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| Animal curtain and floral liner |
"Who does that?"
"You mean you're suppose to clean that thing too!?!"
"I just toss it."
Yep, I've thought all those things too. For a long time, whenever the plastic shower
liner got gross (mouldy or soap scummy) I would just toss it and get a new
one. Easy. Right? But what about....
Reasons not to Toss
1. Throwing out the plastic shower liner takes up a ton of
room in the garbage can (premium space in our house!).
2. Remembering to purchase a new shower liner at the store
is annoying (and I always forget!).
3. The cost adds up!
Even buying the cheap dollar-store-variety stops being cheap over time.
4. It's plastic. It's life in the landfill is decades. (Throwing it out hurts the earth-loving Andrea
who lives inside me. Not to mention the Earth itself. Should I really be so casual about throwing out a giant
plastic sheet?)
5. It's actually super duper easy to clean! No more waste! And my shower liners last
years! I can count on one had how many
shower liners I've bought since I've been married. (I've very proud of that.)
How To
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| Example of scum/mould on shower curtain/liner. |
How To
There are two methods I like to use:
1. The Washing Machine Dump Method
The method is pretty self explanatory. I remove the curtain and liner from the
shower curtain hooks and dump them both in the washing machine. I wash them together in a large load with
warm water on a regular cycle.
"Won't that rip the liner?"
Great question. And
surprisingly it doesn't! None of the little hook holes get ripped either. And when the washer is done, I take both
curtain and liner back to the bathroom, hang them back on the curtain hooks and
they hang dry. An added bonus: the bathroom smells delightfully of clean
laundry while they dry.
2. The Bathtub Hand Washing Method
I like this method when the liner is dirty but the curtain
is not. (Of course I could still
throw the liner in the wash, but it wouldn't take up a full load and I hate
doing small loads. It feels like a waste
of energy and water to me. I know. I'm weird.).
If you only have a plastic shower curtain (and not a
liner and fabric curtain like us crazy people do) then this is a perfect
method for you. An added bonus: it takes
very little water and uses no electrical energy.
Instructions
Fill your bathtub (or stand-up shower if that is what you
have) with an inch, or 3cm, of water. As
the bathtub fills, pour in a small amount of dish soap into the water. You can also add hydrogen peroxide, baking
soda, bleach or other cleaner. They are
not necessary and may degrade your plastic curtain/liner sooner than simply using
soap. But I understand the anxiety of needing the mould gone!
I like to let my curtain/liner soak for a bit before I start
scrubbing. (What I mean by this is that
I fill the tub in the morning and leave the liner/curtain soaking until I can
find time to clean it. This usually happens
after Evalynn is asleep for nap.) But soaking is not necessary.
The easiest way to scrub is to use the side of the tub like a wash board. Find the edge of the curtain/liner and pull it up the side of the tub. Wipe the surface with a cloth or sponge. Once the section of curtain/liner is clean, bunch it at the rim of the tub and continue cleaning the next section of curtain/liner. Repeat bunching and cleaning until the entire curtain/liner is done!
Then re-hang the
curtain/liner to dry. Stand back and
admire your work. Job well done!
The easiest way to scrub is to use the side of the tub like a wash board. Find the edge of the curtain/liner and pull it up the side of the tub. Wipe the surface with a cloth or sponge. Once the section of curtain/liner is clean, bunch it at the rim of the tub and continue cleaning the next section of curtain/liner. Repeat bunching and cleaning until the entire curtain/liner is done!
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| Look at the colour of that water! Yuck! |
You can be proud knowing that your shower curtain and liner
are now fantastically clean. (Sadly,
no one will notice your hard work unless you point it out to them. I'm always sure to point out jobs like these
to my husband so he can be impressed with my hard work too.)
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| Pride in a job well done! |
But the best news may be that this job only needs to be done
every 6 months or less. Hooray!
Your shower curtain is now the cleanest on the block!
Happy thoughts,
Andrea
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