[luvr29]

Making your bathroom a clean, clutter-free and well-organized space often looks like an insurmountable challenge on the surface. But you can make the job manageable -- even downright pleasurable -- if you follow these 4 simple guidelines.

1. Un-clutter first. Don't start by sorting and tossing. Just get everything out of your way.

2. Clean everything, top to bottom, left to right.

3. Use it, re-use it or lose it.

4. Simplify.

Have everything handy that you'll need to do the job. You'll need such cleaning items as:

* broom and dustpan

* dust mop and wet mop

* at least four boxes or clean pails

* at least one sturdy scrub brush

* a box of disposable gloves

* a gallon of bleach

* your favorite cleaning supplies

* long-handled brush to clean toilet

* commercial or herbal disinfectants

* bag of rags

* paper towels

* window and mirror cleaner, or white vinegar

* wood polish (for doors, moldings)

And I always keep a little jar of old toothbrushes handy to scrub those spots that bigger brushes can't reach.

1. Un-clutter: Everything and everybody ... OUT!

It's a fact that you can't clean properly with something or someone in your way, so remove all barriers to your progress in cleaning the bathroom. Send the kids to a movie or to the mall. Unless you're cleaning with herbal solutions, you'll be using some fairly hair-raising chemicals and you don't want youngsters around them.

Remember those four boxes or pails you gathered with your cleaning supplies? Put them to work. Label the first one "necessaries," the second one, "niceties," and the third one "need-accessible." The fourth one is ?re-use.? Into these boxes go only the items you can see out around you, on counters, in the shower, on windowsills and on open shelves, so this should be a quick first-sort. Don't forget to take the tissue box and toilet paper off the rack.

Take your boxes out of the bathroom and as far down the hallway as you can put them for the time being. Next, take down window curtains, shower curtains and anything hanging on hooks, racks or on the floor, including rugs and tank sets. Out it all goes, into the hallway or adjoining room. You can toss the dry items into the hamper, or even into the laundry, if you promise to take just two minutes from the task at hand. And out go the scale, the hamper, the waste basket, the baby tub, the hanging shower shelves or racks, the loofahs and massagers.

2. Clean like a fiend

Do the big jobs first. Top to bottom, left to right, section by section. Start by running your dustmop across the ceiling before washing it with detergent and water. Take down and clean out the ceiling fixtures, wipe down ceiling fans and vents, and then start on that section's walls and appliances, such as the shower, tub, commode, vanity and large items such as towel racks and robe-warmers.

As you reach the bottom of your section, spray a little cleaner along the edge of the floor and give it a little scrub with your toothbrush. That's where grime tends to hide and build up. Loosening it now will make your floor-scrubbing later go a lot more quickly. You'll want to treat any mildew you find with a solution of one part bleach to two parts water. Consider using herbal rosemary disinfectant in the sinks, for a sweet and fresh scent that is sure to perk your hard-working spirit right up.

Continue left to right, section by section, until you've cleaned everything but the floor. When you're done with the walls, appliances and counters, wash the windows and mirrors. When all else is washed and clean, sweep and wash the floor, from the furthest inside corner out toward the door. When you're done with the floor, wash thoroughly all the items you removed from your bathroom that you plant to put back.

3. Use it, re-use or lose it

While the floor is drying, start working your way through the bottles, tubes and boxes of "stuff" you hauled off counters, trays and shelves before you cleaned. Make a vow to only touch each item once. Assuming your bathroom has a medicine chest, you'll want to keep your medicines, health supplies and deodorants inside it. There's no need to have your mouthwash and birth control pills out on the counter every day.

In your "necessaries" box you'll place those items that are used daily: shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, brushes, combs, bathroom tissue and so on. You're the best judge of what's necessary -- things left "out" as opposed to stored or stashed -- in your own bathroom. In your "niceties" box will go perfumes, powders, make-up, hair accessories, and cosmetic aids.

In your "need-accessible" box are extras to replace the necessaries: bathroom tissue, Band Aids, baby wipes, extra tubes of toothpaste. You should also keep an extra light bulb in there, as well as a candle and candleholder, for those powerless emergencies. All along the sorting way, when you find something you can give away or throw away, do it. That's what the re-use box is for. That nice box of scented soaps would make a terrific gift for the domestic violence shelter. The homeless shelter could always use half-a-dozen travel-size tubes of toothpaste. Anything that's past its listed expiration date is a throw-away.

4. Simplify

In re-ordering a spotless bathroom, you should pledge to simplify choices to help avoid a major de-cluttering effort in the future. This element of the chore goes to the golden rule of housekeeping: A place for everything, and everything in its place. If you really believe more storage space or more shower caddies will do the trick, by all means invest in them. But more isn't always less. Here are some quick ways to simplify your bathroom clutter:

* Consolidate where possible. This is the one time you may violate your one-touch rule. It's not necessary to have four partially filled bottles of shampoo or conditioner. Combine them and toss the empties into the recycling bin.

* Basket-ize. Line a few baskets with pieces of fabric or left-over quilting squares, and group small items, tubes, cosmetics and pieces of jewelry into them.

* Buy in bulk. Get the large-sized liquid soaps, shampoos and gels, and transfer to a smaller bottle as needed. You'll find you have far, far fewer bottles this way.

In the end, you'll have a place for everything if you just have less stuff. When your chore is completed, and your bathroom is fit for royalty, and your towels and rugs are fresh, fluffy and warm from the dryer, treat yourself to a long, hot bubble bath, accompanied by some relaxing music, scented candles and your favorite book. Take an hour to luxuriate in a task well done.
More gr8 tips @:
Mrs. Clean and Essortment

[suitechic1979]

This sounds like good advice. I will have to try it out. I have been disabled for quite awhile and am starting to get a bit mobile again.. It has been so hard to clean.. but maybe I can make it a part of my therapy.

[Momma]

this is awesome! I am going to print this out for my son and his roommates.

[Momma]

After posting this on my son's refrigerator I have notice a tremendous difference. Thanks!

[CleanMachine]

Great post! I especially like the rule of "Use it, re-use it, or lose it!". I recently went through quite a bit and was very liberal about what I threw out. I was amazed how much it helped.

[mrscleannw]

Dump baskets are baskets where you “dump” things during the week to be sorted and put away on a day when you have time and energy.

Baskets fit into any decor. Dump baskets keep your furniture free of clutter so you can look around and not be depressed by a messy house.

Choose a day of the week (two if you have a very busy household – one in the middle and one at the end of the week) to empty your baskets and put everything where it goes.

On the day you empty your baskets, you spend less than an hour putting away all of the things that would have made you procrastinate if they were piled up overwhelmingly on all the surfaces in your home.

Tossing things into a basket, even when you’re tired, takes very little effort. Putting the items away all at once takes only minutes.

If your family is home on “empty basket day,” enlist their help. Children can empty the living room basket that holds items that go into their bedrooms. They can also transfer the spare change from the key basket into a larger jar or container.

You’ll soon become a pro at cleaning out the baskets, and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them!

Mrs. Clean