To think: If not a bog brush, then what??

[TheoriginalLEM]

Cleaning my toilet today, with a bog brush, thinking "oooh, if mnet could see me now" but then i got to thinking, so what exactly would i clean my toilet with if not for a bog brush that i pay 50p from tesco and replace often?

I live in a hard water area and limescale, general crud builds up really quickl So what else would i scrub at that with???

or should i be using fairy wings or something?

Baffled at the number of people chucking gloves, wipes, cloths, and carrier bags into landfill every time they clean the loo!! And flushing "disposable" wipes!!

about landfill, I often wonder whether it is more environmentally friendly to flush a tissue down the loo after you've blown your nose (especially if you don't flush until there is more than a snotty tissue in there) or to put it in the bin. I don't suppose anyone knows the answer?

I saw a brilliant toilet brush online the other day which had silicon "blades" instead of bristles and a bendy handle so it goes down the tube better. Seemed much more efficient than a germy old brush. But hugely expensive at the moment, like £20-30ish. Mister Sanitar was the one I saw. (The youtube video is somehow mesmerising and horrifying!) But there are a few around so hopefully they will come down in price, because once you've seen it it seems perfectly logical.

If you clean your toilet often and nobody has a stomach bug, then it really doesn't warrant all of this hysteria about antibacterial lotions and disposable things, though. I expect you don't give the chopping board the same treatment after cutting chicken? Or the cat litter tray, if you have cats? What about a lunchbox which has been left a little too long in the back of the fridge?

I agree that a (traditional) bog brush left to fester must be a cesspit of bacteria and germs.

Ah! I can defend the carrier bag thing .

I know how sad that sounds too!

I reuse all plastic bags, whenever they sneak into the house. I don't line small bins, so when I do a weekly clean I take a carrier bag with me and put the whole week's worth of detritus into one single bag. That may be a carrier bag or the bag something came packaged in, even large envelopes. I also use the slightly soggy boxes I collect my fruit and veg in from the farm shop.

We haven't used carrier bags for years. Even though we live in England we have used homemade, reusable bags for almost ever!

I know how defensive that sounds.. really I do... but I am a fervent recycler and low chemical user. We send very little to landfill.

Sorry, really I am, I know I sound all po faced (and probably am) about it

I expect you don't give the chopping board the same treatment after cutting chicken?

Oh don't get me started on that (again). Read the recent cloth in the kitchen thread, you'll see what I mean

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2480685-would-you-eat-at-a-house-with-a-filthy-tea-towel?msgid=56924177

You got me on the gloves. Perhaps i could use the gloves a few times and store them away well out of reach before ditching them. In defence of my use of the dish sponge to be fair the sponge gets a good use during the week as a kitchen sponge before its final use as a loo sponge and getting chucked out

actually I also wear gloves to chop all raw meat, including chicken, then I throw them away and bleach the board as well as putting it in the dishwasher.

could you use a much cheaper spatula to clean the loo instead of the loo scraper?

Where do people think these 'cheap toilet brushes replaced regularly' go? Into landfill is the answer.

oh my at using fingernails to pick out slimy hair rope from plug hole.

How can you have had four kids and still be precious about picking hair out of a plughole?

How can you have had four kids and still be precious about picking hair out of a plughole?

Could say the same about putting hand down the loo (with gloves). I'm guessing we've all changed nappies.

Exectly penguinsarecool.

I suspect those who don't use loo brushes don't entertain much, or never have friends and family to stay. You can't regularly have guests in your house, and not provide a loo brush.

My late DF, as just one example, had bowel 'issues'. You never know what conditions your guests might have. Loo brushes are a necessary evil - you can't realistically expect your guests to get hands-deep in your loo. Brushes also enable the entire family to clean - I strongly suspect the gloved, hands-down-loo method falls firmly into the category of 'wifework'.

I really, really wouldn't want guests cleaning off their skids with a loo brush then putting it back

I fail to see why under the water line needs a vigorous scrub. Shove some bleach in, let it sit, then flush. But I live in a soft water area, so no limescale.

Oh probably! Good idea on the spatula :) Would probably need a long handle, though. And the scrapey silicon type loo "brushes" I've seen have the blades set as an angle, rather than just straight like a spatula is. I don't think it would work as well. The guest issue is true too - at least if it's shaped a bit like a loo brush it's obvious what it is, rather than thinking someone's just left their food utensil in the toilet and not really wanting to use it. The nice thing is that they don't hold onto water, so it's clean even after using, or you could rinse it off with hot water, too.

Limescale definitely necessitates a scrub of some kind, IME. Two days and it starts to go yellow due to urine staining.

I'm with PrimalLass. No loo brush for guests to use. Just leave a bottle of bleach next to the loo.

But what if they need to scrub? You know, actually get it clean? What do you expect them to do?

Duck Fresh Brush is the best thing in the world. Makes the toilet look really clean and sparkly.

nappies are different...

I would expect them to put bleach down, flush, bleach again and leave it. How often does it really get that bad below the waterline? If above, then bleach in the water and folded paper placed onto the skid but with one end in the water then left removes it on the next flush.

I wouldn't expect my guests to clean my loo. Bleach will at least make it look clean for the time being.

I just wipe with my hand usually with an anti bac wipe or bleach and toilet roll or cloth, I used to have a toilet brush but when I moved house 3 years ago my Mum said they were dirty, so I never replaced it. It's fine without.

LOL, or ... they could just use a loo brush.

Skids don't happen that often, but when they do, and if you're in someone else's house, you want to be damn sure you've cleaned them up. It would be mortifying for a guest to not be able to leave a loo spick and span, and a loo brush does this far more effectively than some folding paper, placing in and out of the water, bleaching and repeated flushing method.

But I don't want them in my house, so they can't.

If I was a guest I'd be more mortified by leaving my poo crumbs on a loo brush.

No, they can't, so they would have to leave their poo crumbs in the loo instead. Or else get elbow deep in your bowl, with nothing but bleach and loo roll to aid them. Grim. The person who lives there at least has the benefit of gloves.

No need to leave poo crumbs on the brush :-/ Scrub, and rinse the brush in the flush.

I don't think anyone who provides a loo brush actually think they're a desirable feature of a bathroom, rather a necessary evil. If you have a lot of people through your house, it's a courtesy to provide one, IMO.

i empty the loo with an old plastic cup, then just put the limescale cleaner directly on the limescale/stubborn crap. then scrub with a sponge or brush.

i don't get het up about shit man