Okay, so I'm still in recovery mode, so today's post will be focused on something entirely concrete and not in the least emotional.
I hate cleaning. I believe most people do. I've heard tell of a few odd souls here and there who really get excited over the prospect of dusting and scrubbing, but I do not personally share any of those feelings. (And, if any of you do, you're more than welcome to come to my house in search of bliss any. time. you. want!)
In my former life, we had some lovely ladies who came and cleaned our house every two weeks. That service was cut pretty quickly when our budget began to show strain. Then we moved out here, and while I enjoy cleaning a significantly smaller house, country living presents its own challenges.
Like toilets. We use a well for our water. And well water is as unique as the land it sits on. Ours happens to be choc-ful-'o minerals and hardness and, I'm sure, critters of the microscopic variety that I need not know about. That means that despite some pretty decent family hygiene habits and average cleaning routines, our potties end up looking all yellow and scuzzy in a matter of days.
Enter: The Scrubbing Bubbles Fresh Brush Toilent Cleaning System (doesn't it sound so wonderfully official?! It's a system, not just a product!)
A variety of disposable cleaning products like this hit the market at the same time. This is the only one I've tried. It's got four major advantages: 1) I got to throw out the nauseating scrub brushes that used to sit by my toilet and strike the fear of God into me whenever one of my kids suddenly looked intrigued. I even used the included hanger attachment to tuck the handle out of sight of the tank. 2) It works. There are two different kinds of scrubbing heads (heavy and light duty) and I find the light duty flushable sort work well enough for weekly cleanings, if you throw in a round of cleaning with the heavy duty one every third week or so. 3) I can either flush or throw away the scrubbers, which means I never have to touch them or have them just, well, standing around. 4) The cleaning solution is built in, so I don't have to buy separate products.
But here's the really exciting part: The Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel (I know, it's not a system, but trust me, it's still cool.)
This stuff is meant to replace those hideous hanging cleaning products that you attach to the rim of the toilet. I never used those because, ew, and yuck. But just scrubbing won't cut it with our extra-special well water. So I gave this gel stuff a try. It's a super sticky blue gel that comes in a dispenser that measure out each "dose". The little dot is only a bit larger than a quarter and you can make it nearly, if not completely, invisible by tucking it up under the rim. This product has two gigantic advantages: 1) It actually works. I find the spot stays on for just under two weeks (and that's with only two toilets in our whole house, so they see some action). And it keeps the yellow, dingy build up stuff away almost completely! 2) It smells so nice! The first day I used it, I cleaned and then put the girls down for a nap. When I came back into the living room a few hours later, the smell of Nice Clean House was so noticeable (and, apparently, unusual) that I wandered around for five minutes trying to figure out what smelled so nice! Sad, I know.
So there you have it: my picks for revolutionary new toilet cleaning innovations!
