires proper cleaning and disinfecting at regular and frequent intervals to ensure that it does not make anyone sick.
Problems Unclean Toilets Bring
This article will help you understand a few reasons why not cleaning your toilet thoroughly can be a problem soon.
- Affected Breathing: Mold and dust accumulating on the bathroom floors can aggravate health concerns such as bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and more.
- Bacteria & Viruses: These can live on bathroom floors and other surfaces for even more than a week. Thus, cleaning the bathroom every day with bacteria-killing solutions is necessary.
- A Bad Impression: When guests come over and visit a bathroom that is in bad shape, it definitely isn’t a good impression. People judge you and your personality by the cleanliness you maintain and hence it’s important to maintain cleanliness.
- Mold: As per cleaning companies with the right temperatures and the right amount of moisture, mold can grow in the toilet in under 48 hours. To avoid a mold growth situation and hence avoid many medical issues, it’s best to keep your bathroom clean at all times.
- Bad Smell: If you are not cleaning all the surfaces regularly, especially the toilet bowl, the smell can get pretty overwhelming.
- Mental Health: This may sound weird, but a clean and well-maintained space is very soothing for the mind. Research shows that people who live in clean spaces are generally healthier than people who don’t.
While cleaning may seem like a major task, these are the reasons why it’s important. Now that you know that regular toilet cleaning is important and can do miracles, you must know about the products you should use to make sure your toilet is completely clean. This list of products is essential to help you clean your toilet. Stock them up and you’ll never procrastinate saying how to clean the toilet when you don’t have supplies.
List Of Things Required For Toilet Cleaning
- Rubber Gloves: To keep your hands clean and safe from germs.
- Toilet Brush: To reach every nook and corner and scrub the toilet bowl and surfaces thoroughly.
- Liquid Toilet Cleaner And Bleach: That does the work of a soap that gets rid of all the bacteria, mold, and viruses in your toilet.
- Disinfectant Spray: To make sure all germs are gotten rid of.
- A Rim Block: To keep your toilet fresh at all times.
- A Cloth or Paper Towels: To wipe off all surfaces and get rid of the stains and microorganisms.
With this list of items, you are sure to have a clean and safe toilet that is free of any disease-causing elements.
3 DIY Toilet Cleaners
Before you get to how to clean the toilet, check out a few DIY ideas to make your own powerful toilet cleaning agent at home. This will save you time and money spent on buying different toilet cleaners.
1. Powder Cleaner
This cleaner is a simple mixture of some common substances that can be easily stored in a container without the stress of it spilling over and creating a mess.
Ingredients:
- Half cup borax powder
- Half cup baking soda
- Half cup kosher or coarse sea salt
- A few drops of grapefruit essential oil
- A lid with holes to sprinkle the powder evenly
Method
- Combine the borax powder, baking soda, and sea salt/ kosher in a bowl.
- Next, add the essential oil and mix to give it a good aroma.
- Transfer this mix to a container and store it for use.
- When needed, use the lid with holes to sprinkle the powder over the interiors and exterior of the toilet.
2. Tea Tree Bowl Scrub
This aromatic scrub incorporates the antibacterial properties of tea tree oil to help achieve a clean and germ-free toilet. The combination of baking soda and vinegar also works as a great toilet stain remover.
Ingredients:
- A cup of distilled vinegar
- ½ cup of baking soda
- ½ tsp tea tree essential oil
Method:
- Mix vinegar and essential oil in a spray bottle.
- Next spray this mix on the toilet seat, lid, and handle and let it sit for several minutes.
- Next, sprinkle the baking soda on the toilet bowl and scrub it with a toilet brush.
- Finally, clean it off with a dry cloth.
3. Toilet Bomb
Toilet cleaner bombs really work, they are best used for deep cleaning and also do not take a huge chunk of time!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup baking soda
- Quarter cup citric acid
- 1 tbsp dish liquid
- Silicone ice cube tray
- Airtight jar
Method:
- Add the baking soda to a bowl and add the citric acid to it.
- Next, add the dish liquid and mix to combine well. Use a spoon or whisk to combine it.
- Once done, press the mixture into the silicone moulds and let them dry for at least 4 hours.
- Once dried, pop them out and store them in the airtight container. To clean, simply toss the toilet bomb into the toilet bowl and let it do its work. This also works as a perfect toilet stain remover and hence makes your work easy.
These DIY cleaners are effective and easy to make and use as well.
How To Clean Your Toilet?
With a top-notch DIY toilet cleaner at hand, it’s now time to get to cleaning the toilet. While there is no prescribed time interval, it’s best to clean your toilet weekly to avoid any issues. Confused as to how to remove toilet stains or just simply about how to clean the toilet without getting professional help? Read a step-by-step procedure of toilet cleaning.
Right Way Of Cleaning Toilet
- Begin With The Outside: When cleaning the commode always begin with the exteriors. Spray the toilet cleaner on the exteriors right from the seat to behind it and the lid. Don’t forget the base of the seat which usually is the home to rust and stains. If you’re wondering how to clean toilet stains on the external side, the best answer is scrubbing with a toothbrush. In this process, also spray the walls and floor around it. This is because every time you flush some particles are launched in the air and hence the floor and walls around are prime spots for microscopic splatter. Once done, let it sit for 5-10 minutes and move on to the next steps.
- Clean The Bowl: Drain out the water in the bowl if possible and begin spraying the cleaner all over the insides of the bowl. Use a generous amount to make sure the gunk and smell in the toilet bowl get cleaned out.
- Scrub It Out: Use a toilet brush to scrub under the rim and remove any stains inside of the bowl. A great answer to the question of how to remove stubborn stains from the toilet bowl, especially those rust-coloured rings inside the bowl is a pumice stone. Using the stone on a stick and a few strokes should do the job and you will never have to worry about how to clean toilet stains. Leave the solution for 5-10 minutes and move back to cleaning the exteriors.
- Wipe It Down: For the exteriors, use a dry cloth or paper towels to wipe down the exteriors of the toilet. You may or may not use a damp cloth, since either does the work of wiping the cleaning solution off.
- Turn The Water Back On: Since the cleaning solution has rested in your toilet bowl for a while now, you can simply turn the toilet’s water back on and flush it to rinse the bowl out.
- Get Your Supplies Cleaned Out: Once the toilet is clean, get your supplies cleaned out too. You can use bleach to clean your toilet brush and some hot water to clean its canister.
While it may seem like a tedious task, the process is pretty quick, simple, and effective. Given the numerous health benefits it has, although a long process it is worth the efforts on a Saturday morning!
How To Disinfect Your Toilet?
The biggest mistake people make is to not disinfect after cleaning. While cleaning refers to the process of removing dirt from a surface, disinfecting is a process to kill germs. Hence, both are important to keep your toilet completely clean.
The best disinfectant is either vinegar or hydrogen peroxide. Both these are strong powerhouse disinfectants for any surface. While in the kitchen, these are usually used together to clean, in the toilet either can be used.
Method:
- Add the vinegar or hydrogen peroxide to a spray bottle.
- Next, spray or pour the disinfectant on the sides of the toilet bowl.
- Once it has rested for 30 minutes, flush it.
With these simple steps, your toilet gets naturally disinfected without any harmful chemicals affecting the toilet surface. If you’re now asking how to clean the toilet seat, repeat the same process on the outside of the toilet bowl and rinse off with a pitcher of water. Quick guide on how to wash sofa at home. Take a look here
Toilet cleaning and disinfecting your toilet drastically reduces the risks of contracting any harmful diseases due to the germs and bacteria growing in there. Once you have all the supplies in place, create a schedule for yourself and don’t forget to also plan on how to clean the toilet seat and how to clean the toilet tank since we usually miss out on these and only focus on the insides of the bowl. Full cleaning and disinfection should ideally take place every 2-3 days especially when someone is sick at home. You can easily use one of the above recipes to avoid the usage of chemicals and clean your toilets naturally.
Cleaning Tip: Here’s a guide on how to clean rexine sofa at home.
