/**/

yourbestdigs via Flickr

When guests come over to visit you, 9 times out of 10 they are going to ask to use the bathroom before they leave. It can sometimes be a nightmare – most bathrooms need a thorough clean at least once every week in order to get it in a sparkling and presentable condition. When guests come, we often stress ourselves out trying to make everything perfect, neglecting other essential things that need to be done. Before rushing around with the bleach, consider adopting these simple hacks to make cleaning a breeze.

Get More Use from a Can of Cola

It sounds unbelievable considering this is something that we drink (you may want to reevaluate after reading this…), but you can actually use cola to rid toilet pans of stubborn stains. Simply tip the whole can into the toilet and leave it for 30-60 minutes, dependent upon how bad the stain actually is. Remember to flush before your guests arrive to leave your loo sparkling.

Look Up

Not everybody thinks about cleaning the ceiling, but in a bathroom it’s quite important. Quite a lot can get caught up there as the warm water from your bath or shower rises and condensates, and it is an ideal breeding ground for mould and mildew. Fill a bucket with hot water and a drop of bleach and get mopping – you won’t have to do it again for a while!

Not Just for Cooking

Keep some distilled white vinegar in a spray bottle to tackle any soap and scum stains (if the residue in your sink or bathtub is hard, it is more likely to be scale – in which case, consider purchasing a water softener to make sure it doesn’t come back). Simply spray vinegar onto any tough stains, leave for a while and give a wipe over with a cloth upon your return. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Let It Shine

Make your taps (in any room, you’re not just limited to the bathroom) really stand out and shine like they’re brand new by adding a little bit of baby oil to a cloth and wiping over. Make sure that the taps are cleaned before you do this, otherwise you are essentially moving around bits of dirt in oil instead of solving the problem. But when it’s clean, go ahead and behold the shiny transformation! It lasts for a while too – your guests will be wondering how much effort you put into getting your taps to look so good.

Always remember to leave a can of air freshener in any toilet to give it that little bit of a spruce-up should it need it. Hiding a reed diffuser behind the toilet will give the room a pleasant smell, but sometimes every bathroom needs that extra bit of power to get rid of odours. Keep a backup of fresh hand towels, pop in some nice soaps and hand moisturisers and you’ll probably have a hard time getting your guest to leave!

Aggie Aviso