I bet Cinderella wishes she knew about this one...

Like so many people… 20-30 year-old women, especially… I am guilty of pinning a thousand things on Pinterest,  but actually attempting very few ideas.  I mean, I have boards for cooking, fashion, DIY projects, seasonal crafts, home improvements… the list goes on.  Well-intentioned cyber clicks resulting in frozen pizza dinners, miss-matched wardrobes, an untouched pile of craft supplies, and a home in a state of chaos. 

But yesterday, yesterday I CONQUERED.  I did a pin… (Is that a thing?)… and it wasn’t even a fun or tasty one.  Aren’t you proud??  Alex and I came home to our house after a relaxing week in Savannah.  Such. A. Mess.   You can’t get dressed, eat, or pee.  No room.  Too messy.  So as Alex stomps off to work, I am left with cleaning duty.  Our master bath was one of my goals yesterday, since it’s also our laundry room.  Lots of serious work goes on in there, you know??  I happened to remember this pin about cleaning your bathroom like a pro and only use 3 paper towels.  Now, I don’t know about you, but when I clean, I’m a paper towel monster.  It’s like there’s a prize at the end for how many empty rolls are lying around the house at the end of a cleaning day.  Needless to say, I was intrigued. 

After reading the blog post (http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/01/how-to-clean-your-bathroom-like-pro.html)  I got crackin’.  And lemme tell you, it WORKS!  It’s the best and fastest way I’ve ever cleaned a bathroom in my life.  Do it.  Memorize it.  Love it.

I did make some changes along the way, and they seemed to work really well.   So here are Rachel’s revamped directions for how to clean a bathroom like a pro (or lazy summer housewife)!

STEP 1: I still like to use toilet bowl cleaner, which is usually supposed to sit for a few minutes, so I squirt that in first.

STEP 2: Our bathroom triples as a laundry room and drop spot.  Lots of activity in the bathroom.  So before I start cleaning, I grab an old cookie sheet (one day I’ll paint it so it’s cute and not charred) that I keep under the sink and load all the stuff on the counters that’s supposed to be there, like hand soap, mail sorter, coin jar, toothbrush holder, etc.,  and move the tray to the top of the washer.

STEP 3: Go back to the toilet.  Swish the brush around, getting all the water stains and such off the bowl.  Close the seat down on the arm of the brush and let it drip.  Spray the toilet from top to bottom with a disinfectant.

STEP 4:  We have dogs, dirt, hardwood floors, and a backdoor in the bathroom.  All this equals lots of dust, dead love bugs, hair, and the like on our countertops and other surfaces.  So I take ONE paper towel and “dust” the countertop.

STEP 5: Spray the sinks, counters, and faucets with disinfectant.

STEP 6: Spray the mirror and use a damp microfiber cloth to wash the mirror.  Leave it wet and wipe down and rinse the sinks, counters, and faucets.

STEP 7: Wring out the microfiber cloth really well and wipe up remaining water , starting with the mirror, then counter, then sinks.

STEP 8: Use a few paper towels to buff everything and make it shine!  (Again, starting with the mirror.)

STEP 9: Back to the toilet.  Use some toilet paper wipe up the… gross stuff… and drop that in the bowl.  Use the same wad of paper towels and wipe down the toilet, from top to bottom, cleanest to dirtiest.  Toss those in the trash and set the brush on top of them to continue to drain.

STEP 10: Unload the cookie sheet (putting everything in its place on the counter).  Now load it down with the stuff from the shower.

STEP 11: Repeat steps 4-8 in the shower.

STEP 12: Toss all paper towels and return the now dry toilet brush to its caddy.   DONE!!

This MAAAAYBE took me 20 minutes.  It’s amazing.  All that remained was to sweep the tile floors.  Wonderful.  Thanks to Jill for posting Denise’s wisdom!!