The First Thing You Should Spring Clean in the Bathroom This Year
Apartment Therapy’s Spring Cleaning Cure is a free 20-day cleaning plan that helps you tackle the most common spring cleaning tasks to give your home its deepest clean yet. Sign up now to get all 20 lessons in your inbox.
Most of the time, I am a fervent cheerleader for cleaning top to bottom. That’s the most efficient way to clean, after all (so you’re not dropping dirt onto clean surfaces). But efficiency isn’t always the goal.
When it comes to cleaning a room as dreaded as the bathroom, it’s more important, in my opinion, to start with something easy — something easy that still packs a huge, high-impact punch.
So for day six of the Spring Cleaning Cure, as we make our way from the kitchen to the bathroom, try this quick clean-up…
Day 6: Wash your shower curtain and bath mat.
Maybe you’re someone who washes these soft surfaces on a regular routine. Or maybe you’re someone who hasn’t washed them… pretty much ever. Either way, the shower curtain (and liner!) and bath mat are your target today.
Step one is to take down the curtain and liner, and pick up the bath mat. Then, reassess how to wash them:
- Put whatever you can in the washing machine, if you have one. Check the tags for washing instructions. Most curtain liners can safely travel through the wash (yes, even plastic ones!). And if your bath mat doesn’t have a rubber backing, it can probably be tossed in the machine, too.
- For anything that can’t be machine-washed, hand wash it. Fill up the sink, tub, or a bin with warm water and laundry detergent (adding oxygen bleach is great, too!), then soak and swish your things around until they’re clean. A scrub brush can help you attack especially mildewy spots on your shower curtain liner.
While some shower curtains and bath mats can safely take a spin in the dryer, I prefer to air dry them — mainly because it just means hanging the shower curtain back up and letting it drip into the shower or tub. Rest your bath mat on the shower rod, too, or leave it outside in the sun.
Many non-rubber bath mats and shower curtains can be washed with your towels or other laundry. Check the tags!
More ways to participate in the Spring Cleaning Cure:
- Sign up for email updates
- Visit the 2021 Spring Cleaning Cure page and catch up on assignments
- Save or print your own Spring Cleaning Cure tips workbook
- Download the Spring Cleaning Cure calendar
- Join the Apartment Therapy Cure Facebook group
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