The number one priority in my household cleaning routine is to make sure the bathrooms are clean. We are a big family, and we spend a lot of time at home, so our bathrooms need to be cleaned every day. I used to hate cleaning the bathrooms, and I think it was because I didn’t have a good routine, and I hated using those toxic cleaners. I was convinced that I had to use them, or we would be very sick. Since we have changed our diet and got the toxins out of our cleaners, the opposite happened. We don’t get sick as often. Praise the Lord! Where we used to get the stomach flu at least twice (usually more) times a year, we sometimes have years that we don’t get it at all. Even with little ones. We may even have a few people get it, and everyone else is fine. I never use antibacterial anything like I used to do!
Now that I have a good routine and frugal products that I love, I don’t mind cleaning the bathrooms, in fact I actually kind of enjoy it. I clean the sink, toilets, and sometimes sweep the floor every day. The bathtubs and floors get scrubbed once per week. I timed my week day routine, and it takes me 6 minutes to get each bathroom done in the morning. Since this is important to me, I always do it first thing in the morning (except Saturday) so I don’t forget it. One of my rules in the Mentink house is that the bathtubs get rinsed out after every shower, and the shower with the tile gets dried with a towel. This way the tile stays looking nice and we don’t have mold issues. For some reason the tile shower gets used less frequently!
My daily routine starts with the sink. I use my bar soap (liquid soap always contains preservatives and harsh ingredients). I take a used Scotch Brite pad (this way it isn’t as abrasive) and get it wet and apply plenty of my bar soap and a few drops of my favorite essential oil. I scrub the sink and throw this on the toilet with the soap still on it. Then I take a rag and wet this at the sink and wipe off all the soap. Then I take a clean towel, wipe the mirror, polish the sink, and fold it up for use until it needs to be changed out again that day. Then it’s on to the toilet. I actually read the directions on my new toilet about 6 years ago, and it stated that most commercial cleaners that were labeled for cleaning toilets were too harsh! What?! They recommended a mild dish soap, but I figured my bar soap was even better. I scrub the toilet all over with the pad and then with a gloved hand, I use this same pad to scrub the toilet bowl. I have found that toilet brushes don’t do a good job at getting those hard to reach areas, and I really like how great this works. It’s not as convenient, but it’s way more effective! Then I grab my bucket of hot water (reserved for toilets only) to rinse the rag as I clean the toilet. At times I will put some baking soda in the toilet bowl before scrubbing or vinegar in my hot rinse water if I need to neutralize odors. This works amazing!
Alena takes care of the bathrooms on Saturdays and along with the weekly routine, she cleans the bathtub and the walls around it with a used Scotch Brite pad that she also applies bar soap and essential oil too. We have found that because we rinse the bathtub after each shower, and since we use such natural products in the shower, this cleans up really easy. A customer reported several months ago that she couldn’t believe how much easier her shower was to clean since they had started to use our soap. The bathroom floor gets swept and scrubbed on hands and knees with hot water and essential oil on this day too. All this makes the bathroom smell and look very clean, and I feel fantastic when I’m done. Do you use commercial cleaners or do you have a natural routine? How has that worked for you?
Our family has learned to slow down, make careful observations of what heals/damages, get rid of the distractions, take a little more time preparing our food, and most importantly to seek the Lord’s wisdom. It’s a daily struggle and it never goes perfectly, but we just keep trying to do the best we can. If you are working toward a more traditional, clean, whole foods diet, and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was get your salt right, week 2 was get your sleep right, weeks 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were get your fats right, we had several weeks about seasonings and herbs, some important discussion about natural sweeteners, talked about Forgiveness, hopefully we got our eggs right, learned about the benefits of pastured, clean meats, considered getting mercury removed, we got the toxins out of our mouth, skin, and hair, and this week we will continue to focus on our house. Join us next Tuesday for Get Your . . . Right.