One Trick that Could Make Cleaning the Toilet Fun—Okay, Not Fun But At Least Not Awful

published May 28, 2018
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(Image credit: Esteban Cortez)

Toilet-cleaning ranks as one of the most dreaded of all household chores, and no wonder; it’s a dirty, dirty job. Personally, I don’t mind it that much because I’d much rather know it’s clean and shiny than put off doing it. Plus the more often you do it, the less yucky the whole ordeal is. There’s one part that always flummoxed me, though, until I had a silly epiphany that solved the problem.

I always clean the toilet in order of cleanest to dirtiest, and top to bottom (I shared my whole routine at the time in this post). I start with cleaning inside the toilet and switch rags to polish off the outside. And that’s where I run into trouble.

Using an all-purpose cleaner and a rag, or a disinfecting wipe if the mood strikes, inevitably gives me an annoying thin, wet trail of the dust that’s collected on the outside of the toilet. It’s the worst on the lid of the tank and then down toward the bottom.

The base of the toilet is where things get really dicey as I try to snake the rag around the rounded base, the curved tube-like projections, and the screw cover bubble thingies, all the while following that persistent dust trail until the bitter end when I try to scoop it all up with the rag. Ugh.

Then the light bulb moment happened: Why don’t I dust my toilet first?! Ding ding ding!

Don’t laugh; surely this trick has eluded some of you as well! (Which is why I’m sharing.) Lifestyle Editor Taryn Williford managed to stifle any laughter or sarcasm that very justifiably could have trickled out (with no offense taken by me) when I told her about my newfound genius method and told me that yes, she dusts with a vacuum attachment when she cleans her toilets. Amazing.

With a little pep in my step since I know I’ve eluded the dust trail forever, I’m still pretty thrilled as I grab my duster when I go to clean the toilet.