My Great Challenge

In this post, you will

See before and after pictures of my bathroom cleaning routine (I have no shame)
Learn how to effectively clean your bathroom using a sequence that gets the job done in half the time
See how one simple homemade product can do the job of at least 4 different store bought supplies
Download a simple schedule chart for daily and weekly bathroom routines (if you are creating a home management binder, this is the chart you need!)

Let's keep it real! Bathroom cleaning is the worst chore ever! And I am not just talking about the gross stuff we have to clean, it is also someone else's gross stuff AND we have to bend on our knees and stretch in some crazy yoga pose to get the job done. Don't you just hate it?

Judging by the number of products available on the store shelves, each promising to outdo the competition, remove grime before it even gets there and so much and so forth, I am not he only one who dreads the bathroom chore! Like many of you I found myself suckered into believing the fads, I bought the automatic shower spray (useless), the automatic bowl scrub mac thingy (the kids emptied it over one week end), the sprays, the foams, the pads, the one use only scrubby, the reusable forever microfiber glove etc. If the products were that good in the first place, why do manufacturers keep reinventing the wheel every six months or so?

I spent a lot of time thinking about this bathroom chore issue and realized that the problem was NOT necessarily the products themselves, instead, it was the method by which I used to clean. There was no real routine, I would start on the sink one day, the tub the other day, it never really made sense and it was always a chore no matter what! Have you ever found yourself moving the same wet hair from one side of the counter to the other, only to find more later on the floor, glued to the mop, constantly having to bend over to get rid of them along with more wet dust? Is this cleaning or working out? I was confused!

Spending my entire Saturday morning scrubbing tub and bowl was never how I envisioned the rest of my adult life! So I came up with a plan, a cleaning schedule that also follows a specific sequence to cut the amount of time I spend cleaning each bathroom in my home (we have two full and one half bath). For the purpose of this blog post, I will demonstrate my cleaning routine using our guest bathroom which is also the boys bathroom.

This is our guest bathroom the day we bought our home in 2010...the house was built in 1929.

And the guest bathroom today (we have plans to entirely remodel this room...sometimes in the next 10 years). Right now I can only see it as not much more than simply functional. I need to add that I also do not care for that corner sink! It has a bathtub with an enclosure, but I removed the doors and placed a shower curtain instead, it allows for an easier access when giving a bath to our little guy...not to mention less cleaning!

Our guest bathroom which also doubles as the boys' full bath.

These lights were actually supposed to face up but the mirrors were in the
way so we had to have them face down instead.

Last week I posted a series of before and after pictures on how I cleaned my entire kitchen using White Vinegar + Dawn detergent. Because I had such great results with my homemade cleaner, I have decided to test out the same cleaner while following my own cleaning routine. I also did not clean the bathroom for an entire week to see how well it would work. So here goes:

What you will need:

1. Paper towels (I use the Viva brand, they are very thick and last a long time)
2. A mix of white vinegar and Dawn detergent in a spray bottle
3. Baking soda (as cheap a variety as possible)
4. A small bucket of warm water
5. A washcloth (or two) you no longer use.
6. Mop

That's it!

Here is my cleaning chart (you can later download it as a PDF or click on the image to see the large version & print):

There are several things you can do with this chart. You can print it and put it in a frame on your bathroom wall. The glass can be used as a dry erase surface and you can check the boxes as you go. You can put it in a plastic sleeve and do the same with a dry erase marker, either on the wall or inside a home management binder if you chose to have more of these to keep track of your cleaning around the house. Either way, part two (the weekly schedule) follows a specific sequence and that is the key to your successfully (and effortlessly) cleaning your bathroom(s).

Why follow a specific sequence?

You want to minimize the number of back and forth or repeat actions and movements in your bathroom. To me, it made no sense to be cleaning the sink only to use it later to contain the water with which I was rinsing the toilet's sponge! There is the dust and the loose hair issue, no matter what they just would not go away and I often found myself going over the same surface again and again chasing the same hair...What a waste of time!!!!

So my routine follows specific steps in a specific sequence so that I never go over a surface more than once!

Shake rugs and Sweep the Floor

Before I start cleaning, I thoroughly shake all the floor rugs and immediately sweep the entire bathroom to get rid of any hair and dust.

Sprinkle 1/3 cup of baking soda inside the toilet bowl

The baking soda serves as an odor absorber and also brigthens the bowl. Do not scrub, just let it sit there while you move on to another task.

Spray the mirrors and the entire counter/sink area with White Vinegar + Dawn mix

You want to spray from top to bottom (mirrors first). Once all the surfaces are sprayed, use the paper towels to immediately wipe the mirrors. My boys have managed to splatter toothpaste on my mirrors just about every day, no matter the number of reminders. You will be amazed how good of a job this cleaner does, it leaves no streaks behind and dissolves toothpaste almost instantly!
Look at the mess the kids left...

And the mirrors after using my homemade cleaner!

Once the mirrors are done, wipe the counter, the sink and the faucet with a wet washcloth and use the faucet water to rinse the cloth.

Faucet splattered with dried up toothpaste...the before pictures.

Gross!

Not a clue what that is!

Here is the sink, entirely covered with my homemade cleaner...

And here it is after a good wipe with the washcloth...The vinegar + dawn removed all this dirt and soap scum effortlessly, I did not need a scrubbing pad or scouring powder!

At this point, the sink and counter are cleaned, dried and buffed with a paper towel, you will not have to revisit this area.

Swish #1 and spray the bowl

This is my favorite part (no joke) you have no idea how much the baking soda, by itself, will clean your toilet bowl! At that point I don't even flush, I simply use the toilet brush and give the bowl a good swishing around, spreading the baking soda...any odor is simply gone. leaving the baking soda and bowl water as is, I liberally spray the entire bowl with my homemade cleaner, again from top to bottom and side to side, remember the underside of the bowl and the toilet seat. Just spray it all and let it stay there. Move on to the next task!

The baking soda already cut the job in half!

Simply spray the entire bowl with white vinegar + Dawn
and let it sit there while you move on to another task.

Replace glass/tumbler and straighten magazines (if any)

Spray tub, faucet, tub enclosure (walls, glass etc) and tracks if you have doors.

While the toilet continues to soak in, go ahead and spray your entire shower/bathtub area with the white vinegar + Dawn. Before doing so, you may want to check on the products and trash whatever is empty or any soap bar reduced to the size of a nickel.

Here is my tub before I gave it a good spray....

Just let the cleaner sit there and move on to the next task.

Swish #2 and wipe bowl

While the tub is soaking under my whitening and soap scum removing concoction of white vinegar + Dawn, I give the toilet bowl its second and final swish. I then fill my bucket with warm water from the tub and use a washcloth to wipe the entire bowl. Whatever splatter was in this area, it is now sanitized by the vinegar, no longer smells and is easily wiped off thanks to the Dawn. This is another effortless task!

Scrub and wipe the tub

While I was wiping the toilet bowl, the cleaner lifted all the soap scum and hard water that needed cleaning in and around the tub. You don't really have to scrub, but if you do, do not use the same washcloth that was previously used for the bowl, get a new one! If your tub as a detachable spray, chances are you can simply give the area a good spray and every dirt will be lifted off. Use paper towels to wipe the inside of the tracks (if you have an enclosure) and wipe the glass. I use a dry towel to buff the faucet and fixtures as well as the tiles to prevent any dry water spots.

Here is the tub after the white vinegar and Dawn treatment...No scrubbing needed on mine.

Dust all surfaces

If you have nick knacks in your bathroom, now is the time to give them a quick dusting using a damp paper towel. I also go over the edges of the tiles, the baseboards and the door frame.

Check products and replace as needed

At that point in my routine, I give myself a quick tour of the cabinets and the supplies. Do I need Q-tips? Do I need to trash anything? If so, it all goes in the trash can.

Change towels

I change the towels at this stage because there is no more dusting or flushing of the toilet bowl. To me it makes no sense to bring in clean towels before the bathroom gets a thorough cleaning first.

Empty the trash

While I was cleaning I used the trash can to throw the dirty and wet paper towels as well as all the products I needed to purge. Now is the time to empty the trash and change its liner. I leave the trash outside the room.

Mop the floor

I mop the floor last, starting from the far end corner. First I dump whatever water I have left in the bucket into the toilet bowl. I then refill the bucket with HOT water and spray the floor with my cleaner. I do not let the cleaner sit for too long and mop the floor right away, again working my way out the room. Because I already swept earlier, there is no hair or dust on the floor, the moping is a one pass and I am done!
Once the floor is dry, dump the bucket water into the toilet bowl and flush. Bring the trash can back into the bathroom.

You are done!
In all, this is a 20 minutes routine and the bathroom is sparkling clean. This is what I do every week.
Again, for the purpose of this post I did not perform any of my daily tasks this week to make sure there would be more dramatic before pictures. Generally, the daily routine consists of putting things where they belong, quickly wiping any spills and swish the bowl after each use.

Before guests arrive and if you are concerned the bathroom may smell a bit too much like vinegar, simply light up a decorative candle for a few minutes. Mine is a woodstick, soy candle with a warm Rosewood and patchouli scent!

On a side note, I can't believe how clean the faucet
looks after just one spray of my
homemade cleaner!

Click on the link below if you want a copy of my cleaning schedule as a PDF you can print.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?alb5knqtsj7628o

As always, thank you for your time, interest and sharing my post with your friends and family.
Don't forget to "LIKE" My Great Challenge on Facebook.

Sophia, NJ.

Here is a relatively easy Thank You card with its matching envelope you can make in one afternoon. I am including all the step by step you need to reproduce this card or one of your own design.

I made this Thank You card and its matching envelope to send something special to MGC reader Julia A. who submitted a DIY project this week. The project itself is not challenging, but it does require patience, so if you are new to scrapbooking, cardmaking, and/or stamping, do take your time.

When I make my own cards, I always start with gathering my supplies, at times, I add more supplies than needed so that I have plenty of different choices for my project. In this case, I have gathered the following supplies:

K & Company patterned paper collections (Urban Rhapsody and Cut &Paste)
1 sheet of cardstock (DCWV)
Distress Ink Pads in various colors
Ink Pads in various colors (high pigment)
Craft double ended markers
Stamps
Ribbon
Glue

Step One:

Always start with making the envelope. There is a reason for that: you need to match your card to the size of the envelope. I can count and count some more the number of times I made a card and the envelope turned out to be too small for it. Once the card is already designed, you can't trim it back. However, If you know exactly what fits for your envelope, you can pre-cut to the perfect size and then, design!

I found my envelope template at www.make-your-own-invitations.com

Print and cut your template, then place it on top of a sheet of cardstock.
This template is for a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 size card.

Trace your template directly and mark the corners. Join each corner mark to form the rectangle. This rectangle will be the front of your envelope.

Cut along the lines and begin folding.

The two side flaps go on top of the back flap.

Mark all your creases by pressing with a flat ruler or the side of your thumb.

Using the template again, trace and cut a piece of matching decorated patterned paper to size as it will fit inside the envelope for extra flair.

Now that your envelope is ready, you can go ahead and cut your card.

Step Two:

Cut a piece of cardstock 8 1/2 x 5 1/2.
It is 8 1/2 because of the middle fold (twice 4 1/4). Fold and mark the crease with a flat ruler or the side of your thumb.

This is the stage where you want to try your card with the envelope and trim it to ensure a good fit.

Step Three:

Begin decorating your card by cutting a matt slightly smaller than the front of the card. I used 1/2 in. smaller on length and width so that the matt would rest 1/4 in from the edges.

Using a brown distress pad, I inked the sides of the matt by gently rubbing the ink pad against the paper.

This is a nice technique that brings contrast and also ages the edges (distress) of your card. it does not have to be perfect.

Step four:

Add some embellishments. In this case, I used only one portion of a sheet of patterned paper: the row of tickets.

I cut the tickets, used distress ink around the edges and placed the new embellishment on top of the matt, towards the bottom of the card.

Using the same collection of patterned paper from K&Company, I cut out two letters J and A to personalize my card to MGC reader Julia A.

Once cut, the two pieces were also distressed using ink around the edges...

And placed on top of the card. Notice that these two are not yet glued to the top as I need to move them around and see what would be the best look for this card.

Step five:

Rubber stamping can be tricky and this was actually my very first time. I have this collection of "Thank You" stamps but was not sure which one would match the card best. By placing all four stamps next to the card, I determined that the round flower was probably best.

Ink your design on a matching piece of cardstock.

This is where patience is much needed...Ink takes forever to dry and I would not recommend you try to rush your work as it is a guarantee you will smear your freshly stamped design by accident. I have no shame in admitting that I ended up using the hair dryer over the cardstock out of impatience. Well, even with that technique it was not dry and I had to make another one!

While your stamp dries, prepare your markers to color it.

For my card, I chose a set of matching colors from Momento (Tsukineko). These are double ended high pigment and very high quality markers (as in keep away from the kids). Each comes with a fine and a bold felt like point. They are perfect for card making and scrapbooking as they do not bleed and are true to color. As a fair warning, these can be very pricey, so I always buy them when they are on sale.

Begin coloring your stamp, staying within the lines. Again, wait for the ink to be completely dry (gently press down with a paper towel if needed, understanding this method will take some of the ink pigments out of the design). If you do not wait for the ink to dry, it will bleed and blend with your marker's color.

Here I am demonstrating but you can clearly see the ink is NOT dry!

I made three different stamps and chose the one with the best color match (I can always reuse the other ones for another project).

Step six:

Design placement is important because it needs to be balanced. You will notice that I added a contrasting matt under the letter blocks and the strip of tickets. Otherwise they would blend in too much.

Do not hesitate to overlap your elements...

For extra whimsy, I added a simple (uncolored) stamp on the back of the card.

Step seven:

To make the paper liner (inside the card) , I used Microsoft Word and drew a simple box (5 x 8).

I then inserted circles of various sizes and colors, but used a 32 % transparency to give the paper a faint pattern that would not compete with the card. The circles are a design repeat from those on the front matt.