Fall Pinterest Challenge: Shower Scrubber

 Posted by Ethne~

It’s Fall Pinterest Challenge time on Lor’s and my fave DIY blog, YoungHouseLove!!

I pin a lot of great things these days (click on the Pinterest tab here on the blog and you can follow WOM-MOM’s pins), and I actually do a lot of the things I pin.  I’ve been crocheting, and styling my hair, and putting together outfits like the fashionista that I consider myself to be (in my head only I’m sure).

Be mindful that I only look like this when Whitney razzle-dazzles me.

But since YHL is a house DIY blog, I wanted to do a house DIY project.  I pinned this super cute coffee table made out of crates from Michael’s/JoAnn.  The coffee table we have in our downstairs living room had partial glass top pieces and the girls took them out and broke them to irreparable pieces; thankfully no bloodshed. 

Shaun assured me that it’s too cold out to stain or spray paint the raw wood, but I was not deterred.  I rarely listen to reason when he speaks it to me.  It’s like I have some sort of Shaun Logic Blockade in my brain.  In absence of that, I was thinking I’d have the girls write graffiti on the crates.  But when I inspected the crates last week, I deemed them too small to make a satisfactory coffee table.

So next I thought I’d do a little home décor – my sis Whit had pinned these darling little crochet acorns that you put real acorn tops on.  I envisioned putting them into my vase of wine corks for a Thanksgiving table centerpiece, but even halving the instructions (amount of stitches used), yielded a crocheted acorn ball too big for the acorn tops I have.  *Apparently* the only acorns in Minnesota are pygmy size.  The one in the picture is the largest I found; I am not attempting to crochet a pygmy yarn acorn for the same reason I don’t make Barbie clothes – TOO &^%$&^%$ SMALL!

It would have to be A LOT smaller to fit in that little top

Finally, I settled on a Pinterest project I’ve been testing for our blog anyway.  I’m sure if you’ve been on Pinterest for 2 seconds you’ve seen the ka-zillion pins for making a shower scrubber with a kitchen dish scrubber, vinegar and Dawn dish soap.  Guaranteed.

I happen to use Dawn dish soap already.  I figure if it cleans oil spills off of animals, it’s the right thing for my dishes.  Plus, my purchases contribute to Dawn’s animal fund.  And I use vinegar ALL THE TIME for stuff, from making pickles to a substitute for liquid fabric softener (yes, that works and no, our clothes don’t smell like vinegar – no lie).  Only purchase necessary: kitchen scrubber.

I did as instructed in the pin and filled the scrubber ½ with vinegar and ½ with regular Dawn dishsoap.

It looks like one 'fill' will last about a month.  The scrubber will need to be replaced soon from wear and tear.

For the past month, I’ve been scrubbing my shower down with my vinegar mix – in a rotation.  I never seem to give myself enough time to get ready in the morning.  So instead of cleaning the entire shower with the vinegar mix each day, I instead clean one wall and the tub per day in a rotation.

The results?  Well, I think about 90% successful.  I feel like I’m bathing in a pretty clean shower after a month’s time.  I know vinegar is a disinfectant, so I’m not showering the girls and myself in filth, and the tub and walls haven’t gotten nasty.

After a month, that tile looks pretty nice and the shelves are not scummy.

But just this week I started to notice some small spots of buildup on the grout of the tiles, and some soap residue on the showerhead.  I think that next week when I clean the bathroom again, I’ll clean the shower with the harsher bathroom chemicals too.

See those couple of spots there?  Not too bad for a month, but I'll take Scrubbing Bubbles to it on Saturday.

It's hard to see but 3/4 of the way down the grout, there is an orangey spot that needs some stringent cleaner.

Suds residue, even after being scrubbed with Dawn and vinegar ~ 3 x per week

Will I continue to do this?  YES.  Where Lori hates to do laundry, I hate to clean my bathroom.  With a vengeance.  If I can cut the shower scrubbing with harsh chemicals to once a month rather than once a week (hence cutting down my weekly shower cleaning time in general), I’d say that’s success. 

As an aside, for some laughs, be sure to check out one of my recent fave blogs with loads of Pinterest fails – the Pintester.  The lady has a foul mouth and a great sense of humor – right up my alley!