How many of you clean and disinfect your toilet bowl brush? For those of you who do, how often do you do it? I have to admit, I used to buy a new toilet brush every month at our local dollar discount store until I invested in a high-quality brush, to cut down on my wasted spending.
If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile now, you already know that I’m a neat & clean freak. So today, I thought I would share with all of you how I keep this bathroom necessity ultra clean!
Here’s How to Clean & Disinfect the Toilet Bowl Brush
I use a spray bottle for this particular job. I add 2 capfuls of bleach to the bottle and then fill it up with household tap water. I have my bottle labeled appropriately and I keep it out of the reach of children and/or pets. Please do the same!
Every month I take my toilet brush outside on a nice weather day and spray it from top to bottom (moderately) with my bleach & water solution. I let it sit outside in an area away from kids & pets for about 15 minutes. I then take my garden hose and rinse it clean. I let it dry for a few minutes and then use a disinfecting wipe to go over the handle one additional time before I take it back inside the house.
During the winter season, this method is a little bit harder to do. If they weather is too cold outside, I’ll fill up a cleaning bucket with household tap water and add 2 capfuls of bleach to it. I then place the toilet bowl brush inside the bucket and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Make sure you use a disinfectant cleaning wipe to wipe down the handle. Let it air dry in it’s holder.
Sometimes I’ll get out my handheld steam cleaner and take that outside and give it a good steam cleaning too. The important thing is, that no matter which method that you use, it needs to be cleaned OFTEN!
The Plunger: We have a plunger in each bathroom and I clean those when the weather is nice outside, using the same method that I explained above. It’s important to de-germ those items too, especially if you have them sitting around in your house.
Storage Containers: I hope none of you just have the cleaning brush and/or plunger sitting out in the corner or on the floor in your bathrooms. That is a breeding ground for germs! When I invested in my high-quality toilet bowl brush, it came with a plunger and a stainless steel container that holds them both. Yes, it’s attractive but it also needs to be disinfected regularly, just like everything else. You can take the containers outside to clean them (as outlined above) or wipe them down regularly with disinfecting wipes. I also have used my handheld steam cleaner to clean this item too.
When the majority of people clean their bathrooms, they don’t think about cleaning the toilet bowl brush, plunger and storage containers/holders too! While you don’t need to clean & disinfect those items on a weekly basis, I do feel it’s important to do it monthly. Once you get into the habit of doing it, it will only take an extra few minutes of your cleaning time to complete.
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I’ve been buying cheepo ones and then throwing them out. Cleaning would be more green.
Have to admit you made me think with this ………………. I live in a apartment so there is no going out side to do this. BUT I am going to think about this
This is indeed one item in the house that really does need to be disinfected! I just soak mine in a bleach solution every once in a while. Now that I think about it, it’s probably about time to get some new ones. Thanks for the reminder.
Oh my, you are a wonder. I do pretty much the same thing except maybe not as often (ok, no way as often) as you do.
I clean my toilet brush with clorox spray and sometimes place it in a bucket . I just spray the handle and container, so I might have to clean those more thoroughly in the future.
I use the same method, only I often let the brush sit in the bleach for a bit and then clean it. The brush gets disgusting after awhile. The plunger I detest… mine is one of the old rubber ones. I have it sitting on a plastic top so it doesnt rest on the floor, but men are disgusting (TMI) and miss. So that gets the bleach treatment.When the stuff driers, I just try and keep it away from pets, there doeesnt seem to be enough to affect the lawn, but then again my lawn isnt a golf course so I dont much mind.
This is excellent information. I’m guilty of forgetting to clean these items too in my bathroom.
I used to be guilty of that for years. Then when I learned that millions of germs sit on those items and grow, I then started buying a new brush monthly. However, that’s a pain to do and can get costly. Definitely not eco-friendly. I then learned how to clean them.
thank you for the advice. where outside do you spray and rinse off the brush? i would be worried about getting bleach on plants and lawn…. do you use the driveway? Or do you have a specific area?
Thank you so much.
I have a specific area towards the back of our property that I do this in. My mom does her right in her driveway. A little bit of bleach (2 capsfuls in water) won’t hurt grass but I wouldn’t do it near flowers or a veggie garden.