A Different Direction

On any given day, I often have a long list of to-dos, but I try to pull out ONE task to be my focus — my priority — for the day.  The task is something that is not routine or normal like dishes, cooking or homework, but rather something that is unique and particular to that day or week.   I know I can’t get everything done on my to-do list, but I can do at least one thing to feel like I was productive amongst the monotony of motherhood.

My main goal for yesterday was to put away my pops of pink Valentine decor and get Easter up.  (You all know Easter is in March this year right?!) I pulled out all my holiday bins and got them out to my living room.  Croft and I went around the house and gathered all the Valentine decor and set it in a big pile on the floor.

It was at this point that my day went in a different direction. Locke had a potty accident.

He has been potty training for about a week now and he has the peeing thing down, but we are still working on the pooing thing.  He has gone in the toilet, in his diaper, in his underwear and on the bathroom floor.

Yesterday Locke’s accident required him to get in the tub and for me to clean the bathroom floor.  As I was cleaning up, I noticed my toilets were dirty and my whole bathroom needed cleaning.  (Can you see that I am easily distracted 🙂 )

But I was out of toilet bowl cleaner.  I had purposely not purchased any more because I knew I wanted to go the natural route and not having any on hand is the surest way to force me into trying an alternative.

Now I am old enough to know myself.  And to know that if I have some energy and motivation on an idea I should go with it because who knows when the energy or desire will return.

So I got on Pinterest and started researching homemade toilet bowl cleaners.
I tried this one on the kids bathroom.  I was suckered in my the pretty pictures of lemons and the fact that I had all the ingredients at my house already.  The recipe called for baking soda, vinegar, and lemon essential oil.

This recipe suggested to make the vinegar/baking soda combination in a pitcher and then add it to the toilet.  It worked well, but I felt like it was unnecessary to premix the solution in a pitcher.  That just added another dish to clean.

So I researched some more and found this recipe which I tried on my bathroom.  This time I was suckered in by the word ‘foaming’.

This recipe called for 3 cups vinegar instead of just one, but you got to pour the baking soda and vinegar straight into the toilet.  You left it for 30 minutes to do its thing and then came back to scrub the toilet.  It definitely foamed, but the foam didn’t go up high enough to reach all the gunk.

So I knew I needed to tweak one more time and this is the recipe that I tried in my 3rd bathroom.

The basic ingredients were the same but the method was different.  She suggested you use a spray bottle so you could reach up under the rim and higher up in the bowl.  That made sense to me too.  But she wanted me turn off the water and to leave it overnight which wasn’t always going to happen.

After three tries, I feel like I have a plan for the next time I clean my toilets.  I am sure I will continue to tweak, but for now I will go with the lemon oil of the first recipe for a nice smell, the 30 minute wait time of the second recipe for practicality, and the squirt bottle method in the third recipe to reach up and under.  So here you have the recipe all in one place:

5-6 drops lemon essential oil (could use lavender)

1 cup baking soda

1-3 cups white vinegar (the more vinegar you use the higher up the bowl it goes)

Pour baking soda into toilet. Make sure to coat the sides.  Pour in white vinegar.   Let it foam and bubble.  That is a good thing. Spray some vinegar up under rim and higher on bowl with a spray bottle.  Add 5-6 drops of lemon oil.  Scrub toilet. Let the cleaning solution sit for 30 minutes.  Then scrub toilet again.

After I cleaned all three toilets and bathrooms, I added bulk size baking soda to my Costco shopping list and a cute glass cookie jar to my Wal-mart shopping list to hold that baking soda.  I plan on using this method every time to clean my toilets.

So this morning my toilets are clean, but my Valentine and Easter bins are still cluttering my living room.  Maybe I can get to those today if all goes well. Here’s hoping Locke can figure out how to go on the toilet or I might just spend the day researching homemade tub cleaners.