Easy Toilet Cleaning Tips

Flush with reasons not to tackle the requisite weekly toilet cleaning? Have a seat and relax. 

If you've been avoiding the toilet cleaning task, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the convenience of the new generation of disinfecting cleaners.

These innovative products take much of the scrubbing off your hands, making the task less tedious and more manageable. 

I'm not saying it's a breeze (or a breath of fresh air), but it's not the monster of a chore it once was, with all that heavy scrubbing. But it can be done - thoroughly and quickly - with these easy toilet cleaning tips. Here's how.

1   Easy Toilet Cleaning Tips - Sanitize the Toilet Bowl

Grab your disinfecting toilet bowl cleaner. It's a hard worker that does two jobs—cleaning and disinfecting. Squeeze or spray it around the bowl's interior. 

The bowl cleaner needs 10 minutes to do its dirty work, which is good because you have a few more surfaces to hit here. 

2   Easy Toilet Cleaning Tips - Clean the Seat

While the disinfectant is doing its job in the bowl, clean the seat and lid (both sides) and the rest of the toilet exterior, including around the hinges and base.

Spray on a nonabrasive disinfectant. This one needs 10 minutes, too.

3  Return to the Bowl

Returning to bowl duty, grab a long-handled toilet bowl brush, open the lid, and swish the bowl cleaner around inside and as far into the trap as possible. Flush to rinse. 

4   Easy Toilet Cleaning Tips - Back to the  Seat

It's time for another pass at the seat. Using paper towels, wipe the toilet seat clean. Then, do the same to the bowl's exterior. Be sure to hit the bumpers and hinge areas in the back.

5.  Easy Toilet Cleaning Tips Daily, Weekly and Monthly

For daily toilet cleaning, pour a half-cup or so of bleach into the potty each morning or evening and let it sit. 

This will help keep harmful germs in check.  Wipe the toilet seat and rim with a disposable disinfecting wipe or a spray disinfectant cleaner each day.

Pour 1 cup of baking soda into the bowl each week to keep it fresh. And once a month, pour a half-gallon of white vinegar into the bowl to keep it ring-free. Let it soak overnight before flushing.

Teach your kids to flush. Period. You'll want your kids to follow this rule, especially when visiting friends' homes. This rule can be broken only during seven-year droughts.

A well-mannered boy always puts the seat down after using the toilet. And a clean-minded child, regardless of gender, always puts down the toilet lid before flushing.

Besides being much more pleasant to look at, a closed potty, when flushed, doesn't send stirred-up unpleasantries spiraling into the air, where they can land on your sink, counter, or toothbrush. Ugh.