People who clean their loos without using a loo brush: come and tell me your method, please

[DorotheaPlenticlew]

Have read some posts here and there on various threads in which people say they prefer not to use a brush to clean the loo.

We do use one, but I would like to get rid of it, just not sure what the practical alternative is. Gloves, bleach and a sponge? Even for, er, traces?

Actually ours is not a traditional brush; we downsized to one of those Duck Fresh Brush things in the hope of it being cleaner, but it's still a wobbly germy contraption standing in the corner inviting curious toddlers to grab it. If the room was larger I wouldn't mind but it is absolutely tiny, just about room to sit on the loo, stand up, turn around and that's it. No hope of dissuading DS from wanting to investigate every single object therein while he is training.

[shivster1980]

I laughed out loud when I saw this thread - I hate loo brushes and would rather do the rubber gloves sponge and bleach method any day.
However... my DMUM thinks that they are a household essential. She is a serious clean freak and I have never dared argue with her about the unhygienic nature of the bog brush.
I laughed because we live 200 miles away from DM and she visits twice a year at most and stays (and cleans - her choice not mine) for 10-14 days at a time. The last three visits she has replaced at least one of our loo brushes because "it seems to have gone missing" DH has thrown it away It is really embarrassing, but she always buys the value one... although I feel a bit guilty about the landfill... I may have to confess

[psychomum5]

I want custys cleaner!!

[Whoamireally]

Can you not just pour bleach over the loo brush? Does that not make it clean again?

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

Skids can be cleaned off immediately with loo roll thereby removing the need for a brush. They are grim things.

I use an anti-bac wipe round the seat and rim daily, and then bleach every couple of days.

[SilveryMoon]

Thanks for clearing up what a slattern is Has been bugging me for years, you'd think I'd have asked sooner.

BC I used to have a brush and the holder tub was filled with diluted bleach to keep it nice a fresh, but that's not really practical anymore as don't really want bleach near little hands.
I give the loo and the rest of my bathroom a wipe round every morning and then squirt bleach at night and does job fine, but I've already said all of that

[thehillsarealive]

I am pretty sure that i read somewhere that each evening they put a squirt of bleach round the loo and then squirted bleach on the loo brush and left it overnight in the toilet bowl.

Which sounds fine in theory, but not if you have to get up for a wee during the night! Imagine the fright you would get???

[Abihattie]

I use a loo brush and bleach regularly but there are still horrible stains at the bottom that just won't shift. Am I going to have to resort to rubber gloves and a sponge?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

You need some special toilet limescale remover stuff for the stains. The bleach just bleaches the limescale and doesn't actually get rid of it so it stays there ready to get discoloured again.

I'm impressed with you lot. I only clean our toilet once a week!! That's with a sponge and bathroom cleaner I mean - outside and rim and seat. The rest of the week it just gets some bleach thrown down it. Any skid marksm, I either squirt some bleach directly on it, wait a bit then flush. Or if I think that's probablyu not going to shift it on first go (eg after DH has been at it after a vindaloo!! ), it gets some bleach on and I get a wad of toilet paper and wipe it a bit with that, then flush. (and wash my hands obv!) Usually does the trick.

I can't BEAR toilet brushes. Especially when you see them with tiny bits of poo sticking to the bristles. {vom}]

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

I think there's a way to empty the water out the bowl if you REALLY want to get in and scrub the stains.

Something to do with doing something to the ballcock and flushing a few times so that eventually the bowl is more or less empty as the cistern is nearly empty too so it can't refill when you've flushed it.

I'm sure someone who's actually bothered to do that will be along and say how to do it properly!

[GermanMum101]

This might be a really weird and stupid question, but what do people without loo brushes do when they have had a poo? I mean honestly, what about the traces?

I use a sponge, cleaning supplies etc when properly cleaning the toilet but when getting off the loo I expect everyone I am living with to look behind themselves and if there is a bit off poo we then use the toilet brush!?

I am really surprised people can get away without them

[moaningminniewhingesagain]

We don't have a toilet brush. Luckily I am a bionic woman who does not poo. And if I did poo, I would leave no trace.

DH however puts the lid down before he flushes then leaves the bathroom with blatant disregard to the state of the toilet. I am frequently surprised by unexpected gifts. I suspect they will one day be recorded under examples of unreasonable behaviour

Bleach in the pan, clean the rest with Flash on a sponge thing, use toilet roll to help any skids on their way. Wash hands. No problem.

DCs both in cloth nappies and me and DH both HCPs though so a bit of poo is nowt

[McDreamy]

A tube of sterident every few weeks gets rid of all limescale traces. But I do use a loo brush too!

[ravenAK]

I clean the loos once a week. In between, if they have skidmarks, so be it!

I clean the whole bathroom, using de-mobbed washing up sponges - they get used for washing up, then chucked in a box under the sink to do kitchen surfaces when a bit tatty, then finally they end up cleaning basin, bath, loo seat & surround, & finally scrubbing down the pan before they get chucked.

After 5 years of washable nappies I'm happy to go 'bare knuckle' with my bog - no stinky rubber gloves here.

Or horrible disposable wipes - after spending Boxing Day rodding the drains thanks to previous occupants (house previously in shared occupancy as bedsits), I never, ever want to see any sort of wipe again.

A dustbinful of the buggers borne across one's garden on a sea of festering effluent can do that to one's perceptions I find...

[GermanMum101]

I am seriously surprised by that, because even though I am used to shitty diapers I hate skidmarks in the loo.
Maybe I am just a control freak but I think they look unclean. I would be absolutely ashamed if someone came on a surprise visit and had to find a dirty toilet. So for us it is clean the toilet after every poo with the brush and then some serious cleaning whenever I get around to it, because I agree that the brushes are not the cleanest thing whatsoever. But they are perfectly fine to get rid of poo traces.
And help him God if DP doesn't. He think it's ok to only throw bleach into the toilet and hope the poo will dissolve and disappear with the next flush. I don't want to see his poo when I go to the loo, no matter it would disappear after soaking and flushing. It's leaving right away! Or he is in the dog house

[ravenAK]

I'd have to police every poo though!

I don't have time to be ashamed if ds or dd1 leave a skid & a guest sees it before I do. It's a toilet. People shit in it.

[GermanMum101]

I actually laughed at the police comment! I didn't mean to be criticising and I also don't think anything bad when visiting friends with kids and the toilet is not completely spot free. It's just how I feel about it myself and I certainly think I can expect my DP, who is an adult, to turn around and check so the first thing I see in the morning is not his poo.

It probably depends on the age of the kids etc.

My mum was really strict about these things, and I was always told to clean the toilet, i. e. turn around after each poo and check whether it needs brushing. Maybe us Germans are more controlling than we like to admit

[pipingathefatesoffawn]

It's never occurred to me that I ought to have a loo brush there for guests to use to clean off their own poo - we don't even keep ours in the bathroom because we don't want nosy toddlers playing with it.

As far as I'm concerned a loo brush is like the cloth under the sink, it's for us to use to clean the bathroom and toilet as often as necessary, not for guests to feel they have to touch. The flush is what's there to get rid of as much of the poo as it can, if it doesn't get rid of all of it, so be it, that's not their problem! And it would never occur to me to think of a bit of poo on the side of the toilet as something embarrassing for anyone. As ravenAK so wisely says - it's a toilet, people shit in it!

Also, if every single toilet user was meant to follow up with a quick brush round, then loo brushes would be better designed so they didn't invariably drop germy drips on the way back to their stand or whatever. They are so clearly NOT guest-friendly objects!

Or am I looking in the wrong place, is there in fact a whole class of Posh Nondripping Loo Brushes out there somewhere that I've missed that aspirational types can leave out for guests to be impressed by and delight in using, along with the nice smelling soap and fluffy towels??

[mrspoppins]

pop some bleach down it and close the lid!

[mrspoppins]

and I don't want custardo's cleaner! I know where he's been!

[GermanMum101]

I don't have a posh non-dripping one but if anyone finds one let me know, I am the first one to buy one. I hate the dripping. I lift the lid so nothing drips on the seat but it's still not perfect.
Maybe it's a bit of a cultural thing? My DP didn't get why I thought it's a problem for him to not clean the toilet every time either, whereas I have never been to a German bathroom without a brush and even my little babysitter kids were taught how to clean up after themselves?
Just an idea, if it is it might be time for me to become a bit more relaxed?

[hobbgoblin]

See I have the policing poo problem too. I have 2 DS - don't care what you say the DS in my family are waaaaaaaaay worse than the girls - and they poo sideways as well as weeing erratically.

I have poo marks to contend with several times a day.

I did try and get in the habit of using toilet wipes fairly regularly instead of every couple of days but then DS started using them on his bottom without me realising. He had been merrily Flash wiping himself for about 2 weeks!

Yes, I know they should be kept out of reach. He is 6 though fgs.

[pipingathefatesoffawn]

See I would call the flushing the cleaning, and I would think it was odd if a guest didn't flush (and I don't like it when people don't close the lid).

Expecting them to clean the inside of the toilet would seem a bit like expecting them to reach down into the plughole after a shower and pull out any long hairs they'd let go down there. Or expecting them to pull out the hoover and hoover their room every day. That sort of cleaning is the job of the host surely?

Now I'm worried that I ought to have a special 'guest' toilet brush in case people are horrified not to have one to hand. Tbh I'd be more embarrassed to have to clean the brush later than just to have to clean the toilet, though!

[hobbgoblin]

It is quite mortifying to leave streaks and find the host has supplied neither brush nor air freshener.

I detest air freshener but it is a welcome sight in the home of another should one's poo schedule become irregular.

[GermanMum101]

I agree hobbgoblin, it always seems to be the boys are the worst poopers Any ideas why that might be?

Pipin, I would also find it very odd if my guests wouldn't flush. But as it is flushing doesn't always get rid of all the poo. Most of the time it does but sometimes it doesn't. And I believe that then it is the responsibility of the "pooper" to brush it away. Brushing in my eyes is not a proper clean but it is making it more pleasant for the next person wanting to use the toilet. Just like putting down the lid.
Or, in that case, wiping away toothpaste stains from the sink. Sure, the proper sink cleaning is my responsibility but not wiping away huge chunks is just impolite in my eyes.

I by the way laughed loud enough earlier about the poop police comment that my partner came in and asked what I am doing. Told him I am discussing his pooping behaviour on the internet, not sure he actually believed me

[Furball]

WARNING - To those who put bleach in the cistern

It rotted our rubber seals after a while - lucky we caught it at a drip, but could of been really bad.