August 2016

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ScrubTheMess #CollectiveBias

If you’re anything like me, you don’t have hours a day to keep your house in spotless condition. But even without the need for a showroom shine, there are rooms that require daily maintenance and upkeep, regardless of how hectic our daily schedule is, such as our home bathrooms. So how can you keep things clean with a minimal effort and time? A sixteen-minute-or-less rule to clean my home bathrooms and it works wonderfully!

You see, the truth of the matter is, you can get a great deal of housekeeping done, in short, quick sessions when you don’t have distractions. Which is why It’s the 16-minute rule works so well for our family. So even if you don’t have sixteen consecutive minutes at present, there’s a good chance you will have sixty seconds here and there throughout your workday or evenings to maintain your bathrooms. Here’s how it’s done. 

• Reusable towels or microfiber cloths. I use 1 for mirrors, 1 for each sink, and 1 for each bathroom’s showers.
• Orange infused vinegar spray. This is used for cleaning all chrome and mirrors. 
• Disinfecting cleaner used to clean out sinks. 
• Scotch-Brite® Disposable Toilet Scrubber toilet cleaning system.
• A timer to maintain my progress. 

Here’s how the minutes break down:

Clear off all your surfaces. Put away your straight iron and blowdryer, recycle your magazines and empty cosmetic bottles, put your makeup away, and pick up laundry off the floor and place it in a hamper. 

Surface Cleaning. Wipe down your countertops, toilet seat, and tank, as well as shower doors with a multi-purpose cleaner. Also, spray out your shower or bath stall with white vinegar. 

Primping your bathrooms. To begin, refold your towels and place out clean hand towels. Next, close your glass shower doors, or pull your shower curtain closed. Check to make sure you have a steady supply of toilet paper, cotton balls, and q-tips in your space. 

Clean off all mirrors and chrome fixtures with vinegar spray.

Minutes 5-6: Pull out your bathroom rugs. Take them outdoors and shake them out quickly. Then sweep your bathroom floors and place your rugs back in your space. Also keep in mind, twice a week I spend an extra 2-3 minutes by steam mopping my floors as well to prevent product buildup on my tile floors. 

Begin your last minute by cleaning out in the inside of your toilet bowls. To save time, I use the Scotch-Brite® Disposable Toilet Scrubber and the Scotch-Brite® Disposable Toilet Scrubber Refills to help me quickly clean, sanitize, and sparkle my toilets each day.  I love that using this product means just swishing around a pad quickly, making sure to hit the upper rim on our toilets and then disposing of the pad. Easy peasy! 

Thes scrubbers and refills are awesome because they help me reach messes and grime from under the rim of each bathroom toilet that more simple products might leave behind.

Also, the Scotch-Brite® Disposable Toilet Scrubbers have built-in, power-packed bleach alternative and a flexing head design with pumice scrubbing technology that helps scrubs away rust and hard water stains too! I also love that the unit system takes up little to no footprint in my small, compact bathroom spaces. Nothing is left after cleaning my toilet but shine! 

In case you’re wanting to pick up these awesome  scrubbing pads, they are available at your local Kroger.

And while in-store, be sure to look for a redeemable peelie coupon for the Scotch-Brite® Disposable Toilet Scrubber right on the package. It will say “Try Me Now! Save $2”. The coupon can be redeemed at the register at checkout.

At this point, I take an extra 30-seconds per bathroom to look over my space and assess anything else that might need to be fixed, cleaned, or adjusted. Or for a particularly hectic day, written down on my to-do-list for the next day. Then lights out! Mind you, sometimes I use this minute to see if my cleaning buddy, Boo Radley thinks I’ve overlooked cleaning anything in my bathrooms as well!

Repeat Minutes 1-7.5 on my additional bathroom.

At this point, there is nothing left to do but to put my cleaners back in my bathroom cabinets and throw my dirty cleaning cloths in the washer for next-day laundering. That’s it! 

Overall, I love how easy, simple, and uncomplicated my cleaning system is for both my home bathrooms. I’ve really been able to make this system work for us by implementing it daily. By cleaning up that pesky layer of dust and grime each day, I save myself hours of monthly scrubbing on my tiled bathrooms spaces. This method saves me over eight hours of cleaning per month! 

What do you think? Are you up for a little bathroom speed cleaning? I encourage you all to try your hand at 16-minute-or-less bathroom speed cleaning sessions, and to also pick-up and try out the Scotch-Brite® Disposable Toilet Scrubbers and Refills during your next trip to your local neighborhood Kroger stores.

Here’s to cleaner bathrooms at home,

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MegaPrepped #CollectiveBias

I am a huge advocate for all things neat, tidy, and in its rightful place. I am also a firm believer in visual motivation–if something looks pretty, you will want to maintain it, see it, and put things away in it. In our home, functional storage is a top priority in my home, but it must also be pretty too!

But when I say pretty I don’t mean a billion small, decorative boxes, baskets, bins, totes, and organizers. I mean clean, natural, functional spaces. Spaces that promote productivity, comfort, and peacefulness in my home. Because an uncluttered bathroom is a clean bathroom.

So for me, I strive to have a bathroom that is clean, minimal, and spa-like every day, not for the occasion when we entertain guests, but for myself and my family each and every day. Here are a few tips I implement in my home to create a frugal, spa-like bathroom at home. 

Purge Seasonally. One of the number one reasons small spaces, including bathrooms, feel small and cramped is because they contain too many items. Often we collect skin and beauty products, OTC home medicines, toothbrushes, hair accessories, or bath toys, only to find that within a season those same items are no longer serving our lives as we thought they once might have. To ensure my bathroom stays decluttered and clean, I perform a seasonal purge of old or unusable items. For example, if you have two containers of the same lotion, pour the rest of the less full bottle into the other. Wash out the empty bottles and recycle the empty bottles. 

Set reasonable limits. Limit yourself to two sets of shampoo and conditioner that you use frequently, and store no more than four bars of soap or two bottles in your bathroom cupboards per four people, per month. Remember, your bathroom is not your storage or stockpile room. 

Consolidation is key. Buying bathroom staples in bulk saves lots time and money but often takes up a large bathroom footprint. To help with this measure, remove toiletries from extra cardboard or plastic packaging to save on space, then recycle the excess. Consolidate smaller items in small, stackable storage units to save on save too! 

Strive for clean surfaces. Personal items should be put away if possible, daily. If you have a drawer or medicine cabinet, always put away your toothbrush, floss, toothpaste, hairbrush, and feminine items after each use. And be sure to wipe out sinks and vanity surfaces daily to maintain a tidy, clean bathroom space. 

Create clear, concise, intentional storage. Every item in a bathroom should be functional, and so storage that is easily stored, accessible, and simple to find is ideal. Mason jars are a great option for bathrooms, as there are not only affordable and beautiful but also allows you to easily see when items need to be re-stocked or cleared of grime and fingerprints. Also items you use often, such as cotton balls and Q-tips, can simply be stored in small, clear vessels, such as mason jars. Makeup brushes can also be stored vertically in a mason jar filled with glass marbles as well. 

Maintain your towels monthly. Boxes and bins are also a great way to store towels. Towels can also be stored neatly either rolled or folded up on a wall rack, under the sink, rolled in a wicker basket, or in the linen closet. To keep a more minimal, decluttered bathroom, be sure to keep a minimum number of towels in your bathroom and transfer extra towels to your linen closet. In our home, we no longer have good towels, but quality, organic cotton towels we use daily. These towels are kept in stations in each bathroom closet.

Regular Maintenance. Bathroom maintenance and organization is not just a one-time project, but is something you should do regularly, and often. A few of the ways I maintain a decluttered bathroom at home are by staying on top of the usability of our bathrooms by clean out your bathrooms weekly (aside from wiping surfaces daily) once a week, washing towels twice- weekly, and each night I maintain the stocks in our bathrooms for important items such as q-tips, cotton balls, and toilet paper. 

Another way I help to keep clutter to a minimum in my bathrooms is by finding creative, hidden storage methods. I designate chests in each bathroom closet, which makes toilet paper and staples easy to access and keeps my bathroom surfaces clean from clutter and makes for quick steam mopping sessions too! Each night I pop into the bathrooms, open a drawer and re-stock as needed. Easy, simple, done! 

As a frugal-minded maven, I always make sure to purchase quality, lasting, spa-like products when I shop monthly. Lately, I have been picking up the Quilted Northern® Ultra Soft & Strong® with Cleanstretch, as it not only helps keep our bathrooms fully stocked but also ensures a comfortable bathroom experience, but as Quilted Northern® come in Mega 9-roll packs, and as each roll is a 4X bigger which saves me money each time I buy.

A bonus? Be on the lookout during your next Walmart in-store shopping trick for to save $1.50 on Quilted Northern® Ultra Soft & Strong® with a new peelie coupon location on the bottom right of each 9-roll pack, right on the paper products and toilet paper aisle! 

I also love that Quilted Northern® come in Mega 9-roll packs, and as each roll is a 4X bigger, so I’m never worried about running out of a roll when it’s most needed, and with bigger rolls in each pack, I can save money on each roll too! In addition to the quality, I love that Quilted Northern® is also a brand my family knows by name. Did I also mention that Quilted Northern® is celebrating their century mark this year as well! This is a brand with decades of experience in making quality products for families! 

So, savvy savers, those are my tips for keeping a more minimal, easy-to-clean bathroom at home. What are your organizing tips for small bathroom spaces? Have you tried Quilted Northern® yet? I’d love to hear from you!

Here’s to better bathrooms at home,