15 Minutes to a Sparkling Bathroom

No room in your house is more used and abused than the lowly bathroom. No wonder, then, that it’s often the room you neglect most, allowing dirty laundry and bottles of soap, shampoo and who knows what else to stack up on every available surface. When you know the secret to getting a sparkling bathroom in just 15 minutes, you’ll never be tempted to hang an out-of-order sign on your bathroom door again.

1 Minute: Kick-Start Your Cleaning
Spray your tub and shower doors with a soap-scum busting spray cleaner. Squirt toilet cleaner in the toilet, and swish around with a brush.

3 Minutes: Round Up All the Clutter
Put dirty clothes in the hamper, and stash all the clutter that’s sitting on your sink, shelves and other surfaces in a storage bin (more on how to corral that clutter later).

3 Minutes: Wipe Out Grime
Spray an all-purpose cleaner on a cleaning rag, and wipe down your sink surfaces, including your faucet. Wipe down the outside of your tub or shower, then close the toilet bowl lid, and wipe down the lid and outside of the toilet tank and bowl.

1 Minute: Shining On
Spray mirrors and windows with rubbing alcohol or window cleaner, and wipe clean.

3 Minutes: Return Engagement
Using a sponge or nylon scrubber, wipe down shower or tub surfaces, then rinse clean. Flush toilet, then wipe down the toilet seat and bowl rim with a cloth dampened with all-purpose cleaner.

4 Minutes: Four On the Floor
Sweep the floors. Wrap a damp cleaning rag around the head of an electrostatic dusting mop (you know, the one advertised on TV, wink-wink). Spray all-purpose cleaner directly onto floor, and wipe using your dusting mop. Rinse rag as needed, and continue until floor is clean.

The great thing about this 15 minute bathroom cleaning routine is that you can break up the tasks into three- or five-minute chunks, performed every day, to keep your bathroom in tip-top shape. Take one day to clean the tub while you attack the floor. The next day, take four minutes to clean surfaces and mirrors. To make your job even easier, here are a few speed-cleaning tips:

• Corral the clutter. Store extra bottles of shampoo, bars of soap and other supplies you aren’t using just yet in a linen closet or other out-of-the-bathroom spot. If everyone in the house is using a different type of soap/shampoo/body wash, invest in a few shower caddies at the discount store, and hang them from the shower wall using suction hooks. For sink-top clutter, limit everyone who uses the bathroom to whatever he or she can fit in a small storage caddy, and make these caddies “live” in bedrooms.
• Keep your supplies close at hand. Cleaning your bathroom is less of a hassle when you have what you need nearby. Store a bottle of all-purpose cleaner and a bottle of toilet cleaner under the sink, along with a stack of cleaning rags.
• Purge your space of unnecessary items. While you don’t want your bathroom to look like a public restroom, limit the number of decorative items to speed cleaning. The fewer scented candles, potpourri dishes and other decor items you have to clean around, the quicker your cleaning will go.

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