wipes, huh? haven't we just been talking about more environmentally friendly ways of cleaning? why not use a reusable cloth? less waste that way and just as quick.

one of my tricks is to always have a pretty facecloth folded by the side of the sink that i use to wipe around the sink and faucet every time i use it, that way it never gets super grungy and makes the official bathroom cleaning far easier.

There have been so many Real Simple reposts on AT lately that I wonder if I should just cancel my RS subscription.

Are they stuck in a time warp, that their minutes are somehow longer than the ones in regular space and time?! There's no way I could get any of those things done in less than a minute each except maybe the first one.

"why not use a reusable cloth? less waste that way and just as quick."

Indeed - That's what the old grungy facecloths and dishcloths are kept for in my house...
...and they just get tossed in the wash with the rest of the towels.

Just have a boy- I clean my bathroom every day, at least once... sometimes more.

@heather77, I would vote yes for cancelling the RS subscription.

@the polish chick

So you dry your face next time with a towel you used to scrub goo off the counters? Ew.

This is how to clean a powder room - no mention of a tub or shower, which I guess is why it only takes 5 minutes. Maybe the last sentence of Minute 5 should be "Close the shower curtain and you're done!"

My first thoughts were about the number of wipes used as well. I count 8 wipes in 5 minutes. Times a couple of bathrooms / household / week - ugh! And as far as I know, wipes aren't allowed in the greenbin. I manage to clean my bathroom with 2 half size paper towels (along with reusable cloths and brushes), and even that gets me in the environmental gut. At least paper towels can go in the greenbin.

I agree, one minute to clean the entire floors and all the crevices such as behind the toilet, seems a bit fast.

Plus, this article forgot the bathtub (!), the shower head and the sink and shower faucets ...

I use old newspaper on my mirrors/windows with windex, or whatever you use. It leaves a streak free shine and none of that leftover lint you get from towels.

I'll forward this to my cleaning lady

Agree on the wipes... and the "special" minutes...

Plus another problem is glass cleaner on your mirror. I learned the hard (expensive) way with a new medicine cabinet that windex (or any ammonia-based cleaner) will de-silver a mirror. I was recommended to instead use a dilute alcohol solution.

This only works if you repeat these steps every few days.

I remember when this came out in Real Simple and thought it was pretty useless. This is what I would consider last minute crisis straightening before company comes over. Let's be honest and admit the bathroom really isn't clean - the floor isn't washed, the tub/shower isn't touched (!) ... the little that is cleaned with disposable wipes is more for appearances than cleanliness.

I am curious, why bother posting this?

This is gross, unless you do this every few days in addition to a thorough cleaning (mopping, cleaning tub and shower walls, etc.) every other week.

Some of the tips are every-day, take-care-of-as-you-notice-them tasks. Just throw out the melty soap as you get out of the shower.

And a couple wipes for the floor, including the cruddy corners? Ewww

I don't use wipes but I'm just as bad - I spray everything down with Windex and wipe it down with paper towel. Man, is it quick. I learned it from the FlyLady years ago.

Speed and environmentally-friendliness are sometimes mutually exclusive, I guess. What we really need is the type of bathroom you can just point a big hose at.

I'm a big fan of using dryer sheets to clean soap scum from chrome, I wish someone had shown me that a long time ago.

I have to agree with the comments about the wipes though, we use a damp cloth sprinkled with baking powder for most of my bathroom cleaning and it works like magic. I'm not even sure why people buy so many harsh stinky chemicals to clean bathrooms with. Baking soda rocks.

My tip for not spending a long time cleaning your bathroom, make it your kids' job. My 17 year old son's weekly chore is to clean the bathroom at our house; I touch it up if there's company coming but that's it :)

NO WIPES necessary:
1. Fill your sink with hot water & some cleaner (like Mrs. Meyers or vinegar) & 3-5 rags/towels: wring each one out really well and use one for toilet, one for sink, one for floor, etc.
2. Wipe off cleaned surfaces with a dry rag.
3. Use a dry rag or paper towel with Windex or whatever for mirror, switchplates, handles, etc.
4. Do the inside of your toilet with brush or sponge.

This CAN be done in 5 minutes if you don't do the shower/tub--that's what I keep telling myself when it seems daunting.

I used to clean my bathroom in five minutes a day, but without wipes; I used full strength bleach! Now I have so much brain damage that I don't care whether the bathroom is clean or not!!

What about the bath tub?

I think wipes are great. There are many ways to help out and go green..but I am not sacrificing my wipes..Sorry folks

dk, that's funny - that was MY job when I was a kid! :)

"the little that is cleaned with disposable wipes is more for appearances than cleanliness."

I agree, I never really thought the wipes did such a good job with cleaning unless you used them every day. On porcelain they seem to leave a streak or a sticky film, and they are no good on the floors. Perhaps they are good with some last minute stuff or if you have a quick spill. The wipes get dirty so quickly that I take issue with wiping a dirty surface with a dirty cloth, even if is supposed to be soaked in antibacterial foam.

I was using Clorox Cleanup for a while but every time I used it I always seemed to ruin something with bleach (my own clothes, the bathmat, etc). Now I use general purpose kitchen cleaner from 409 with lemoney scent and it works quite well. I apologize for single handedly ruining the mother Earth by using general purpose cleaner ... but on the other hand, I sold my car and now walk, bike or take public transport everywhere, so I'm doing my part. :)

I agree re no harsh chemicals. I have a cat, so I'm always concerned that she'll walk on something, then lick her paws, and ingest bleach....

Baking soda, salt, lemons, and vinegar are the only cleaning products you need. For the toilet, I boil a full kettle of water, and then pour it in, using the toilet brush as I go--save a bit of the boiling water to pour over the brush at the end, so you sterilize it!

Newspaper is actually a great glass cleaner. I was suspicious of this for years, but it does work! An old toothbrush-- the battery-operated kind-- is great to get soap scum out of hard-to-reach places.

This is off-topic, but to clean copper-bottom pots, I use a lemon half (usually the old lemons I'm about to throw away), and copious amounts of salt. Gets them sooo shiny!!

Best tip I ever received: Clean the inside of the toilet first. Fill up sink with diluted cleaner. Wring rag into clean toilet instead of back into sink to keep rag and cleaner fresher longer. That way you don't just smear the dirt around your floors. The cleaner will soak up toothpaste scum while you are wiping down countertops, floors, and outside of bowl saving you minutes of sink scrubbing. A quick wipe in the sink bowl at the end will usually suffice. Flush the toilet again to clear chemicals and grime from bowl.

@ianwelles

Are you meaning after she's washed the face cloth and re-entered it into her rotation of linens? Maybe she has one or two that she's ear-marked for being the sink grunge cloth. Or maybe she... doesn't care. It's picking up hair, lint, and water from around the sink, and presumably, washed properly. My own standards of living could be off, but I've seen worse things cleaned up with, for example, kitchen linens and then used again for drying dishes up.

I'm all for home remedies, but when it comes to toilets I need something with the words "disinfectant" and "antibacterial" written on the bottle.

Actually, the toilet is a pointless place to use anything anti-bacterial. People poop in it, thus putting bacteria right back in there.

Bleach works more than sufficiently to clean it.

I think it is pointless to use more than 1 to 2 half paper towels. It is all about the order of how you clean. Start 1st towel with the mirror, then sink and if possible the toilet tank. Then 2nd towel wipe the top of toilet seat, then seat, then under. Geesh - it is not so difficult and wipes are a waste of your money and not eco. Rest of the time pick up after yourself.

I keep a basket full of old cut up bath towels (either have bleach splotches or are ugly colors) - cut into about 7"x7" squares. I use these for cleaning the vanity, faucets, floors, outside of toilet, etc. For the shower and sink I have a gentle, but abrasive cloth. When I'm done cleaning, I have a dirty cloths basket in the laundry room and this gets washed when it gets full.

I used to buy disposable wipes and paper towels - but they are an unnecessary expense - it is cheaper to do a load of laundry once every couple of weeks.

Yeah I was wondering about the floor. My landlord has this weird stone tiling that isn't sealed, so it soaks up *everything* and *always* looks dirty. It takes me an hour to scrub that thing.

ianwelles, no, i do not use a grungy facecloth to wipe my face. i use my face towel for that. i have a brain and am well able to figure out which is which. sheesh!

We thoroughly clean our bathroom every two weeks, so this routine certainly works in between cleanings. But talk about fluff... if your bathroom is clean enough that it can "sparkle" after a 5 minute freshening, then you probably already have this covered and really don't need this post, do you?

How does Alka Seltzer (which is far more expensive than most household cleansers) actually clean a toilet bowl? Each tablet is aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), and citric acid, but not enough citric acid to actually dissolve anything.

Don't use bleach on porcelain. Don't use vinegar on marble. Use a rag, not wipes, and assume whoever is using the rag has an IQ greater than a potato.

If we all used Alka Seltzer in our toilets, what would be the impact on our waterways?

This is a little too simple. It's like cleaning a hotel bath that hasn't been used.

First, get one of those auto set shower cleaners. I got my first one recently, and by goodness, they work, well. They even go up the tile above the device. They are almost 360'.

I use canned Lysol, canned Scrubbing Bubbles, and glass cleaner. (For the toilet I use the disposables clip on, chip off. It's worth it not getting anywhere near that bacteria.) I use dedicated old wash cloths to wipe down the surfaces with Lysol, and spot clean the tile outside the shower and exterior toilet with the Scrubbing Bubbles. I no longer have a pantry with a rod for drying dirty towels, so I have put a spring loaded curtain rod inside the sink cabinet, at the front. I hang the dirty cloths there until they dry and can go into the dirty white towels laundry basket, that will be bleached. I use a paper towel on the mirror with a glass cleaner.

I use Swiffer on the floor. I dry Swiffer first, and then I wet Swiffer. For the dry Swiffer refills, I go to the fabric store and buy fleece off the clearance table. I make my own pads, and they are cheap cheap cheap. I could wash them, but I don't. It's too easy to throw then away. The wet Swiffer pads can't be replaced, but they work SO well, they are an addiction.

One more thing. I know this sounds WEIRD, but if you want to keep your surfaces clean, even sinks, put two coats of canned fine furniture wax on them. You will have to polish the wax after applications just like polishing a car finish.

With two coats, the water and stains and dirt will bead up. It is easy to just wipe if off. It's not really cleaning. This really works well with worn surfaces, but it will keep new surfaces looking new.

This really works well on old Formica. It will make it look and function like new. Try it. It's amazing. Bleach the Formica first to get it CLEAN, and then use two coats of wax. I blew a contractor's mind on a huge old Formica covered island. He left at night with it looking like crap, and overnight I put two coats of wax on it. The next morning it looked like new. He was speechless. I got a $500 discount on a $2000 job to tell him how I did it. NOT KIDDING!

The wipes thing got me too. I used to use paper towels, but started using microfiber cloths (that I bought at the dollar store). I use 2 to clean my whole apartment (granted, I'm the only one living in it to mess it up). I take one to lightly dust surfaces and then use that same one to clean mirrors and glass. Then, take that same one and use to clean bathroom surfaces with some sort of spray cleaner or vinegar water. I end with the toilet...cleaning the inside with a brush. I've used everything from toilet cleaner to face wash I didn't like in the toilet. I actually read somewhere that the bacteria in toilets is much less than that in kitchen sink. Anyway, second microfiber cloth gets used as a wet swiffer (take note Team Decor!)...I wet it, tuck it in, and spray a Murphy's Oil soap solution on the floors, wiping up as I go. I can clean my whole apartment, including vacuuming in well under an hour. Or, in Real Simple time, about 20 min. :)

Doesn't everyone have a bunch of rags for cleaning? Old towels, facecloths, etc? I just get a few cheap towels from the dollar store and cut them into rags. I'm really surprised (not offended, just surpised) to hear that people use wipes!

Christine-I used to use old wash cloths, and pin them to a dry Swiffer, and use a clorox solution to clean the kitchen floor. The first time I tried it, it took FOUR wash cloths to clean a floor I thought was clean. I did that for years.

But now I am addicted to the wet Swiffer. I love the sound the spray makes, and I love throwing away the pads and being done with it. I just scored 48 pads for $10.20. I can live with it.

It's a vice, I know, but like I said, I'm addicted. It had me at the first burst of sound when the cleaner discharged. I tried at first to clip rags to the bottom, but it interfered with the built in sprayer. Now I actually like cleaning the floor, so to me, it's worth it. It's like diapers for the floor. MY BAD!

What about the sink, the shower, the bathtub? What about vacuuming the floor first to remove dust and hair? I think they left out some things…

I would really like to see someone actually make it through this routine in five minutes. Maybe AT will follow this up with a video feature with a ticking clock in the corner a la "24?"

The bathroom is the one place that I don't cut corners. 30 minutes, every Saturday morning with daily maintenance as required -- and the suggestion that cleaning the floor with a wipe qualifies as "daily maintenance" is ridiculous. It's time well-spent.

Best cleaning tip for any room or surface that I've found. Cheap vodka. put it in a large spray bottle, use a clean white re-useable rag and spray spray spray.

Sounds crazy, but it's not going to scratch surfaces, desilver mirrors or leave a sticky film or nasty chemical scent behind.

Plus it's only about $7-$8 a bottle and it will last for a long time.

This weekend I used vinegar as cleaner for the first time. I just filled my sink with a bit of vinegar & water, let it soak and then used a little towel to wipe away the toothpaste & soap scum as the water ran. Worked like a charm and much more environmentally friendly!

I keep a dry washcloth behind the sink for wiping down the counter and sink during the week. Things look a lot less grungy by the end of the week, and it's easy enough to remember to do while you are brushing your teeth.

You can also use diluted "Simple Green" which smells good, is fairly safe, and does the job.

Termolux, I completely agree about vacuuming first. No way you can mop/wipe a floor clean in 1 minute without doing that first.

I can't believe the money people spend on disposable cleaning products. Yikes. I do like the suggestion of getting towels at the dollar store though, to use as rags. Maybe it's because I've always lived alone, but my towels and facecloths never get worn out enough to eventually use as cleaning cloths. Old clothes get donated to charity. Anyhoo, I should get some rags .

I also find it funny that people worry about the amount of bacteria INSIDE the toilet bowl. It's not like germs are going to jump up and bite you in the ass. It's one thing to make sure the bowl is clean from stains and whatnot, but why the heck do you care about how much bateria is in there? I have never used bleach in my toilet.

Whenever I replace my washcloth every couple of days, I use it to wipe the mirror, sink, toilet and windowsill. It goes in the dirty clothes and it is never so dirty it doesn't come out in the wash. The floor and scrubbing the toilet bowl get their own time much less often.

I agree with Melissa A. (and a few others). A toilet is a toilet!

Unless you have little ones who are starting to explore the house (in which case a toilet guard is appropriate anyway), I think spending time worrying about bacteria is bad for the soul.

I definitely have my guilty pleasures in life, but because all these cleaning products go into our water, I try to be careful. If you do feel more comfortable using store bought cleaning chemicals I would suggest non-canned (non-aerosol that is) products. That darn aerosol is sooooo bad for the environment, and extremely unhealthy to inhale (once the can runs out nasty nasty chemicals are breathed by you)! If you like aerosol cans, try switching to pumps or sprays!

And, though they aren't by any means good for the environment, try switching to products that are less chemical based- eco friendly products work wonders (though beware that many say "natural" and are basically the same as regular products- check the ingredients and make sure you can pronounce them). If you are concerned about bacteria and germs I bet you're health conscious- in which case your well being would benefit from safer products!

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions (I think next time I do my bathroom I'll time myself)!

Unless a surface is really dirty, you can do a lot with just a rag and hot water. And I agree that it's silly to use bleach or disinfectant inside a toilet, unless you plan to bob for apples in there (not recommended).

Wipes can be more green. I use biodegradable, natural cleaning wipes to clean my bathroom. I don't have to worry about them containing harsh unnatural chemicals, and they take care of themselves so they're not sitting in a landfill or a waste pile. Problem solved.

Preventative, frequent cleaning is key in the bathroom. I wipe off the bathroom sink, window sills, items in the shower, toilet and shelving daily. I also spray a shower cleaner by method daily (wiping off would be good too but I'm not good about always doing that).

I have an ornate mirror over my vanity, I shoot down the frame with compressed air and then wipe down the counter.

I'd love a beautifully tiled shower one day but do enjoy how easy it is to clean my cheap, fiberglass prefab shower.

Well this just turned me off to ever getting a subscription to Real Simple Magazine. Aside from the fact that they aren't very kind to the environment, that still sounds like one grody bathroom to me. Even after those 5 minutes are all said and done. What happened to the floors? The tub? The shower walls? Just... eww.

I stopped looking at Real Simple because so many of their 'tips' are really just product-placement ads. Wonder what Clorox & Alka-Seltzer paid for this one?

Just have a boy- I clean my toilet bowl
every day, at least once... sometimes more.