3 essential (and quick!) cheats for a sparkling clean bathroom in 2014

It’s January, which means that there’s a statistical chance you’ve already broken any resolutions you made at the turn of year.

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. According to a study by the University of Hertfordshire, 78% of people who make a New Year’s resolution end up breaking it.

One common resolution we hear from people – and one that we often see broken – is to keep their home cleaner in the New Year. Most people dive into this resolution two-footed, imposing intensive cleaning regimes on themselves.

Unfortunately, these regimes usually prove too much for the average person and they end up giving up by February, reverting back to their old behaviours and their old levels of cleanliness.

It’s understandable, but we reckon that keeping your home (and particularly your bathroom) cleaner is one of the easiest resolutions to keep. All it takes is a little change in approach.

There are plenty of reasons to commit to keeping your home cleaner in the New Year too. Not only is a cleaner bathroom more hygienic, but it also makes everything else – including any fancy accessories you may have – look a hundred times better too.

So, how can you go about keeping your bathroom consistently clean in 2014?

Clean little and often

Image credit: Daily Craft

The main reason people struggle to clean their bathroom often is that it seems like such a monumental task. All the scrubbing, and scouring, and bleaching…we’d much rather sit down and have a cuppa.

Dedicating yourself to regular bathroom cleaning doesn’t mean putting in a Herculean effort every time, however. In fact, the most efficient and effective way of cleaning your bathroom is to clean little and often.

What exactly do we mean by that? Well, let’s start with the sink. Every night, after brushing your teeth before bedtime, give your sink a wipe down with a cleaning cloth. Although it might take a bit of elbow grease in the first instance, subsequent cleans will take 15 seconds, maximum!

You can extend this to other areas of the bathroom too. The traditionally-tough toilet can be a tackled with a quick daily 15 second swish around the water line with a toilet brush. If you have a shower screen, give it a spritz and a wipe down after you’ve taken a shower.

For mirrors, use a water-based spray or glass cleaner and buff clean with a towel every couple of days.

Essentially, you’ll be cleaning dirt away as it occurs, which will save you a lot of effort in the long run while giving you plenty of time for that cuppa!

Declutter (with no mercy)

Beyond the usual dirt and grime, the biggest detractor from the overall appearance of a bathroom is clutter. If you’ve got someone who lacks the ability to throw empty shampoo bottles, old moisturisers and used disposable razors away (you know who you are), it can really affect the look and feel of your bathroom.

The good news is that decluttering is really simple, provided you throw away without mercy. It goes without saying that anything empty should go in the bin immediately, but there is a grey area when it comes to bottles with a ‘few drops’ left. The frugal approach is to make everyone in your household use every last drop, and then throw away immediately afterwards.

To encourage this behaviour, store any new products you buy in a dedicated ‘new products’ basket or cabinet. This will mean that less is sitting on your surfaces and shelves and your bathroom will look much better for it.

Have the right supplies

Image credit: Judy

And now, we pass over to our ‘stating the obvious’ department. Before cleaning, make sure that you have the right supplies and, importantly, that they are stored in your bathroom. We’d say that the ideal bathroom cleaning arsenal consists of:

• Bathroom wipes (AKA the quick cleaners best friend)
• Cleaning cloths
• A toilet brush and associated toilet cleaning products
• Glass cleaner
• Air freshener
• Scourers (or, if you’re feeling more frugal, a couple of toothbrushes)

For more specialist products, buy as and when you need them. The essentials above, however, should always be in stock if you want to keep your bathroom clean on a regular basis.

That’s all we have to offer for now, resolved bathroom cleaning practitioners. The best of luck to you all!

(Oh, did we mention an illuminated mirror is the perfect complement to a sparkling bathroom? Check out our range!)