I know. That is such a fancy, educational-sounding title. And the tip I’m going to give is too simple.
The tip: Label them.
Permanent markers are your friend.
So why a big ol’ fancy-sounding post on this subject?
First of all, keeping cleaning supplies separate is necessary. Don’t use the same cleaning tools in your bathroom that you use in your kitchen. Really. Don’t. It’s a basic health department rule I learned when cleaning at that camp back when I was sixteen.
Yes, I needed to learn it, but once I learned it and thought about the why, it seemed so obvious.
Because, really. Bathrooms involve . . . ummm . . . bathroom stuff. And I’d prefer to keep anything related to bathroom as far away from anything related to the kitchen as possible.
Really.
So it was obvious, but when I set up my own home, I’d find myself staring at a cleaning product (a sponge, a rag, a bucket) trying to remember which area I had designated it for the last time I cleaned.
Maybe the length of time between cleanings had something to do with my confusion??
Anyway, I found myself throwing away perfectly good cleaning products because I couldn’t remember which area they were for, and couldn’t risk using a toilet sponge in the kitchen.
Gives me the shivers just thinking about it.
And if I threw away the cleaning product I needed to act upon the burst of Cleaning Energy I was randomly experiencing, that fleeting feeling was likely to vanish. I mean, now I’d have to head to the store and spend money. Two great reasons to put off cleaning. And anyway, to go to the store, I’d have to GET DRESSED.
Once I got dressed and went to the store, not only would the Cleaning Energy be gone, but then I’d not want to get grody.
So simply labeling with permanent marker, right across the most obvious part of the product, works in our house.
It’s also great for those who haven’t fully grasped the grodiness of possible cross-contamination of cleaning products.
Spell-check says grody and its various forms such as grodiness isn’t a word.
I’m a child of the 80s, so I know it is. Grody to the max is a thing. Bathroom cleaning is grody to the max.
Totally.
