11 Bathroom Products Japanese Grandmothers Never Buy (And You Should Stop Too)

📖 Get Emiko's Cleaning Book, the whole house written down, every mix and every minute: LINK IN BIO OR SCAN QR CODE ON THE VIDEO Stand in your bathroom doorway tonight and count every thing you bought for that room because a store told you it needed one. The blue tablet in the tank, the fuzzy rug around the toilet, the spray in the shower, the grout pen, the drain gel. Say the number out loud. Every one of them came home with you for a good reason, my dear, because you wanted a clean bathroom and you paid for one. But most of them hold water or hide dirt until it is old. In my mother's house in Japan, the bathroom had a stool, a bucket, one brush, and one bar of soap, and it never once needed a perfume. WHAT A BATHROOM IS: The one room where water falls on purpose every day. Everything you put in it either dries or holds. Soft things and things with a bottom hold water warm and dark all night, which is what mold waits for. THE ELEVEN: 1. THE BLUE TANK TABLET. Chlorine sits in the tank for weeks and stiffens the rubber flapper until it cracks and leaks, up to two hundred gallons a day. Clear water and ten seconds of brush instead. Replacing a flapper: page 294. 2. THE THROWAWAY TOILET WAND. Around sixty dollars a year in refills, and the soft head misses the ring. One stiff brush, hung between the seat and the bowl to dry. Page 283. 3. THE RUG AROUND THE TOILET AND THE LID COVER. They drink every small splash and keep it warm. A bare floor and one damp cloth every morning. 4. FLUSHABLE WIPES. They do not fall apart in water, and they plug pipes and septic tanks. A little water on ordinary paper instead. 5. THE DAILY SHOWER SPRAY. It keeps wet walls wet for hours. A cool rinse and sixty seconds with a squeegee instead. 6. THE PLASTIC LINER YOU KEEP REPLACING. It is staying wet in the folds. A washable liner, pulled FLAT across the rod after every shower. Page 267. 7. THE MEMORY FOAM BATH MAT. A sponge that never dries inside, with a backing that traps water against the floor. A thin cotton mat, hung over the tub every night. 8. THE GROUT WHITENER PEN. It paints over mold and seals the damp in. 2 tablespoons oxygen bleach powder, about 1 tablespoon hot tap water, brushed in with gloves on, covered with plastic wrap for 30 minutes. Card 25, page 106. 9. THE DRAIN GEL. It leaves the hair behind. A three-dollar hair catcher emptied every night, and a plastic drain strip for the clog. NEVER pour two drain cleaners together. Page 269. 10. THE MATCHING COUNTER SET. Every bottom holds water, and slime grows in the toothbrush holder. One plain cup, rinsed and turned upside down every morning. Page 291. 11. THE SHELF ABOVE THE TOILET. A flush with the lid up throws mist about five feet up, onto everything stored there. Lid down before you flush, towels and paper into a closed cupboard. THE HONEST PART: A toilet brush still wants replacing once a year. Mold deep in soft caulk may need a store gel with chlorine bleach, gloves on, window open, or replacing. NEVER put bleach on a surface where you used citric acid or any acid that day (the chart is on page 39). A drain still slow after the hair is out is a plumber's job. When someone is sick, a disinfectant on the handle and faucet has its place. WHY NOBODY TOLD YOU: Blue tablets nine dollars, wand refills twelve, daily spray six, grout pen nine, drain gel eleven. Forty-seven dollars, bought again every year. One brush, one squeegee, a hair catcher, and a bag of oxygen powder do it for a year. Tonight: stand in your bathroom doorway, count, and take out just one thing. Then tell me in the comments the number you counted and how old your house is. Not one of them goes unread.