If you’re like most people, you love your shower. It is an escape from a long day at work, or at home with your kids. But a dirty shower does not provide relaxation at the end of the day. Having a shower with hard water stains and soap scum can be a big buzz kill. And then you have to start cleaning your shower when you should be relaxing.
Keeping a shower clean is the key. You need to arm yourself with the most effective tips to cleaning a shower so that it is all ready for you to enjoy when you need an escape from your reality.
How to Get Rid of Hard Water Stains
In order to know how to get rid of hard water stains, we need to understand what they are. These are opaque spots that form on the shower door and walls from the minerals in the build up of hard water.
Now how to get rid of them? Don’t use heavy duty cleaning tools, brushes or scouring powders on your shower door or you will end up with permanent scratches. You should consider a good water spot remover, or you can even make one with by mixing ¼ cup of distilled white vinegar and ¾ cup water. Heat up the mixture for one minute, pour it into a spray bottle and spray the walls and shower door. Wait 3 minutes, and then wipe off with a microfiber cloth. Sometime you may have to use some elbow grease to scrub it off.
How to Get Rid of Soap Scum
Even the term soap scum is kind of gross. But the same soap that cleans your body also turns into a slimy mess that can accumulate on the floor of the shower or the walls. There are plenty of products that you can use to get rid of soap scum, or you can make your own using a strange combination of dish soap, vinegar and cornstarch! Put the mixture in a spray bottle and let it sit for 10 minutes, and then rinse it all off of the wall. You may have to repeat this process several times.
Keep Your Shower Dry
In order to avoid mildew and mold, you should make sure that the shower is dry when you are done with it. After using the shower, follow these simple steps:
- Use a squeegee to get the water off of the door, floor and walls
- Wipe all of those areas with a towel to get rid of the condensation in the bathroom
- Turn on the fan in the bathroom or leave a window open
- Keep the shower door open, or open the shower curtain to let the humidity escape
Regular Maintenance to Keep the Shower Clean
There are little things that you can do to make sure your shower stays clean. We’ve broken it down for you, in terms of how often you need to do it.
Once a week:
- Use an eraser sponge (like Mr. Clean Magic Eraser) to wipe the floor, shower door and walls.
- Clean the grout using a soft scrub brush and gentle cleaner. Using bleach can take off the built in water repellent that is in the grout. And that can make the grout discolored, and be more likely to attract mildew.
As necessary:
- Seal your grout a couple of times a year to protect it against mildew.
- Clean the shower head to get rid of the minerals that get caught in it and reduce water flow. Take off the shower head and fill a plastic bag with distilled white vinegar. Put the shower head in the bag overnight. In the morning take out the shower head and wash it off very well to take off all of the minerals and the smell of the vinegar!
Unusual Items You Can Use to Clean Your Bathroom
We’ve assembled some little known facts about items that you may not think of in terms of cleaning your bathrooms, but they work great!
- You can use mouthwash to clean your toiletbowl! Pour ¼ cup of mouthwash into the toilet and let it sit for 30 to 45 minutes, and then scrub it. You’ll find that it does a great job cleaning the toilet!
- Rubbing lemon on chrome handles takes away water spots! Water spots often appear in the shower and sink from water that is constantly running. To get rid of them, simply rub lemon on the stains, and they should disappear immediately. Lemon is also great to get rid of bad smells in the bathroom.
- A screwdriver can help you clean your toilet! If you are having problems reaching certain spots under the tank, you can take off the seat and lid, and then cover the end of the screwdriver with a disinfectant wipe and reach the difficult spots with ease!
The Cleaning Institute
