OXO Good Tips Blog: Cleaning & Organisation

The bathroom has a tendency to get dirty fast, whether it’s the hairballs on the floor, a shower full of water stains and mold, or toothpaste globs in the sink. The bathroom can also become a resting place for our oldest beauty products, toiletries, and dirty towels. All of which go against the room’s main purpose…a space where you can clean up and feel fresh!

So whether you’re looking to start spring cleaning or decluttering your space for good, here are 28 genius cleaning hacks to keep your bathroom looking tidy.

1. Make that showerhead sparkle. To clean off grime and buildup that may be blocking the holes on your showerhead, pour an equal amount of water and white vinegar into a plastic bag. Fit bag around showerhead (so fixture is submerged) and secure using a twist tie. Let soak for five to 15 minutes. Remove and scrub off any remaining mineral deposits with a deep clean brush. You can use the same trick for sink and tub spouts, too.

2. Keep a squeegee in the shower. A squeegee a day keeps the soap scum away. Stash a squeegee in the shower and take a few seconds post-rinse to wipe down the shower door and walls. You’ll cut down on water spots and soap splatters that are harder to clean off when they’ve dried and accumulated. In the same clean-a-little-now-instead-of-a-ton-later spirit, swipe around the sink and sink faucet every so often with a soap-dispensing dish brush.

3. Turn a shower caddy into a cleaning tool kit. Yes, shower caddies are great for shampoo and conditioner. They’re equally handy for organising bathroom cleaning supplies. Buckets make great tool kits too! Place under the sink or in a cabinet so everything’s easy to find when it’s time to clean.

4. Make your own air freshener. This DIY cleaner does double-duty as an air freshener: Pour equal parts water and white vinegar into a spray bottle, then add a few drops of essential oil. (Fresh herbs, flower petals, or citrus peels work well, too.) Spritz on shower walls to help prevent soap scum buildup—and into the air in general anytime the bathroom needs a refresh.

5. Mix up a DIY tub scrub. Baking soda plus water is a great abrasive scrub for the tub, bathroom sink, grout, drains, toilet bowls, and more. Start with ½ cup baking soda and a few tablespoons of water. Mix into a paste and use wherever needed.

6. Unclog the drain the DIY way. Equal parts vinegar and baking soda is a good drain de-clogger, eating away at hair and other gunk. Sprinkle baking soda into drain first, then pour in an equal amount of white vinegar. Mixture will fizz and bubble. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes before flushing out drain with warm water. Keep hair out of drains in future with a drain protector.

7. Repurpose the grout brush. A skinny grout brush is the perfect size tool to clean shower door tracks or the narrow spaces behind and around sink and fixture faucets.

8. Prevent your toilet brush from getting gross. After cleaning, wedge the brush beneath the toilet seat (with the brush dripping over the bowl). And every so often (once or twice a year), replace the toilet brush head with a new one.

9. Keep bath toys squeaky clean. Wipe down toiletries and bath toys occasionally to keep them from getting gunky and moldy. Once a month or so, many bath toys can go for a spin through the dishwasher cycle.

10. Freshen up makeup brushes with shampoo. Cut through oils and powders that may have accumulated on makeup brushes by cleaning them with a drop or two of shampoo and warm water.

11. Make your own disinfectant. Baking soda and hydrogen peroxide mix together for a powerful DIY sanitising paste perfect for busting through mold, mildew, and scum on grout, tile, and glass. Start with ½ cup of baking soda, then add a tablespoon or more of hydrogen peroxide to create a thick paste.

12. Build a better bleach. For something a bit stronger, mix up your own bleach disinfectant: For big cleaning jobs, combine ⅓ cup bleach with 1 gallon water in a bucket. For smaller jobs, mix 4 teaspoons of bleach with 1 quart water. Pour into spray bottle and spritz on countertops, sinks, and shower walls (a spouted measuring cup is a helpful tool). Add to spray mop to clean floors.

13. Cut down on cleaning time. Save yourself work and effort by dusting surfaces like toilets and countertops before wiping them down with a damp cloth. Otherwise, the dust will turn into a grungy, harder-to-get-rid-of mess.

14. Quiet a noisy bathroom fan. Ready for the quick fix? Dust it! Dust is often the culprit for a fan that rattles and hums.

15. Detox bathroom drawers and medicine cabinets. Go through your products and toss any toiletries, makeup, and first aid supplies that are past their expiration date. Be ruthless, motivated by all the extra space you’re about to have!

16. Make sure bathroom items belong in the bathroom. Cut down on clutter by saving much-needed bathroom storage space for the products you use most often (like daily or weekly). Others can go in the linen closet/laundry room/wherever makes the most sense. Gather together extra soaps, Q-tips, cotton balls, hair ties, hair pins and the like in easy-to-access and tidy containers.

17. Clean mirrors with kitchen staples. That DIY vinegar-and-water spray you mixed up for shower walls? It’ll work for the bathroom mirror as well!

18. Spruce up bathroom countertops in one minute flat. Stash disinfecting wipes under the sink to wipe down countertops and sink daily. Bonus: Deep cleaning your bathroom will go so much faster.

19. Tidy the floor. The secret to a stuff-free bathroom floor? Hooks and clips! They’re the easiest possible solution—one that even kids can use—to get towels, clothes, robes, and more off the ground. (Just make sure there are hooks within reach of the whole family.) Also, allot only one towel per family member in the bathroom at a time; less towels also equal less to pick up.

20. Add storage to the shower. Speaking of hooks, they’re also a genius solution for shower items like washcloths, razors, loofahs, etc., decluttering the tub and shower edges. Stick caddies to shower walls for extra toiletries and soap or hang a caddy over the showerhead. And for shaving, add an extra mirror.

21. Put a turntable in the cabinet. Turntables aren’t just for the kitchen; they’re super handy under the bathroom sink or in a deep cabinet to store—and easily access—toiletries and supplies.

22. Spruce up your shower curtain. Shower curtains are best—and simplest—to clean by simply tossing into the washing machine. (Skip the dryer as it can melt plastic liners.) Rehang on shower hooks and let air dry.

23. Make sense of bathroom drawers. Use drawer organisers to straighten up beauty products, makeup brushes, toothbrushes, tweezers, nail clippers, and more.

24. Find what you need—fast. As you’re organising items in the bathroom’s drawers and cabinets, group products by purpose rather than product type: for example, night-time skin care, morning get-ready routine, first aid, etc. This method makes sure everything you need is on hand…at exactly the moment you need it.

25. Label containers and trays with whatever lives in them. Not only will labels make it easier for you to keep everything organised, everyone else in the household will know where products go as well.

26. Scrub dirty and stained countertops with cut lemon. Lemons’ natural acidity makes them a natural disinfectant and stain remover. Slice a lemon in half, then sprinkle salt over the cut edge. Scrub countertop with lemon to remove makeup, nail polish or any other stains.

27. Send caddies through the dishwasher. It’s a snap to freshen up caddies, bathroom cleaning brushes, and squeegees every so often by running them through the dishwasher.

28. Clean up countertop clutter. Use a soap dispenser for a streamlined look; corral toothbrushes into a matching container. For bars of soap, a dish cuts down on goopy buildup. A heat-safe mat gets hair products and tools into tidy order.