Chances are, you use your shower every day. With such regular use, showers can get gross, fast. Soap scum, mildew, mold, and stained grout can build up slowly. Before you know it, your shower is the last place you’d go to get clean.
If you only clean your shower every once in a while, you’re making things hard on yourself. Instead, try following this simple routine of things to do daily, weekly, and monthly. By doing small things each day and week, you’ll save yourself from an impossible cleaning job later–and keep your bathroom looking fresh and new.
Every day: Give walls a quick once-over
Cleaning the bathroom is a pain. But if you let stubborn soap scum develop, it will go from being a pain to being actually impossible.
How to do it: Head soap scum off at the pass by giving shower walls a quick once-over each and every day. If you want to be extra-thorough, you can spray a solution of equal parts water and vinegar on shower walls, then wipe the mixture off with a squeegee and buff with a cloth rag until shiny and dry. But all that you really need to do is take a dry rag and wipe the tiles, walls and shower to remove all moisture and any soap residue left over from the day’s showers.
Pro tip: If you notice that soap scum seems to build up no matter what you do, you may have issues with hard water–consider hiring a professional to install a water softener.
Once a Week: Give surfaces an easy deep clean
To keep yucky build-up from conditioners, shampoos, soaps, and miscellaneous gross stuff under control, pick any day of the week to take care of a quick and easy deep clean for your shower’s surfaces.
How to do it: It’s easy. First, run the shower with warm water to loosen any build up. Then, spray the walls with a gentle solution of half vinegar and half water. Remove all bottles and containers, and give them a quick wipe. Sprinkle a very mild abrasive on walls and floors, and buff with a soft cloth, going over grout lines twice. Clean glass with glass cleaner, and shine fixtures with a drop of dish soap and warm water. Rinse everything with the shower head, then buff it all dry with a towel.
Pro tip: We recommend Bon Ami for a mild abrasive that’s non-toxic and won’t scratch tubs or tile.
Once a Month: Take care of the details
One of the overwhelming things about keeping a shower clean is the fact that there are so many things that need cleaning in such a tiny space. For regular maintenance, focus on the big stuff. But once a month, leave the walls and glass alone and just take care of the details: the grout, shower curtain, and drain.
How to do it: Even though this is the biggest shower clean-up you’ll do all month, it shouldn’t take more than three quarters of an hour. Take care of the details in order.
First, tackle the grout. Fill a gallon bucket with hot water, and add a cup of white vinegar, a cup of ammonia, and a half cup of baking soda. Apply this cleaner to the grout with a toothbrush, scrub, then rinse off and dry with a towel.
Next, clean your shower curtain. If you have a shower curtain, remove both the outside section and the liner, and launder them in the washing machine. If your liner is plastic, you can still wash it–just throw it in with a few towels to keep it from crinkling, and make sure to hang it dry instead of using your dryer. Make sure to add half a cup of vinegar to the wash when laundering shower curtains to help blast mold and mildew.
Lastly, head off drain clogs before they start. Over time, oily cleansers build up in your drain, causing major blockages. To prevent a plugged drain, take these steps every month: pour boiling water in the drain, then a ½ cup baking soda, 1 cup vinegar, and, lastly, a cup of boiling water. Let sit for 10 minutes, then pour in another gallon of boiling water to clear and clean whatever clogs you’ve loosened.
Pro tip: Plastic liners have a tendency to allow mold or mildew growth, so if you can, we recommend replacing yours with a cloth one that’s easy to clean.
Top Image Credit: Jackson Remodeling
Are you overwhelmed by your messy shower? Would adding some daily maintenance help you keep your shower clean?
