Keeping Your Bathroom Clean: Preventing Mold and the Spread of Disease

Bathrooms are gross. Even pretty, clean-looking bathrooms are gross, because they're virtually impossible to keep clean. But you can take a few measures to keep the invisible nastiness to a minimum.

Every time you flush, your toilet shoots out an invisible cloud of water particles, filled with the things that are in your toilet, in all directions, with up to an eight-foot radius. All this stuff lands on you, the walls, the sink, your toothbrush.

The impact of this cloud can be minimized by simply keeping the lid closed while you flush. Teach your kids to do it, and your husband. It might be a little harder to have guests do it, so it's a good idea to keep your toothbrushes and toothpaste in a closed cupboard, and not on the counter or sink.

Another bathroom hazard is mold. This can be a real danger, especially to people with asthma. A bathroom, with all of it's heat and moisture, is a natural mold breeding ground.

You can prevent mold by keeping your bathroom walls and ceiling dry. This can be accomplished by using fans, or opening a window and the door after taking a shower. Some bathrooms are harder to keep dry than others, especially if you live in a warm climate with high humidity. If you can't keep it dry by other means, you may have to wipe down the ceiling with a towel.

If you want to keep your bathroom clean and free of mold, you need to clean it thoroughly every day, and this includes wiping the walls with a bleach solution if you are unfortunate enough to live in a mold-prone area, especially if you have asthmatics living in your home.

While it's impossible to really keep your bathroom clean, it's a good idea to go in several times a day, depending on how much traffic your bathroom gets, and wipe down areas like the sink., toilet flush handle, and doorknobs with a disinfectant. Keeping a box of disinfectant wipes out might encourage others to clean up after themselves too.