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Angel Negra ([personal profile] angel_negra) wrote in [community profile] homeeconomics1012010-04-17 12:45 pm
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Some bathroom tips/tricks

Note: These tips work best if you can support at least the majority of your own weight on your feet. I'm sure they could be adapted for others, but I haven't had cause to attempt that myself.

Trick 1: Soap Scum at the bottom of the tub.

I'm both a shower woman and a lazy woman. I'm also rather busy and don't have time to regularly scrub the tub as much as it needs, so soap scum tends to build along the bottom. Kneeling beside the tub to scrub all this out when I do have the time usually ends in sore knees, back and hands.

A good trick I've found to bring down the amount of scrubbing is to take a plastic scrubbie into the shower with me. I drop it onto the bottom of the tub and step on it, and while showering, I scrub with my feet, letting my body weight provide all the 'elbow grease' to take off the worst of the build up. Having the warm water from the shower going also helps soften everything up too.

It adds a few minutes to my shower, but it's much faster than going at the tub with chemicals later. I don't do a lot of baths, so I haven't tried this against tub rings.

Tip 1: Preventing Soap Scum on the shower walls.

I actually picked this one up from an old roommate. This is great for preventing those streaks of water drops/soap scum.

Basically, get a small window squeegee, and after every shower, squeegee the shower walls. It only takes about a minute, and I find it a lot of fun to do.

Trick 2: Mildew on the shower curtains.

I picked this one up from 'How Clean is Your House', which I love watching. Not only does it tend to make me feel better about my place, but it's full of fun little tricks like this. This trick is particularly handy if you already have something in the washer, or you're like me and you have to use coin operated machines.

Plug the bathtub. Now unhook the shower curtain and drop it straight into the tub. Sprinkle a bit of laundry detergent in and turn on the water. (Water temperature isn't a huge deal, though I suggest at least aiming for lukewarm.) Once the water's about ankle deep, turn off the water, step into the tub and start swishing the curtain around with your feet. I tend to use one foot at a time and cling to the wall for balance.

After a while, you'll notice the water turning kinda yellow/brown, which is gross but good. Depending on how dirty your shower curtain is when you do this, you may have to drain the tub and repeat the process again. Once you're satisfied, you can either drain the tub and add a run of just water to rinse, or drain the tub and hang the curtain back up on the rod. And voila!
silvercaladan: (Default)

[personal profile] silvercaladan 2010-04-19 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
I particularly appreciate the second trick for the shower curtains... bleach certainly doesn't seem to do the job!
wordsatourbacks: close-up of detective meldrick lewis in a dimly lit hospital room, light shining down across his face (Default)

Re: Why hello thar

[personal profile] wordsatourbacks 2010-04-19 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I love your tips and am totally going to try them sometime! And I'm glad that you've found machine-washing the shower curtain works, too, because I'm a little scared of the mildew on my shower curtain - it's practically sentient and I wouldn't want to touch it even with my feet. :)

[personal profile] crisporres 2010-04-20 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for sharing your tips, this is exactly what I needed to help me clean my shower.
littlebutfierce: (10 things win)

[personal profile] littlebutfierce 2010-09-05 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I totally did the "dance on top of your shower curtain in the tub" thing this weekend, & it worked! I needed, er, three dancings to get it clean (it had a LOT of crap on it), but it was miraculous. And fun, hahaha. I used dish soap & some vinegar & hydrogen peroxide (I don't know if the last two were needed, but I know in combination they kill a lot of germs & since I had them around from cleaning something else...).

Thanks for posting this--I remember reading it but didn't get around to trying it until now.