It is no secret that the bathroom is a homeowner’s ‘safe haven’ at home.
This is the place where you finally get to unwind after having a rough day.
This is also where you can have some time for yourself away from all of your kids or roommates.
That being said, in order for you to truly be able to unwind and enjoy your bathroom, it should always be kept as clean as possible.
More than just sweeping the top of your bathroom vanities regularly, there are a lot of other places and items in your bathroom that have to be cleaned and maintained.
What are the dirtiest spots in a bathroom?
- Your Faucet
It shouldn’t be a surprise that your faucet is one of the dirtiest spots in your bathroom. It is the most touched area in your bathroom.
The fact that people touch their faucet handles to wash their hands already indicates that their hands are dirty and full of bacteria when touching the handles.
- Your Sink
Between washing your hands, your face, and brushing your teeth, your sink is prone to have a lot of bacteria.
And the majority of this bacteria congregates near your sink stopper. If you consider this on top of the fact that this area is always wet, it is highly prone to bacteria and mold.
- Your Bathmat
Your bathmat is prone to a lot of molds since it is left wet most of the time.
It soaks up all the extra water that is left once you’re done taking a shower.
This is especially true if you just leave it alone after you shower and don’t hang it up to dry.
- Your Toilet
Another spot you’d expect to be one of the dirtiest in your bathroom is obviously your toilet.
The fact that this is the perfect place for bacteria to spread is one of the reasons most homeowners dread cleaning their toilets.
- Your Toothbrush Holder
Most homeowners, if not all, don’t really dry their toothbrushes after using them. What usually happens is that as the water dries down, it pools and can create molds.
This is why it is another hot spot for germs and bacteria to congregate.
On top of this, toothbrushes are more often than not left on top of the bathroom vanity and thus collect bacteria as well from there.
- Your Bathtub
When you rinse your body after a long day of work, interacting with people, commuting around the city, the bacteria that has clung onto your body gets washed off and stick to the side of your bathtub. This automatically makes it one of the dirtiest spots in your bathroom.
- Your Showerheads and Bidets
As water flows out of your showerhead and bidet, it easily becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and germs. Over time, this can contaminate the water as it flows out of it.
These are just some of the hot spots for bacteria, germs, and mold in your bathroom.
However, since bathrooms are usually small and are highly functional, one visit to the bathroom can easily spread bacteria to several places.
In order to prevent bacteria from spreading and help you maintain the cleanliness of your bathroom, you must develop the habit of regularly cleaning it.
Here are some of the tasks that you should definitely consider integrating into your schedule:
How do I keep my bathroom clean?
- Take out the trash regularly
The first step to ensuring that your bathroom is always clean, fresh, and less prone to bacteria build-up is by taking out the trash regularly.
If you’re worried about the time and energy you have to put in just to regularly take out the trash bag and replace it, there’s a great hack for that.
Instead of just placing one trash bag every single time, try to place around 5 to 7 trash bags on top of each other.
This way, you’ll only have to “refill” the trash bags once every week. You can also try to integrate this into your schedule or morning routine so that it doesn’t feel like an extra chore for you to accomplish.
- Give your sink a rinse
It is advisable that you regularly rinse your sink since it is extremely prone to bacteria. However, this may not be enough to maintain the cleanliness of your bathroom daily.
Instead of just waiting for the next week or couple of days to rinse your sink, try to give it a quick rinse and wipe daily as well.
Although this may not completely remove all of the bacteria in your sink, it will lessen it and make your bathroom look and feel a lot cleaner. Nobody wants to see a dirty sink stopper after waking up.
- Clean your toilet weekly
This is probably one of the most hated chores when it comes to cleaning a bathroom. That being said, it is also one of the most important steps to ensuring that your bathroom is always clean.
You must clean your toilet at least once a week.
This may be daunting for most homeowners but with the amount of foot traffic in your bathroom, each one of those would most likely include the use of the toilet and this can lead to a quick germ build-up.
The best way to combat this is by spraying your toilet with an antibacterial spray and wiping it down with a cleaning cloth.
Clean the insides of your toilet with bleach and a toilet brush. Always ensure that you also clean your toilet brush regularly by placing it into a bowl of hot water and bleach.
This will prevent germ build-up and kill the bacteria as well.
- Clean your bathroom mats
Your bathroom mats can collect a lot of dust and dirt over time, this is why it is also important that you throw them in the washer at least every other week.
Not only will this help you prevent germs and bacteria from spreading in your bathroom, but it will also lessen the eyesore in your bathroom.
- Wipe down surfaces
At this point, you probably have realized that the wetter your bathroom and the longer it stays that way, the more bacteria and germs grow in your bathroom.
By spraying the surfaces in your bathroom regularly every 2 to 3 days with an antibacterial spray and wiping it down with a cleaning cloth, you will immediately see the effects.
There will be less dust and at the same time, fewer chances for bacteria to build up.
- Don’t neglect your shower curtain
Probably one of the most overlooked spots in a bathroom by homeowners is their shower curtains.
Whenever you’re thinking about cleaning your bathroom, your shower curtain isn’t probably included in your to-do list.
Given how often a shower curtain is wet and it is almost never washed, it is highly prone to molds.
In order to prevent this from happening, make it a habit to regularly remove your shower curtain and place it into the washer at least once a month.
However, if your shower curtain isn’t machine washable, you can clean it by simply placing it in a bowl of warm water that is mixed with bleach and let it soak for a couple of minutes.
- Regularly scrub your bathroom
Your floor and wall tiles are two other hot spots in your bathroom for germs and molds. And although this may be inevitable, you can always prevent the build-up.
By using abrasive scrubbing pads to clean your floor and wall tiles regularly, you can effectively and efficiently clean your bathroom.
If you don’t have scrubbing pads, you can recycle and use your old toothbrush to clean the crevices and corners of your bathroom.
Although this may feel like a lot of work, and it is, if you schedule this regularly and set aside 15 to 30 minutes of your week for this, it is definitely worth the results.
Final Thoughts
There are plenty of ways bacteria, germs, and molds can build up in our bathrooms and if neglected, these can lead to illnesses in the long run.
It is understandable that most homeowners don’t have the time to thoroughly clean their bathrooms on a regular basis. However, the key is to plan and schedule everything.
If you are able to strategically integrate your bathroom cleaning habits into your day-to-day life, you will find that it is not that hard and that it is actually doable.
You can also divide up the chores amongst your family.
Be sure to maintain a good inventory as well of all your cleaning materials so that you won’t have any excuse not to use them or to not do a task.
Lastly, you don’t have to pressure yourself into doing all of these at once.
It may take some time until you start developing it into a habit. But you have to keep in mind that long as you stick to your schedule and start forming a habit out of it, you should be good to go.