TIPical Mary Ellen shares tips on effectively cleaning a bathroom.

• There are a lot of shower-cleaning products on the market these days that are to be used as daily shower and tub cleaners. Save yourself some money with this tip: Mix one part bleach with three parts water, add a few squirts of lemon juice, then put it in a spray bottle. This will make your own shower cleaner that is just as effective as the name-brand products.
• Start by removing any rugs from the bathroom.
• If it is a rug without a backing on it, you can just throw it in the wash with like colors and tumble dry it. However, if there is a backing on the rug, you must wash it by itself in warm water, then air fluff in the dryer, as heat will damage the backing.
• Using the hose attachment, vacuum the floors, counters, ledges and sinks. This way you won’t have to clean the hair off a sponge.
• Go around the room with a soapy rag and a damp rag, quickly wiping down towel racks, doors and corners.
• Spray the shower, tub, and shower doors or curtain with an all-purpose cleaner.
• If you need to do a little heavier tub cleaning, a great cleaner is a splash of liquid laundry detergent in a gallon of water. Not only does it do a good job of cleaning off the grime, it also takes out some of the discoloration that can be caused by hard water.
• While you let that sit, clean the fixtures in the shower or tub. For brass, use a commercial brass cleaner, lemon dipped in salt, or a paste of equal parts vinegar, flour, and salt. Buff with mineral oil. Be careful when using harsh but effective cleaners on chrome or brass-plated hardware. Read labels, and test the cleaner out in a hidden area.
• When grime and mildew don’t respond to regular household cleaners, try this bleach solution. Combine equal parts water to equal parts household bleach. Bleach kills mildew and removes many stains. Scrub the solution into the filthy tile with a grout brush or a stiff-bristled toothbrush. Leave the bleach solution on for a few minutes after scrubbing, then rinse away with clean water, or pour it into a spray bottle and spray after showering each day. For tougher mildew stains on grout, use a toothbrush. Apply a tile-cleaning solution with the brush, and scrub the problem area. Let it sit for a couple minutes, then scrub clean, taking care not to loosen any grout.
• A good way to combat mildew from forming is to keep a small squeegee nearby and squeegee the shower walls down after each use.
• Spray the sink and counter with an all-purpose cleaner, then wipe everything dry, including the tub and shower. Don’t use steel wool or any really abrasive scrub pad to wipe these parts down because they might damage the surfaces. Use a soft sponge, or if you’re in a pinch, ball up some nylon pantyhose, and use those to scrub.
• Clean the toilet from the outside in, starting with the handle, then moving on to the seat and the outside of the bowl. The last step is to clean the bowl.
• Finally, Mary Ellen’s mother’s tip for keeping the toilet clean: Pour 1/2 cup of iron remover granules in the tank. A clean tank means a clean bowl.

Try this expert advice from hotel managers on keeping bathrooms clean.

Whether cozy, sleek or luxurious, hotel baths are the perfect getaway. Now you can transform your bathroom into just such an escape. At Inn-spired Bathrooms, you’ll tour six hotel-inspired baths, garner simple ideas for getting the look you want and learn the cleaning secrets of hotel housekeepers.

How do hotels keep those bathrooms so clean? One quick answer is that hotels clean bathrooms every day, even if the same guest is occupying the room night after night. While you may not want to clean your entire bathroom every day, doing small things — such as wiping down the counters, faucet and sink, and spot-cleaning the mirror — can give your bathroom a daily perk-up. The rest is all in the weekly routine.

To get the dirt on the routine, we asked two experts: Jenny Botero, resident manager of the 697-room Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va., and Erika Jacso, director of style for the W New York Union Square, in New York City, which boasts 270 rooms. They gave us 10 simple steps for keeping your bath sparkling.

Step 1: Vacuum and dust
On the rare occasion that the W Union Square receives a complaint, “it usually has to do with finding hairs on the tile or floor in the bathroom,” Erika says. Her team’s goal is to make sure that never happens. They work from top to bottom, dusting light fixtures and shelves with micro-fiber cloths before vacuuming floors and crevices.

Step 2: Heat up surfaces
Heating tile and the tub just 10 degrees above the normal air temperature “doubles the effectiveness” of alkaline cleansers, Jenny says. Her staff fills the bottom of the tub with a couple inches of the “hottest water they can draw from the tap” and lets it sit for a few minutes. Erika’s staff also throws hot water over the tiles, shower and tub.

Step 3: Spray
Drain the tub, then spray an antibacterial cleaner on tile walls, tub, counters, sink, toilet and floor. Work from top to bottom, starting at the top of shower walls, and spraying down to the tub and inside the toilet bowl.

Step 4: Spread
Use a sponge or cloth to spread the cleanser around evenly on tile surfaces.

Step 5: Sit
Disinfectants need contact time in order to work. Erika’s team lets the cleanser sit for five to seven minutes inside the toilet bowl and on surfaces.

Step 6: Scrub
Use a scrub brush or nonscratch abrasive pad to scrub every square inch of the tub and tiles. Both housekeeping experts swear by Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, especially for hard-to-remove gray rings inside the tub.

Step 7: Rinse
This is the most important step, in Jenny’s opinion. The chemicals in cleansers are designed to attract soil and particles, she points out. If you don’t rinse after spraying your cleanser, dirt is going to stick to it and build up and “be even more troublesome.”

Step 8: Dry
Use clean, dry cotton cloths or rags to thoroughly dry all surfaces. Jenny recommends using color-coded cloths for cleaning — blue for glass and mirrored surfaces, yellow for the toilet, and pink for tub and sinks. That way, you never make the mistake of wiping off the sink with a cloth that was used to dry the toilet.

Step 9: Glass and mirrors
Spray the mirror and other glass with a glass cleanser and wipe dry.

Step 10: Floors
Exit out of the bathroom by rinsing, wiping and drying the floor.