Your 10-Step Bathroom Cleaning Routine

Cleaning the bathroom can be a dirty job. You’ll be more comfortable and motivated to do it if you’re ready for it. Get your hair out of your face and put it up, put on a pair of rubber cleaning gloves, trade in fuzzy slippers for rubber or plastic house shoes like slides or flip flops and change into old clothes you don’t mind getting a little dirty. If it makes you feel safer and cleaner, you can even toss on a mask.

TIP: Open windows and turn on your bathroom fan as part of your getting-ready prep. Ventilating your bathroom not only makes it smell better, but keeps you safer while working closely with potentially hazardous cleaning chemicals.

Trust us. Cleaning gets so much easier when you clear the space you’re working with. And we’re talking totally clear. Remove toiletries and knickknacks from countertops, wall niches and tub ledges. Put everything into boxes or baskets and leave outside the bathroom. Clear the floor of things like bathmats, the trashcan and your toilet brush (temporarily – we’ll use this later).

TIP: Toss bathmats into your laundry (plus any other small rug you want to clean). Wash on a cold cycle while your bathroom gets clean.

Ironically, the place where we get clean is often the least-cleaned place in the bathroom. Showers and bathtubs are prone to limescale, soap scum and mould buildup.

Try this shower/bathtub cleaner that cuts through stains and scum like butter: In a small bowl, mix equal parts dish soap, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Thoroughly saturate a large sponge with this mixture and scrub your shower and tub walls and fixtures like the showerheads, faucet and knobs. Start from the top of the walls and work your way down to the shower or bath floor. Leave the mixture on while cleaning the rest of your bathroom. Rinse off with your showerhead at the very end when you go to clean yourself off!

Apply antibacterial bathroom spray all over the toilet tank (including the flush handle), on top and under the lid and seat and all over the lid and seat joints. Also spray the entire base of the toilet, down to the floor and around to the back. Get comfortable with cleaning behind your toilet; it makes a huge difference.

Let the exterior of the toilet saturate in the spray. Meanwhile, apply toilet bowl cleaner, starting from right under the toilet rim. Retrieve your toilet brush and scrub the interior. Then, close the lid and let this cleaner sit while you use paper towels or rags to wipe the disinfectant-covered exterior of the toilet. You can use a designated old toothbrush to clean nooks and crannies like in the grooves beneath the toilet seat, in the lid and seat joints and around the toilet base.

TIP: With the brush-head still in the toilet, close the lid so the toilet brush’s handle is clamped down between the seat and base. It can drip dry in this position.

Mirrors are probably the easiest and most satisfying place to clean in the bathroom. Spritz some glass cleaner along the top of your mirrors and wipe them down in long side-to-side sweeps with a flat-weave microfiber cloth or two.

Break out the shower/bathtub cleaner we made in Step 3 again! It’s going to come in handy preventing mould along the edges of countertops and removing soapscum from inside the basins. Again, saturate a sponge in the mixture and wipe down your countertops and basin. Then, wet a paper towel or rag with water and wipe the cleaning solution off.

With the bathroom being such a wet space, you’d assume cobwebs and dust bunnies don’t accumulate here. Not so! Your bathroom needs dusting just as much as any other room. Use microfiber cloths to tidily sweep up dust from window sills, shelves, ledges and walls. Use a stepstool or a Swiffer duster to get the hard-to-reach places.

Like with all cleaning, it’s best to work from top to bottom. We’ve finally made it to the bathroom floor! Tile is pretty easy to clean. Use a broom and dustpan or a vacuum to first thoroughly remove as much dust and dirt as you can. Then, go in with a mop.

TIP: Honestly, while it may sound icky, the most thorough way to clean your bathroom floor is by hand. Mix warm water with a couple drops of our DIY cleaner from Step 3. Using microfiber cloths or rags dipped in this mixture, wipe your floors down from one end of the bathroom to the other using wide side-to-side wiping motions.

Now’s your chance to declutter and reorganize your bathroom to stylish, functional satisfaction. Dispose of old bottles, wipe flecks off soap and toothpaste off of toiletries and swap out raggedy towels for fluffy new ones.

Take stock of all the stuff you own. Is there a more useful or stylish way to organize everything? Now’s the time to plan out what organization system you want to pick up during your next home goods haul.

TIP: Don’t put your toilet brush back without cleaning it! Remove the brush from where you let it drip dry into your toilet. In the sink or tub, cover the bristles and the inside of the brush holder in disinfectant spray. Let sit for at least 5 minutes before rinsing off with water.

The cleanest bathroom is one that doesn’t smell like a bathroom. Now that it’s sparkling clean, make it smell its absolute freshest. Light a couple of your favourite scented candles. Cactus Candle, Etsy – ZOETSTUDIO, $33.