My Favorite Products for Cleaning the Bathroom

There is a surprising number of products marketed to help you clean your bathroom. You don't need to spend a small fortune on the latest and greatest, but some products out there are still better than others—and as someone who writes about cleaning for a living, you can imagine I've tested a good many of them. Here are the ones I have found to be the best over the years.

The two best products for cleaning most of the bathroom

First up, do not worry about how you're going to clean your tub, sink, toilet, and fixtures anymore. You really only need two products, and they both work fabulously. For porcelain and tile, pick up some Soft Scrub. I was first introduced to this product two summers ago, when my boyfriend very suddenly decided to get a boat. Every night when we docked, we were tasked with scrubbing away the salty water that covered the surfaces and quickly found Soft Scrub, with its mix of a little abrasion and a lot of suds, to be the most effective and least harmful product. From there, I got some for around the house. I think of it like a mild exfoliator for my stuff: It ever so slightly buffs and resurfaces, never scratches, and foams up to provide a good clean. For the bathroom, try a formulation with bleach.

For your fixtures, like faucets or even the toilet flusher, I recommend the same thing I recommend for kitchen metals: Brasso. The seven-in-one polish is inexpensive—just under $5—and makes copper, steel, chrome, and more shine with ease.

For those tougher spots

In the past, I've recommended using electronic scrubbing brushes, which are great for helping ease the burden of having to really scrub at tiles, grout, and crevices. Since I started using the more-abrasive Soft Scrub, though, I find these a little unnecessary. For anything I do have to scrub a little extra at, I again recommend something I also suggest for the kitchen: My trusty Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Extra Foamy. You get five of them for under $10 and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I buy one pack and use them all around my home. Like traditional melamine sponges, they make quick work of sticky messes and scuffs, but with little foaming pods of cleaner inside, they also suds up for extra grime-busting power.

That said, if you have a bunch of tiny crevices, one of those electronic brushes may still be in the cards for you. There is really no good reason to overwork your elbows when something like this exists and is only around $20.

Other bathroom-cleaning essentials

I also keep a miniature squeegee in the tub and, when I finish my shower, use it to clean the glass. This has significantly reduced how often and how hard I need to clean the panes in general, as it prevents moisture buildup and stops water stains and streaks before they start. Here is the one I have, which is less than $10.

For drain cleaning, I never use liquid cleaners or decloggers. I've never found them all that effective, at least not when compared with a drain weasel. It's long, has a rotating handle, and easily yanks gunk and hair right out of the pipes, so routine use means you won't end up in a situation where you have a bunch of clogs.

Finally, here's something I don't yet have but very much want, so I'm mentioning it as a means of putting out into the universe that I need one: the cordless window vacuum from Sharper Image, which you fill with water, stick to the glass, and let do the work for you. After spraying your glass, it even removes the water, then sorts it into a separate reservoir so the clean and dirty water never mix. It's $68 and, admittedly, a little unnecessary if you only have a small mirror (which I do) and a bottle of Windex (which I also do), but it's very cool, and that counts for something.