How do you clean your toilet?

[Lasvegas]

Serious question. I use a loo brush/bleach for inside but not sure what is best to clean loo seat and rim with. I have recently bought disposable wipes that look like wet wipes and have supposedly germ killing properties. Am I wsting my cash?

[divamumdiva]

I never use toilet brush (none in our house, i think they are the worst thing, imagine all those bacteria doing lalalalala and partying Use disposable gloves. foam spray all over toilet seat and under the seat. Use sponge,and wash outside first then inside. Sponge goes to small bucket. Rinse with water, wipe with dry wipes. Wipes in the binbag( will put straight outside in the main bin) Then use Flash, Rinse again. If needed put litle bit bleach down to the loo. All wipes go out of the house. Sponge will be washed and left in the bucket with some Milton liquid.
Gloves goes bin,too
Done

[divamumdiva]

Btw, we lock utility room since dd walked. Even cupboard contains all washing and cleaning is also locked Must keep bleach away from Los.

[Skyler]

Oooh the smell of bleach makes me gag. My SIL is obsessed with it and uses it all the time on everything....and is always ill with a cold/cough etc.
Rubber gloves on (why disposable ones??) and I use anti bac spray with a green j-cloth, wipe the outside, then the inside and give that a rinse in v hot water and spray with anti bac and leave till next time. Stubborn marks get scrubbed with spray and toilet roll then flushed away, then Ecover toilet cleaner left in until the next person uses it.

[Skyler]

Oooh and def no toilet brush here either YUK YUK YUK.

[MusicLover]

Any advise on how to get rid of urine smell on the seat. It really does smell! I have got a keen sense of smell, & although I clean it regularly, it still stinks!

[BettySpaghetti]

I'm a bit at how many people bin rubber gloves and cloths after one use !

Do you think about the environmental impact? Imagine how many gloves and cloths would be going to landfill on a weekly basis if everyone did the same.

I'm not getting on a moral high-horse BTW (after all I'm guilty of using bleach ) I'm just shocked at how we are becoming a society who "use it once and throw it away" (these one-use cleaning wipes for every purpose known to mankind are a classic example ).

[divamumdiva]

Musiclover,
If it smells that bad buy new one. They are not that expenisive. We have one male in our household and his strictly told not to make a mess, or else he will clean. Seems it rules in our house. I dont think dh wants clean toilet once or twice a week, im standing by his side telling what to do.
Imagine with boys, though probably hard work

[nutcracker]

Wipe round it every day or so with a bathroom wipe and then chuck bleach down it when it needs it.

[ludaloo]

I have just cleaned my downstairs loo actually....
I put rubber gloves on....spray loo inside and out with spray foam toilet cleaner....I use a Blue Sponge (blue for the loo, pink for the sink) Then I scrub! A lot!
I rinse the lid and seat and top first, Then flush the loo a couple of times and swish the running flush water around and scrub under the rim too.
Finally I squirt some lemon rim cleaner and close the lid.
I rinse the gloves, and the sponge, then put both in my toilet cleaning box under the sink.

I don't use bleach...ever...I don't even think I have a bottle in the house...it stinks, dyes everything and is not safe with small people around. It is also bad for the environment.
I also keep the gloves and the sponge....I throw both away when I think they need to be thrown.
I don't own toilet brushes either....UCK!
(And, my toddler would find them way to inviting!!!)

[MusicLover]

thanks divamum, I do intend to buy a new one but not got round to it yet, as Ive had plasic ones that have broken & wooden ones that have started splitting & wood peeling due to so much pee on the seat!

Yes DH always now cleans the seat after he has peed on it. Have threatened to put DS's head down loo & flush on him, if he keeps peeing on it.(kiddin of course) He is ( & cant be ars*d to put the seat up when he goes, just sheer laziness o nhis part. But I am so fed up of sittingin it. Makes me sooooo

[MusicLover]

He is 9...not.. he is (

[ludaloo]

Music lover.....you need to train them to lift the seat up....I have managed it with my 3 year old (just about)
My biggest problem is pee on the underside of the lid....when I wash it, the water is literally brown that runs off it....I'm thinking it must be purely from splashes of pee. Dh really is a nightmare....he usually manages to get it on the wall and skirting board too....ANIMALS THE LOT OF EM!!!!!!!!

[MusicLover]

Agree with you ludaloo, the thing is he was so good when he was younger, the fact is....he's a lazy so & so since he got older! His bedroom is the same, so untidy,yet he was so tidy when younger!
I too have washed the walls down around the loo & the cloth was pure yellow. Really discusts me. That's when my family see me at my worse, its my pet hate!!!!

[itsallabitmuch]

I have 3 sons and am obsessed with the wee all over the place problem. [vom emoticon]

Just a thought. If someone's going to bother to put all their cleaning cloths on a special wash then why do it at 60 degrees? Why not 90?

[itsallabitmuch]

btw cappuccino - you've convinced me. Have chucked the bleach.

[Ellaroo]

Has anyone else ever read the gumph on a new toilet seat?...it normally says that you're not to use any chemicals in cleaning it, just a damp cloth...in the past I have ignored this and ended up with yellowing toilet seats. My latest one I have done what they said and just wiped it with a damp cloth and it is still very white and lovely and no one in my house has died as a result of lack of cleaning fluids. I do spray the inside of the toilet with some Flash or Ecover (depending on whether I or dh has been buying the cleaning products ), but that's about the extent of it. Is that awful?

[Skyler]

No, not awful Ellaroo. Sensible I think.
A 60 degree wash kills all the germs as well as a 90 degree wash too.
And well done on ditching the bleach. In Penny Poyzer's 'No waste like Home' she says that bleach damages the ceramic glaze of the pan and actually makes it more difficult to clean. She recommends Borax to clean loos and for hard water build up to use a thick paste of Borax and vinegar left for a couple of hours and then brushed and rinsed off.
I recommend her book actually. It is easy to read and the tips are achievable.

[Cappuccino]

itsallabitmuch - you've made me very happy

[themoon66]

I never use bleach either. Hate the smell and the way it makes white spots on my clothes, no matter how careful I am not to splash.

I have a DS and DH who wee all over the seat, the walls around and the floor around the loo. I can wipe down every day, and still the cloth is yellow after wiping. What is it with blokes??

The varnish on the wooden toilet seat is all peeling after only 4 months use due to the pee corroding it. The metal hinges are going green even.

[Crazydazy]

Uggghhhhh my DS (4) is like this too, he just can't aim into the pan and if its left for longer than an hour say it stinks like a gents toilet!!!!!

I once cleaned my loo with both bleach and a cleaner and it gave off a gas and I started choking, I had to open all the windows in the house, it was very scary actually as i was alone. I haven't used bleach since, just clean it with flash spray and then put a little disinfectant and warm water down after. Clean the floor with the same.

[jessianelly]

Bio-d toilet cleaner OR soda crystals, depending on how dirty it is.
Ecover's animal testing policy is not to provide a fixed cut-off date which means they could use ingredients tested on animals which I don't agree with.

[stofstg]

dettol disenfectant spray around seat, lid, flush and the sides and wipe with loo paper.
domestos bleach around the rim and leave whilst i clean rest of the bathroom and then flush. i like to also have a bottle of green toilet duck in my cupboard as an alternative to domestos for the nice smell if i have anyone coming round.

[Bridie3]

I use bleach on the grounds that you only need a tiny drop. I pour in the drop and leave it there for as long as possible, then flush.

Rarely use loo brush but my husband insists we have them.

[martiw]

Dettol, domestos, cif, Flash..! I find it really scary that people are willing to use these unnecessary products in their homes and around themselves and their children .

These chemicals cocktails are highly toxic - as indeed the warnings on the bottles say! You would never knowingly apply these chemicals to your own skin, so why apply them to surfaces like loo seats and kitchen work areas where you and your family get them on your skin or breathe them in?

If you're not confident using just simple natural materials, then it makes perfect sense to at least switch to the now widely available alternatives like Ecover.

When you think about it, it's really quite odd how paranoid we all are about 'toilet germs' when the 'germs' have only come from our bodies anyway, and we would never dream of cleaning our own bodies with chemicals that toxic.