Collaborative Post
Cleaning the house is never an enjoyable task, let’s be honest. But there’s something about cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen that is just significantly worse. Maybe because with these two rooms, you’re always going to find a lot of hidden dirt, a lot of foul smells, and it’s going to take a fair bit of elbow grease to get the job done.
For many of us, cleaning these two rooms is a chore we would rather outsource if we could, or put off as long as possible. But then the job gets 1,000 times worse!
Anyway, the good news here is that it doesn’t always have to be that way. With regular maintenance and a little creativity, your bathroom and kitchen can stay clean without using mountains of chemicals.
In fact, there are dozens of convenient cleaning hacks that don’t require massive amounts of time, money, or elbow grease either. Here are a few of our favourite cleaning hacks for these two dreaded rooms of the home. So go on, get your sponge out!
Quickly clean mirrors and shiny metal surfaces
Cleaning your mirrors – or any reflective glass surfaces – is always a task dreaded. What if it goes streaky? What if I have to keep scrubbing away and get left with marks? A lot of people also don’t enjoy the fumes of strong mirror cleaning solutions.
The best way to clean your bathroom mirror or reflective metal surfaces in your kitchen is actually with black tea. Yes, seriously. Apparently, the tannic acid in black tea is what cleans the mirror without streaking or staining it. So boil that water, make a pit of black tea, let it cool, use a clean, lint-free cloth, and wipe it over the mirror.
Deep clean your bath
The centrepiece of any bathroom is always the bath, whether you love yours or you hate it. It’s worth making sure your bath is one you do love though, as it tends to be the focal point and can act as your relaxation escape. Most people have the shower and bath combined unless you’re lucky enough to have a modern setup. You can shop for some beautiful options from Bathdisc, with their range of freestanding or corner baths being the most popular choices for 2019.
Aim to deep clean your bath weekly if you can. You don’t always have to rely on strong bleaches are cleaners, though. Sprinkle some salt on a grapefruit and use it to scrub your bathtub. As well as this smelling absolutely delicious, it will get rid of all the soap scum and marks that are hard to remove without harsh chemicals.
Baking soda for both rooms
Did you know that if you have a bottle of baking soda in the house, this can pretty much double up as a cleaning agent for so many things? And yes, you guessed it, it’s super handy for the bathroom and kitchen. For your toilet, use a mix of vinegar and baking soda solution to work wonders on your toilet without resorting to the use of nasty chemicals that will turn your toilet water blue. Just mix equal parts, pour it down the toilet, let it sit for 15 minutes and clean toilet water will be yours.
For the kitchen, unclog and clean your sink by using a flush of hot water, a cup of baking soda, and an equal amount of fresh-squeezed lemon juice poured down the drain. This should do the trick to get rid of any grime clogging up the plug hole, and also leave a nice shine to your sink if you scrub the solution around the sink too.
Shiny taps all round
Whether it is your bathroom sink or shower taps, your kitchen taps or even the handle on your toilet flush, anything metallic needs that shine! A quick handy tip is to use a dab of baby oil on a cloth and wipe this all over the metal. Immediately, you’ll see the metal transformed from drab-looking sink fixtures into perfect mirrors. Exciting!
Spruce up that microwave
Microwaves easily get abandoned when it comes to cleaning. But when left, they can get really grubby and start to smell. A quick way to get your microwave looking better is to fill a microwave-safe bowl (ideally glass) with 4 cups of hot water, and place lemon chunks in the bowl. Set the timer on the microwave and let it run until the water starts to boil. Keep the door of the microwave closed while the steam inside the microwave dissolves the grime and grease from all four microwave walls.
Take out the solution and wipe down the microwave tray and inside walls with a cloth. The dirt will just wipe away easily, and your microwave will smell fresh!
Use oil to remove oil
Whether it is stains from cooking oils or bath oils – or any type of oil product you have been using in the kitchen or bathroom – you can luckily get rid of it. The answer here is to use oil to pick your oil up! Add a few drops of vegetable oil to a paper towel, then wipe the greasy surface and watch the oil disappear. When you’re done, simply wipe it with a clean towel and stand back to admire your shiny surfaces.
Don’t forget to use dryer sheets
If you use a dryer in your home, those little pieces of cloth you place inside are pure magic, even after they’ve been used in the dryer! A used dryer sheet can buff out water spots from your mirrors and bathroom/kitchen fixtures, tackle water spots on your shower doors, and even get rid of that loathsome ring in the toilet that just won’t budge.
Use new dryer sheets to wipe your baseboards clean, and you’ll not only be cleaning them but adding a dust-fighting layer to them as you go!
There you have it: seven handy little hacks to bear in mind to keep your bathroom and kitchen shiny and clean, without any added hassle.
