My best trick for cleaning my bathroom (or anything for that matter) is having plenty of clean, dry washcloths for wiping things down.

I have like 30 cheap, plain old white washcloths I use all the time...everywhere. I spray down something (say the vanity or counter, or toilet, or whatever) and wipe it clean with a washcloth. I never waste the time to rinse and re-use the same washcloth. If it gets gunky, too much hair, or whatever on it, I just throw it in the dirty pile and grab a clean one. Saves me a ton of time. Just throw them in the wash and they're good to go all over again, and again, and again. I periodically bleach them, but that's optional.

Washcloths also fit perfect on the end of a swiffer mop. I just spray down my floors with any surface cleaner and swiff away.

The washcloths are also good for kitchen cleaning because you are not wiping/spreading raw meat bacteria around from re-using the same kitchen rag or sponge.

They are great for dusting.

I get a washcloth barely damp with water only and clean my windows and mirrors. Tough spots on mirrors comes off with nail polish remover, rubbing alcohol, or acetone, then wipe clean with water only. I've found anytime I use a product to clean glass, I get streaks and dust. Using plain barely damp with water cloths will never streak. Ever.

I never waste money on swiffer cloths, paper towels, or extra towels to clean up kid spills. I just grab how many cloths I'll need for a job and get it done.

Great advice gayle! Thanks!

Yeah, great advice. A new "style" of cleaning. I have a ton of old washcloths sitting aroundin a bag that are now going to be part of my cleaning routine when I have to clean my tiled walls. No more wasted paper towels and no more drippy sponge!

That's exactly what I do! Saves so much time, and you don't have to rinse that disgusting mix of hair and dust from around the toilet (you know the stuff I'm talking about!) off your cloth! I got a bunch of cloths from Sam's club in car detailing aisle and have been using them for years. Cleans up everything... love that method.

I vacuum the floor first while the room is dry and without any humidity from runnung water. It greatly reduces the amount of hair on cleaning cloths.

Great advice, Gayle - Thanks !

One more question though - I have a 4-year old who loves to do things herself and a 3 month old. The 3-month old hasn't gotten to the "me do it" stage but you can imagine the bathroom after my 4-yr old has brushed and washed. So, what do you do? Wipe everything down everyday?

And the area around the toilet - it smells fresh and clean for one day after I clean the bathroom. Urine odors appear mysteriously the next day. And water from after the bath - wet floors. I run the exhaust fan when she is having a bath, but the floors remain wet long after. Do you wipe down after every use?

I keep a thing of disinfecting disposable bathroom wipes under my sink and every day (or every couple of days) I just get one and wipe down the sink really well and the outside surfaces of the toilet. I do a more detailed cleaning of the toilet about once a week but doing this with the sink, that's about all I have to do. After baths/showers, I just spray a little bathtub cleaning spray into the tub and then rinse it well with warm water and this way, I only have to actually scrub my bathtub about once a month, and even then, it's not really dirty, so it's not a lot of work. And this way, the bathroom is almost always clean so you don't have to worry about it and when company comes over unexpectedly, you don't have to worry about the bathroom being dirty . . . ever.

Like Gayle, I keep tons of wash cloths handy. I get a stack of twenty five for,I think, nine or ten dollars at costco. I keep a spray bottle of white vinegar under every sink in the house. I usually go basin, tub,toilet and floor but I don't think the order matters. Spray and wipe and I'm out of there. It's never going to be my favorite job but this gets it done well enough in pretty short order.

Oh yes....frugal hint....I get spray bottles at the nursery not at the grocery or drug store. They are not much more and last at least ten times longer and it is a good reason to go to the nursery.

Every time I shower, I clean the tub. After I've cleaned myself, I spray cleaner on the tile and tub, then I step out and let it sit about five minutes. Then scrub with a sponge or rag, then rinse and get all the soap off and down the drain. I remove all the clutter about once a week and clean the vanity and sink. Also sweep and damp mop the floor weekly. I clean the inside of my toilet a couple times a week and wipe the outside with disposable wipes, also once aeek. My bathroom always looks and smells good.

I, too, have a gigantic stack of microfiber cloths from Costco, which I use for everything--even the bathroom floor! If your bathroom is tiny like mine (I could literally sit on the toilet and wash my hands in the sink at the same time! It's that small!) you can't easily fit a vacuum in there, anyway. Just give the floor a wipe with the cloth and wash the cloth. Super simple. Usually, the cloth is the one I already used to clean the sides of the pedestal sink with, so it already has a cleaning product sprayed on it. Works great!

What product are you spraying the shower with?

Nicole

I love this using all the cheap washcloths idea. Esp. on swiffer type mops. I'm tired of buying all the disposable refills and paper towels. BUT, with us and the cats, and tile floors everywhere, there's a LOT of hair and dust bunnies. I'm afraid if I put all that in my washing machine I'm gonna clog it up.

That's the same reason why I'm not using the big microfiber dustmop I bought with the velcro'd-removable head. There's so much stuff on it I know the washer and probably the pipes will get clogged.

Is this a problem? And do you have all the pet hair I do?

pinktoes: I have lots of pet hair and the microfiber dust mop gets covered with it! I've gone back to sweeping or vaccuuming the hair and dust, then wet mopping. I've ordered a Bissell steam mop and can't wait to try it.

xantippe: I have a small bath, too. With the toilet, scales, toilet brush, and waste basket to clean around and behind it's more trouble to clean than the larger master bath where there's room to manoeuvre. I'm going to stock up on wash clothes and try those. Thanks for that tip Gayle.

I am super lazy when it comes to cleaning. I use the Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner on the showers, with an occasional spray and wipe of the floors since the auto one doesn't do such a great job on the floor. I do the disposable toilet wands on the toilets and the Chlorox/Lysol/whatever's on sale wipes on everything else.

The washcloth method works great!! I have a bunch in a drawer in the bathroom, and pull one out after I use the sink. Wash hands, dry on hand towel. Wipe sink. Wipe any drops from mirror. Wipe counter if wet. One cloth will last all day, usually. This takes like 2 seconds!

I use the washcloths all over the house - but they are an absolute lifesaver in the bathrooms.

pinktoes - I have LOTS of hair from three cats and myself :). For my bathroom, which is very small, I use a butlers broom (actually just a small broom with a short handle). I do a quick sweep when the room is dry and it really collects the hair and dust. Being small, the broom really gets in the corners and behind the pedestal sink and toilet as well as the windowsill and door frames. Then I use a microfiber towel dampened with vinegar/water to wipe down everything.

I too worried about the amount of hair/fur the microcloths collect and having it get it my washer. But this system is working so far!

I have been wiping down my new tiled bathroom floor with vinegar/water. I notice after that it is sticky.

Could it just be that I have loosened the stuck on hairspray that is all over the floor? Do I need a stronger cleaner for my floors?

The toilet is right in front of the vanity and it too gets a good coating of hair spray. Any suggestions of cleaning it?

Livvysmom, it is very probably hairspray. I know because I have to spray several times to get it all up. Spray heavily first with the vinegar/water mixture, let it sit a few minutes, then wipe. I may have to spray lightly several more times and immediately wipe to clean it. It just depends on how much hairspray there is stuck on the floor.

After my shower, I use a small sqeegee to remove the water droplets on the tile surround and the glass doors. I wash my face every day with a disposable face cloth thing, like the ones made by Olay or whoever. When I am done, I use this cloth to wipe the sink and then the toilet and then I toss it. I do a more thorough cleaning about once a week, and I use a steamer every couple of months to really kill bacteria etc. around the toilet and taps and sink. I also have a little cordless vacuum/sweeper made by Dirt Devil/Swiffer. It has a little vacuum head in front with a swiffer behind. The vacuum part picks up the majority of hair, crumvs etc. and then the Swiffer part finishes by getting dust etc. This is a very small appliance, plugs in when not in use, has a removable filter for the vacuum part and you can use a damp washcloth or a swiffer replaceable cloth on the duster part. I do my whole house with this thing every day, takes about ten minute.

A little off topic here, but if you want to organize your cleaning try http://www.flylady.net.

I was terribly overwhelmed. When your house gets to a certain point you just don't know where to start. Flylady has been great (it's free so this isn't a sales pitch! LOL) and slowly but surely things are coming together.

I have found the magical answer (for me) - I hired a house cleaner - 4 hours every week. I no longer fuss about any of it. Wish I could have afforded it a long time ago.