Smelly Bathroom

When you have small boys, your bathroom is bound to stink!  It's just a fact of life.  You know what makes it worse? When you have to share a bathroom!  The smell would come and go, but would be especially bad in the winter when we were running the heat.  We have baseboard heating, so you can imagine the pleasant smell that emits from that radiator...I tried cleaning regularly, buying sprays, room fresheners-nothing worked!  

At some point, I noticed my downstairs neighbor was cleaning with vinegar, and he professed how awesome it was for cutting germs and eliminating odors.  I was skeptical at first, but figured I had nothing to lose!  I was already using this Clorox mop  

which allows you to fill the canister with whichever solution you wish.  A bonus is the cloths are washable, so I bought a few and just toss them in the wash after one use.  This mop has really been worthwhile because I'm not committed to a particular solution.  So when I was ready to make the switch to vinegar, I could easily do so.  What I also like about cleaning with vinegar is it's ridiculously cheap.  I buy the huge containers at Costco for less than five dollars!   

The ratios I used for my cleaning solution were half water half vinegar, and then sprinkle in the baking soda-it will fizz up and then I stop adding!  Vinegar is known to cut grease and eliminate odors. Although, let's be honest-it has a pretty terrible odor, but it dissipates quickly.  But my bathroom odor, was out of control, and I really can't believe that this trick worked!  After all this time of trying different tricks and solutions, as well as just accepting that this is what my bathroom would smell like-the vinegar took it away! 

Now, there are two other tricks I learned about.  The first one is to put undiluted vinegar straight onto the culprit areas, aka the surrounding areas of the toilet, and the walls, and the over the toilet cabinet...yeah, maybe we need to work on this aiming thing.  Just imagine how post-wake up pees go...."watch where you'r peeing, keep your eyes on the toilet!"  I bought white towels, shocker right?!? But they can be bleached so I don't have to worry about towels getting dingy and gross, they can always be white!  I use bath towel size white towel and roll it into a thin long rectangle and then soak it with vinegar and lay it along the base of the toilet and let it sit.  

The second trick I was told was to leave a small amount of vinegar out in the bathroom as an odor eliminator.  I wasn't quite sure how I would manage to keep vinegar out in the open and now have it drank or spilled all over my bathroom, until I came across these beauties in Michaels.

I really loved the shabby chic, but didn't know what I would use it for.  But the glass container is perfect for the vinegar, and the two side glasses (which are attached) were perfect for adding some decoration to my bathroom. I don't care for fresh flowers, but these fake flowers were perfect, and if you are the type who loves fresh flowers in your home, check out BloomNation! They are a flower delivery company that supports local flourists through their online marketplace!  I bought two of these and made the exact same arrangement for both bathrooms.  My bathrooms are both original-so think pink and teal. That classic pink tile, tub and toilet...you're seeing it right?  So I needed something easy on the eyes.  

I think this is so beautiful, catchy, easily fits into my decor, but also serves a function purpose. 

I added some lavender oil to my vinegar compartment, and for a bit it did help scent up the room.  The vinegar needs to be replaced already, I should say it has long needed to be replaced.  I might try one of these scents-maybe a fall scented one!    

And for those of you suffering from smelly bathroom syndrome, try the vinegar, I promise you, you'll be amazed, and you might thank me as well!