Little Jack’s Corner

Welcome to this week’s edition of “Works for Me Wednesday” (hosted by Shannon, from Rocks in My Dryer) here at Little Jack’s Corner.

Ok.  Imagine this.  It’s 12 pm Saturday, the kids are screaming, lunch is burning, hubby is snoring, and the door bell rings.  And?  It’s one of your uppity-up friends aquaintences and her snooty teenage daughter.   You know, the one who walks around with a sneer on her face and runs her pointer finger over any spottable dust?   The one who just so happens to be the church gossip?  They were passing by and…unfortunately…had to stop for a potty break because, uh, like, you know, like they like, soooo would not be caught dead in a public restroom, ya know?

Would your bathroom be ready for such a challenge?

Well, at one time mine wouldn’t have.  I would have begged for any excuse to not let them in!  Anything from “the roof caved in from the shower steam” to “our toilet is broke…darn water snakes…sorry!”   The first year of marriage, it was a hard challenge for me to re-learn life…and the fact that toilets do not stay clean by flushing alone.

Can we say, EW?

For emphasis, here is a photo I took sometime during that first year:

Yes, that is a mushroom you see there.  And no, we were not inventing a new way for cultivating stir-fry.  That photo was taken in our master bathroom, and the following week that carpet was ripped up (of course). 

So anyway.  Thanks to the help of FlyLady.net, this past fall (2 months after our 1 year anniversary) I began creating a workable solution to maintaining a clean house.  And after modifying her theory of the “swish and swipe” to suite my own tastes, that’s when I knew I struck gold.  Even though they are in use every day, my bathrooms are now the pristine of clean.  And I’m going to show you how I do it!  (After this post, everyone will also know that showing my toilet to the public doesn’t embarrass me in the slightest.  Either that, or they’ll realize I’m bonkers :))


Welcome to my Bathroom!

We have 2 in our home.  The one is the hall is considered “mine” since it has the tub and best storage.  Our master BR is my hubby’s.  This also doubles as the guest BR.  It’s pretty tiny, but it fits our needs.  A toilet, tub/shower, sink…what more could one want?  It’s kinda cozy too when you think about it.

Each morning before I leave from in there (doesn’t everyone go there first thing??), I do a quick swish & swipe of the bathroom.  My toilet bowl gets a quick swish with the brush (which is all ready to go in its own pinesol-filled container) and everything else (basin, sink, tub edge, light switches, door knobs) gets a quick run over with a clorox wipe (or 2…or 3..).

Here are my daily helpers…

…Clorox wipes, Orange Pine-Sol, a cute-in-its-own-container Toilet Brush… and my pig (we blame all smells on him; he’s been in my family for 20 years!).  Personally, I prefer lemon-smell pine-sol, but after trying for a month to use the bright yellow liquid for this routine, I gave it up since it’s not too visually appealing in a bathroom.

Meet the Potty

….he’s been a good guy to us.  Takes a lotta junk from everyone, but just keepsa runnin’.  See how shiny he is?  This, ladies, is a 20 year old toilet.  You know the gunk that piles up in the bottom back and sides of the toilets thatnoonementionsandalwayslooksawayfrom?

Well…not this one.  This one stays nice and tidy at all times.  And it’s amazing (and embarrassing) at how fast the bottom of your toilet can become in just a short amount of neglected time.

Getting Down and Dirty

(Close your eyes if you get squeemish)

No rust, no streaks, just pure clean porcelain! And it looks like that every day. Can you tell I’m proud? (Ohh the wonderful life of a newlywed!)

Ok. For my toilet cleaner, all I use is my handy toilet brush and half water / half pine-sol solution. Every two weeks or so I refill the little toilet bowl brush container halfway with hot water, and fill the rest up with orange pine-sol (again, I just can’t stomach the yellow pine-sol…for shouldbeobvious reasons). I keep him in the corner behind the toilet. For safety’s sake, please don’t keep your own out in the open if you have (nosey) pets or kids around.  Just store it in a cabinet or closet.

The Swish Effect 

To keep your potty spotless, all it takes is 60 seconds one to two times daily of swishing with this pine-sol solution soaked brush:

….be sure to rinse off your brush before returning it to it’s container!  I typically let the running water from the flush wash over it, then swish it in the clean toilet water after the flush.  Every few days or so I pop it under some hot running water from the tub.  The brush and pine-sol always stay really clean looking. 

Wipe Away! 

Next, just grab a chlorox wipe (or wipe of your choice…wet rag also works just fine for the frugal among us) and -quickly- wipe down the seat (top & bottom), back and entire basin (including the oft forgotten back regions near the floor). Done daily, this isn’t as disgusting as it sounds and takes no more than 60 seconds. Use as many wipes as needed (usually just 1 or 2 for me). When finished with the toilet, quickly sweep around the room with one more wipe and quickly wipe down the sink bowl, counter top, tub edge & side, and light switches. This also takes no more than 60 seconds.

…and you’re done! Light a linen scented candle, flick out the lights, and enjoy your guest-ready bathroom.

My less-then-3-minutes-per-day (I have gotten through the whole process in 1.5 minutes before) routine lets me live with the relief that I will never again spend 3 hours cleaning up a most disgusting bathroom. (I have long hair, as well as indoor pets…so you can imagine what problems that can cause in itself!) And… best of all… my bathroom is relaxing and always ready for guests.

Now, we do have (inherited) carpet in this bathroom - but we don’t in our master bath (due to the tendency for mushroom growth). The only different thing I do in there is a quick sweep (30 seconds, tops) to get the hair up.

So that’s my WFMW for this week. All of you ol’ timers who’ve been married forever might laugh at me, but this was a huge hurdle for me to cross in marriage (keeping a clean bathroom). And I finally did it… hehe.