Cleaning Your Toilet Top Tips

The toilet is probably most people’s least favorite thing to clean in the house. It’s not only disgusting, in some cases, but it also can be tough to clean if it has encrusted accumulation in it. We are going to show you some quick and easy steps you can take to clean your toilet without having to put in a lot of effort or get your hands messy. Once you use our tips, you’ll find that it is much simpler and quicker to clean your toilet than you might have thought.
Work with a Wet Surface
It is always easier to clean grime off of surfaces that are wet. Water acts as a natural corrosive, removing some of the grime for you and making your work easier. It allows crusted particles to come off easier, so make sure you flush your toilet once before you start cleaning. This wets the entire interior surface and makes it far easier to clean.
Use Simple, Effective Methods That Don’t Get You Dirty
You don’t have to stick your hand down in the toilet and scrub with a scrubbing pad to get everything clean. Instead, you can keep yourself at arm’s length from the toilet and use a toilet brush. You want something with stiff bristles that is clean and ready to use. If your brush is old or dirty, it won’t be very effective.
Take some toothpaste or a cleaning solution and apply it to the toilet brush before you start to scrub. This helps eat through the accumulation and ensures that the toilet will look shiny and clean when you are done. You can scrub with the brush alone, if you like, but you will be giving yourself more work than necessary.
We suggest toothpaste because it is something that most people already have in their home and because it does a great job of complementing the toilet brush and pulling grime off of the toilet. The best kind of cleaners to use on your toilet are paste whiteners. Whitening toothpaste is the cheap way to go, but there are pastes that are sold as toilet cleaners or tile cleaners that work just as well. You can use all-purpose cleaners as well, but they won’t be as effective as a paste cleaner. You’re looking for something that you can use without getting too close to the toilet bowl to scrub at it, and that’s why we advise you to use paste cleaners of some sort.
Once you have the inside of the bowl looking like you want it, give the toilet another flush to get rid of all the cleaners.
Cleaning the Outside
It’s much easier to clean the outside of the toilet and usually less disgusting, but there can be some unpleasantness to this as well. Some hot water, dishwashing gloves and a disposable rag or scrubbing pad will work well for the exterior. You can’t really use the toilet brush for the outside. Just put on the gloves and use a small bucket of hot water and a rag or scrub pad to scrub at the toilet’s exterior. The hot water does a good job of killing germs, but if you want to be even more effective at getting rid of bacteria, you can add some dish soap to your water or spray down the surface of the toilet with a tile cleaner or all-purpose cleaner.
There usually isn’t too much on the outside of the toilet that requires intense scrubbing. You may have to scrub the toilet seat a bit more than the rest of the toilet, and you can always unscrew it and let it soak in a tub of water if you want to make it far easier to deal with.
Most of what you’ll get one outside of the toilet is dust, and a simple wipe with a wet rag will be all that is required. For tough scrubbing work, though, you can use a scrub pad and some water. Just use the rough side of the scrubbing pad to deal with tough, stuck-on accumulation.
Be Safe
When you are cleaning the toilet, there is always the chance that you will inhale unpleasant fumes or touch things that you don’t want to. Be sure to wear gloves the entire time and even an air filter mask if you are going to get very close to the toilet. That’s usually something you reserve for very nasty bathrooms and toilets, but even in a fairly clean bathroom it could make you feel better about the kind of things you are cleaning.
You also have to be careful about the kind of cleaners you use to take care of your toilet. Many of the most common cleaners can be abrasive or stain the porcelain that most toilets are made up of. Instead of general cleaners or anything that could be abrasive, just use cleaners that are safe for porcelain. That would include denture cleaners, since they are made from the same materials as many types of toothpaste or paste cleaner. Powdered cleaners are fine to use too, such as Comet, in most cases.
For your scrubbing tools, we suggest always using a soft brush or pad. Using a metal scrub pad or metal scrubbing brush can scratch the porcelain and cause it to look damaged. Any cloths you use should be clean and free of dirt, and they should also be soft cloth and not anything that could potentially scratch the toilet.
Your toilet seat may be made of wood or some sort of soft material. You’ll need to use the appropriate cleaning solution for those materials. Be sure to dry off the seat when you are done cleaning it so that it is pleasant and comfortable for the next person who uses it.
Cleaning the toilet does not have to be a disgusting or difficult task. With the right cleaning tools and cleaning methods, you can make short work of the dirt and grime and have a shiny, appealing toilet that makes your bathroom look far more inviting and clean.

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