Dear FlyLady,

Of all the things I have added to my morning routine, swishing and swiping may be the one I like best!

The bathrooms, especially our master bath, really bugged me. I have large, perfectly plain white tiles on the floor, and every little grain of dirt or stray hair SHOWS! I kept telling my DH we needed to redo that bath (Powder blue sink and toilet, circa 1969…yuk!) but I wanted a new floor too.

Well, I started to swish and swipe, and first I had to admit that even the hard water marks on the powder blue are MUCH less visible  after a daily swish and swipe. But, since our bathroom is tiny, with less than 5 ft by 5 ft. of floor, I started swishing and swiping the floor too. After I do the sink and toilet, I take a spray bottle, which currently has household cleanser in it, and spray the floor in front of the toilet–two squirts! Then I take a damp microfiber pad and swipe the whole floor with my foot! This takes about 90 seconds, most of which involves reaching the floor behind the toilet.

That used to be the worst place in my house, but no more. I move the bath mat out onto the bedroom floor before I start, and when I finish I toss the microfiber pad onto the shower floor and turn the shower on. It gets rinsed clean while I shower, and then I use the suds that I rinse off myself to wash the shower floor, and swipe the frame of my glass shower doors.

I have one of those three piece acrylic showers with a seam about 24 inches off the floor, and another one down the center of the back wall. The seams always seemed to have that orange stuff starting to grow, especially in the summer.

Now, as part of my swiping, I take a microfiber cloth and just rub the seams as I wipe down the shower when I am done showering.  Maybe  a 30 second detail, but it has not looked orange in months!

When the master bedroom/bath week rolls around, I use real bathroom cleaner (once a month)  to make sure I am killing mold and mildew, but my master bath looks spotless every single day now, and it takes less than 5 minutes, even with swiping the floor. And I am fine with the white tile now–in fact, I like how clean it looks.

DH is happy not to have a new floor on his “honey do” list.

I use the hall bath to do my hair and brush my teeth, and  I swish that toilet before I start brushing, and the sink and mirror when I am done with my teeth.

I had company last week, and my BIG additional effort with that hall bath (which is what guests use) was to turn the shower on and rinse the tub/shower because it was dusty!

One of my weekly wash loads now is to wash all the bath rugs/mats, so they are always in pretty good shape too.I have two more half baths, one of which is part of my laundry room. My daily load of laundry includes a swish and swipe there. The half bath near my entry usually gets done when I do the recycling, since I wash my hands when I come back inside .

I used to wish I could afford weekly house cleaning services, because of ALL THESE BATHROOMS! The price for that service around here is about $150 a week, for a house the size of mine. I figure I spend about 15 minutes a day to keep all four bathrooms company clean, and since I don’t do it all  at once, it seems like no time at all. I no longer want someone else to clean my house. It seems like a terrible waste of money when I can get the same results by a little FLYing every day.

Thanks for saving me money and making me happy with what I already have!

A FLYbaby in upstate New York