The Worse Household Chore

Before

The one household chore I throughly dislike is cleaning the bathroom for a vaiety of reasons.  One, it is the one place I cannot avoid gagging.  Two, all of the germs in the bathroom are horrifying.  Yeah, yeah .... they are my germs, but there are just so many.  Don't believe me! 

Here are the facts: 

According to the Center for Disease Control, the average toilet bowl contains 3.2 million bacteria/square inch (that is actually in the bowl).  The bathtub near the drain contains 119,468 bacteria/square inch.  The bathroom sink, near the drain contains 2,733 bacteria/square inch, but if you touched the faucet before scrubbing the bacteria away, you just exposed yourself to 6,267 bacteria/square inch. 

Makes you just want to run to the fridge and grab a light snack, right? 

Before

Another reason I hate cleaning the bathroom is I have a bad back and bad knee.  So if I can avoid stoop labor or crawling on the floor, I will.  I mean who wants to crawl around on the bathroom floor with 764 bacteria/square inch. 

I hate soap scum!  I hate soap scum!  I have tried everything to perserve a sparkling tub.  409, Soft Scrub, Scrubbing Bubble, car waxes, RainEx, the daily Tilex after shower spray.   Today, I try the much acclaimed vinegar and the Original Blue Dawn.  If this works, I will be screaming for joy from the rooftops.  I have provided you before photos to show you my failure in keeping a sparkling tub. 

Just so everyone is clear on the recipe for this "Magical Blue Spray", it is equal parts white vinegar and Original Blue Dawn.  Heat the vinegar for a minute or two in the microwave.  I heated it for one minute. Placed it in a spray bottle and coated the shower rather liberally.   

After

I only had a hour to kill with this little project.  After 45 minutes I was in the shower, rinse the blue cleaner off.  I had some tough soap scum areas that required a little light scrubbing.  But over all I was very pleased with the results.  

I think if I made this a monthly part of the cleaning routine (I do clean weekly, but you know the cleaning I am talking about -- the cleaning that takes place before you mother shows up), my tub would be soap scum free.  I also recommend applying after the morning shower and taking it off after your return from work, allowing maximum time to clean.  Maybe heating the vinegar the full two minutes would also eliminated the scrubbing.

In the words of the great Martin Luther King, Jr., "Free at last!  Free at last!  Thank God, we are free at last!"  Somehow, I feel they are fitting here.