I mean, every market has 2 or 3 whole aisles dedicated entirely to cleaning products and each seems specific for one thing only. I feel like some soap with a disinfectant is enough, but most people I know do a whole 3 stage cleaning ritual - soap (and rinse), disinfectant (and rinse), bleach (and rinse to finish)
Baking soda and vinegar. Have a septic tank so cant use bleach etc.
Oh shit, that’s news to me!
When I moved into my husband’s house, I noticed he only used pinesol. I thought it fucking weird. 6 years later, I only use pinesol.
I clean relatively often. I’ll use bleach in the bathroom once a year maybe, the rest of the time it’s Pinesol. We have a litter box in our bathroom, that I clean 3 times a week, and usually just clean the whole bathroom down at the same time. It’s clean in there.
Any kind of soap for basic cleaning, but you don’t can substitute water and elbow grease in a pinch.
For sanitizing, get a hypochlorite generator. They’re cheap (you can get them on Amazon for less than $25), and use electricity to turn a pinch of salt and some water into the same dilute bleach solution that Hospitals use to sanitize surfaces.
Use a toilet bowl cleaner and brush for the toilet and then use a multi-surface bathroom cleaner for everything else.
I use a vinegar and water solution for most things. Bleach and water solution for the toilets.
You really don’t need to buy too many things.
There’s four core things you could need for the bathroom:
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Bleach gel for the toilet bowl. Can also be used on other porcelain surfaces, but not for metal or natural stone (if you don’t want to ruin it).
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A calc remover to remove calc deposits outside the toilet bowl. Can be substituted with either vinegar or citric acid. Can be used on metal, but do not let it stay on for long - 30 seconds is fine if you clean every 2w to 1mo. Even shorter times if you’re truly regular with your duties.
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A degreaser for general cleaning (to remove soap residue and other nasty stuff). Can be substituted with dish soap, but is usually a bit more effective so less scrubbing needed.
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If you get clogged sinks, those declogging solutions are okay. As most people have PVC piping you can just get the cheapest one. If you live in an antique house/apartment with lead piping, you should splurge on the enzyme-based variety, assuming you need it in the first place.
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Bleach for the nasty bits, soapy water for the rest.
I mix bleach with baking soda into a paste for the hard to clean bits. That way you can apply it more thoroughly and just wipe it off with
soapyhot water.Just make sure the soap you use in the soapy water isn’t dish soap as that could make toxic fumes if it reacts with the bleach .
Oh dang. Tbh I never noticed any fumes unlike professional cleaning products that compel me to wear a respirator. I’ll edit it.
I’ll never cease to be amazed by how easily we can create impromptu chemical weapons just by trying to clean our homes with bleach
Fabuloso mixed at 1 Oz per gallon of water. Great for getting the scum off the tub, cleans everything but glass. It’s cheap as hell.
Vinegar & water for glass cleaner (with a drop of dish soap). Cleans better than store bought.
Occasionally I’ll use a specific toilet bowl cleaner when minerals start building up. I get the bottle that squirts up under the rim because that’s where mineral buildup starts.
But really, just about any light cleaner works for a bathroom, I’ve used everything. Just don’t use abrasives until you know exactly what you have for materials. Many baths are plastics these days, which are easily scratched by abrasives.
What’s that fabuloso?
Toilet bowl cleaner for the toilet. Everything else gets simple green and elbow grease.
Vinegar based cleaner for everything and you are good. Recommend a separate, dedicated mirror cleaner for mirrors though. Clean weekly to reduce the need to scrub with more powerful stuff.
I just use vinegar and water with a drop of dish detergent in the spray bottle for mirrors. Learned it from my grandparents, and it works better than any “blue” glass cleaner for pennies.
That’s a nice tip, have to try that out. Thanks!
I’m not convinced you need specific toilet bowl cleaner if you clean it regularly; a lot of them are really strong chemicals that are unnecessary, but it does depend on your situation and the water you’ve got etc. Loose stools may need more attention.
A bit of all purpose cleaner really is all you need imo. But if hard water you’ll need to up it to something containing a (preferably buffered) acid to remove soap scum and hard water deposits.
Vinegar has its place but I find it almost universally disappointing when cleaning. In particular, it’s not got any surfactants or ability to bind to dirt or grease.
Each thing gets washed once, with the appropriate chemical if needed.
Generally for the toilet bowl, something with bleach.
For surfaces like the toilet and sink, especially in a bathroom, I usually swap between using just some vinegar and Fantastic all purpose cleaner. Vinegar is fine most weeks, Fantastic once in a while to get some of the stuff Vinegar may not have got properly with those extra chemicals that it has but I could easily go months without needing it.
I use water and a microfiber cloth for the mirrors and the faucet, a drop of dish soap if there’s something on it (like dried toothpaste spittle). This also works for walls most of the time if you wipe those, but I don’t wipe my walls very regularly, maybe once a year.
Hot water is fine for the tile floor too, maybe it gets something stronger a couple times a year.
You don’t need a lot unless someone in the household is sick with something that could be transmitted through a bathroom. Then hit it with harsher chemicals.
One thing to note may be that in certain warmer climates, there are other considerations for mold and bacterial growth that I do not have to worry about where I live (in a cooler climate)
A mix of water and vinegar in a spray bottle is best. Maybe toilet bown cleaner for the toilet bowl and maybe some CLR occasionally to remove mineral buildup in the shower or bath.
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