Tilex Cancel the Mold Show in Your Bathroom Sweepstakes and Mold Preventing Tips

Is the bathroom your least favorite place to clean each week?  Well, it is mine.  And, when we bought our house a few years back, I thought it would be nice to have a few bathrooms, as I grew up in a house with 5 people and only 1 bathroom – not fun!  So, we bought a house with 2 full baths and 2 half baths.  And, you would think that with only 2 adults and 2 diaper wearing children, that I would only have to clean 1 bathroom right now.  Not the case – we find that in a rush, we head to the closest bathroom, and in the AM, if my husband and I have to get ready in unison, then we shower in each of the bathrooms.  So, by the end of the week, come cleaning day, I have 4 bathrooms to clean – 4 toilets and 2 showers – not fun!  And, we haven’t hit the jackpot yet to get a housekeeper, so I have to do the dirty work.

Before the girls came, I wouldn’t worry as much about missing a week of cleaning, or using eco-friendly and child-friendly cleaning products.  But, now that we have two children under the ages of 2 in the whole, my whole cleaning routine has changed.  I have since switched to cleaning products that are safe for children.  And, when I do get around to tackling the bathrooms, I make sure the girls are out to sight for at least a half hour, so that I can properly ventilate the rooms. And, when I do stumble upon mold, I have a few tips that my mom and friends have passed down that help me combat and prevent future mold growth. 

Here they are:

1) First, make sure your bathrooms have sufficient ventilation.  If you don’t have an exhaust fan in the ceiling, then always make sure you crack the window, to all moisture to leave while showering.  And, when done, leave the window open for 10-15 minutes longer, to make sure all the moisture has escaped.

 2) After each and every shower, wipe down the shower and surrounding walls with a towel, to prevent a moist area for mold to grow.  Mold loves to grow in cold, damp spaces.

3) Make sure that your rooms, especially your bathrooms are not dark. Use light filtering curtains to both privacy and to let the light in.  Mold loves dark spaces.  And, the darker the room, the faster the mold spores multiply.

4) If you find mold in shower tiles, you can use a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water and an old toothbrush, to scrub it away.

5) If you feel comfortable using bleach, you can mix equal parts of bleach and water and wipe down the walls and shower tile with the bleach mixture to clean and prevent mold.

6) Find a bathroom cleaning brand that you trust, and that works.  I have been using Tilex for years, and love how well it gets the job done.  Click here to learn more about Tilex® Mold Stain & Mildew Stain Remover.

7) Make sure you wipe down your window sills, refrigerator seals, under the bathroom and kitchen sinks, in entryways and especially air registers – mold loves to grow in room temperature and moist environments.

8) Change up your air filters on a monthly basis, to prevent the spread of mold into the air. 

9) If you can afford one, buy an air purifier, which will help keep the air you breath fresh and clean of mold.

10) We all hate it, but you need to stay on top of cleaning.  If you can only clean one room in the house each week, make sure it is the bathroom, as this is the most trafficked room in the house. 

And, at the first sign of mold, tackle it head on with mold-removing cleaners – handmade or store bought.  Mold spores multiple quickly, and if ignored, can get away from you!

Do you have any tips or tricks to rid your house of mold?  If so, I would love to hear them. 

Have you tried Tilex new lineup of mold-fighting products?  To celebrate the new Tilex lineup, Tilex is hosting an exciting sweepstakes with lots of cool prizes! To enter the Tilex “Cancel the Mold Show in Your Bathroom” sweepstakes, visit the Tilex Fan Facebook page, to learn more and to enter. You will have a chance to win one of three 40” flat screen TVs, or one of ten Netflix subscriptions. Also, if you share the news about the sweepstakes with your friends, you’ll receive an additional entry for each friend you invite. 

Disclosure:  I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Tilex blogging program, for 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.