Ah, the swift passage of time. Three weeks have passed since I last posted. So much for doing better in the new year.
Well, I did get all of the reenacting clothing washed and stored away – though I still have his neck cloth which needs to ironed – it is sitting on the dining room table as reminder to do so.
On Monday, the sixteenth, I set my desktop computer to start its monthly backup and I went to start taking down the ornaments from our Christmas trees. Our agreement is that husband gets the room to use for weaving (called his “loom room”) from mid January to mid December and I get it for Christmas for the other month. He was at his desk and I told him what I was about to do. “NO, NO! I am not ready yet for Christmas to be over and packed away!” So our indoor Christmas decorations are still in place. (We did take down the outside lights that weekend so neighbors would not think us crazy.)
We have figured out how to deal with the window candle lights I like for Christmas (goes well with the house which is colonial in style) for the future. I figured out that if we pulled the hope chest shaped DVD chest out from under the TV table I could carefully climb under and reach the windowsill as well as the electric outlet under the window and we can use the plug in candle lights we have from years ago (in recent years before the current one we had switched to battery operated ones). If I do this once next year and plug them into a timer which can be controlled from a cellphone, we can leave the lights in place permanently and husband can turn them off after Christmas. We can continue to use the battery lights upstairs and turn them off after the holiday by hand.
I am not the best at cleaning to begin with – and since Covid and being in the house most of the time, even worse. (So bad, husband has started helping me, though he says he does out of boredom.) Last Saturday night I was in the kitchen and decided to clean the bathroom immediately next to the kitchen – and I do mean immediately next to. As I sit here at our kitchen table the wall in front of me is the shared wall with the bathroom which is a small “cozy room” and the kitchen wraps around it – the door to the bathroom is on the side of it and faces the “pantry” closet in the kitchen. This was while I was waiting for husband to be ready to order take out for dinner our “Saturday night substitute for date night dinner out”
BIG MISTAKE! I had not been able to find my normal toilet bowl cleaner and the one we had bought had a LOT of bleach in it. The kitchen reeked of bleach – especially by the kitchen table where we would eat dinner. I closed the bathroom door to keep the smell in it, figuring that later when we were in the living room watching a movie (for Saturday night date night movie substitute) I would open the door and let the odor dissipate. First thing husband does when he comes down to go out and pick up dinner as I say “NO, DON'T!” is open the bathroom door and let the bleach odor overwhelm us. The odor did dissipate later that night. And, yes, while out on a shopping run this past week I bought a bottle of the non-bleach toilet bowl cleaner I normally use – though it seemed to be the last and the company has changed it – but time enough to worry about that in the future.
At the same time, while the cleaner had sat in the toilet bowl, I also “Swiffered” the kitchen floor – which I had done in the bathroom as well as I could (bathroom is too tight to easily use the Swiffer, a broom or mop in it) – the floors really NEED a washing – but we are always here and using the kitchen so washing it and letting it dry is not easy. I also cleaned the sink in the bathroom.
One semi clean place in the house.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Two of them really, first, watch what your cleaning products have in them and second, it is not THAT hard to find a small amount of time to do something about cleaning.
Showing posts with label toilet bowl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toilet bowl. Show all posts
Thursday, January 26, 2023
CATCHING UP FROM CHRISTMAS AND LEARNING NOT TO ASSUME ALL CLEANING PRODUCTS FOR A PURPOSE ARE THE SAME - WHAT AN ODOR!
Thursday, August 4, 2022
EVEN IN A PANDEMIC - THINGS BREAK AND NEED TO BE REPLACED
The time had come – we had to replace one of our toilet seats – the one in the upstairs bathroom. We have been in the house for about 33 years. We have 2 bathrooms and have replaced each of the toilet seats at least once. The upstairs toilet seat apparently had a plastic film seal over the seat and the hole that had suddenly appeared in the film was getting too big to ignore, so a new one was needed. (I am a big believer in “whenever you can ignore a problem – do so”.) I had not actually completely ignored the problem - I had given a bit of a pull to the edge of the hole to see if it would expand...
Now a toilet seat might seem a generic item and replaceable with no thought, but having grown up in a home where the bathroom was alternatively referred to as “the reading room” and “daddy's office”, I can assure you it does take some thought – especially when one is on a budget. First I read up on toilet seats as I knew that these days there are different shapes and though there might even be different sizes – only different shapes. I was pretty sure ours was a “round” as opposed to an “elongated” - the latter being a newer style of toilet than ours – which predates our buying the house. I was right. So size was determined – round. Price is always a factor and we did not something fancy – so next question was plastic or (not, not paper) wood? We have one of each (our half bath in our kitchen* has a wood seat). Husband studied the seats in both bathrooms and decided on plastic.
Then the hard question – Home Depot or Lowes? I noticed that Home Depot had a lot more choices than Lowes, but husband had to go to both stores. He bought the plastic, round seat, near, but not at the bottom of the price range, we had figured would be good for us and we took it home.
At home - after it sat around for a few days, of course, he opened the box and took the seat to the bathroom to see how it would be. He then went to the Home Depot website and decided that maybe we should have a more substantial seat and found one. Back to Home Depot and bought that seat. We had not returned the original so we could think about it.
He decided the new one was more substantial and decided to put it in. It was another manufacturer and had a more complicated installation than the other (and our old) seat – involving putting in the hinge and then pushing the seat connectors into the hinge. When he took the seat out of the box it had several large scratches on it. Back to thinking. One thing he mentioned that was that the scratched one was slightly, but measurably thicker - “Does that matter?” My first response was “no”, but then I thought about it. This toilet is somehow taller than the one downstairs (which should be the same size) and the downstairs one is a slightly more comfortable height for me so I changed my response to “yes” and explained this to him. We decided to go with the first seat.
We went to install the first seat we bought. We took off the old one – cleaned the toilet well (my job) and went to install the new seat. Unfortunately no one thought that one have the toilet sitting almost against the side wall. (I often joke that we should take out the toilet paper and find someplace else to put it so my leg does not touch it when using the toilet – it is that close a space.) Installing the left side of the seat was complicated by this problem, but we managed to get installed. Well, that's something accomplished.
The seat does have a new feature – s l o w c l o s i n g. I am used to holding the end of the seat to keep it from falling too quickly and have to learn to let go and let it fall.
Thursday, November 15, 2018
MY HUSBAND SAID - IT WILL ONLY TAKE AN HOUR - PART 1
First - I hope any of you in California and those you know are safe from the fires.
I have mentioned before that we have a very small RV (it is a conversion of a Chevy Express van so I do mean small). Those of you who live in the colder areas understand that in cold weather unprotected water pipes can freeze and cause damage. To prevent this in an RV (or a travel trailer or boat which has plumbing) one has to winterize the water system in the fall before it gets too cold. Too cold according to my husband is 2 nights in a row under 28F, without it getting into the 40Fs during the days. At this point water will be freezing in the water system of the RV.
Winterizing is a fairly straight forward process - all the water in the pipes and tanks has to be drained out and then a non-toxic anti-freeze (mostly alcohol - no, not the drinkable kind) has to be run through the system. It really should only take about an hour - but hey, this is us.
At the end of October when it was still in the 50Fs I suggested to husband that we do the winterizing since we were not going to use the RV due to his shoulder and arm pain. We normally due this early in November. He replied that we had plenty of time - I suggested that doing it in relatively warmer weather was better. He said to wait until he felt better. This is one of the few maintenance tasks that we do ourselves on the RV that I cannot do on my own. (Husband has been surprised this past month and a half that I can do the tasks we do together on my own.)
Well, last weekend the weather report was for a night below freezing and that the weather would not improve much this week - going into rain on Tuesday. So, now in panic we had to winterize the RV on Monday. Luckily husband had listened to me when I suggested buying the antifreeze last month and we had bought 3 one gallon bottles plus we had one full bottle and one at least half full bottle left over last year.
First thing we had to do was the result of our not having traveled in September or October. We anticipated at least one more trip when we went away on our last (one night) August trip. The black and grey water tanks (outgoing water) have to be dumped. While we dumped them before we left for home on our last trip, we also added some clean water into them as they cannot be without water (or antifreeze) in it. Generally on our last trip of the season we would not have added this water into the tanks. So we had to dump the tanks.
Well, we thought this was the first thing. Since we had planned to travel again and had been away for at most a total of 5 nights, we had left the bed made. So first I had to unmake and disassemble the bed. Why? The bed is on top of two cabinets (when not a bed it is similar to a restaurant booth - a seats on top of a cabinet on each side of the RV in the rear section and then wooden boards go between, the side seats slide together onto these boards and then the bench backs are laid down along the walls to form the bed) This all has to be reversed to unmake the bed.
So I strip the sheets and pillow cases and bag them in a laundry bag - throw in front of the RV. I then fold the blankets and the mattress covers and with the pillows to the same side of the bed (his side or my side) I bag them in extra large laundry bags and then put those in extra large plastic bags and seal them closed for the winter. I use twin sheets, blankets and mattress covers as it is easier to make up each half of the bed separately. The bags with the pillows etc. each go on one of the front seats. I then lift up the back of the bench on “my side”of the bed and put it on the main mattress piece and push the bottom end (where I am) to the side which lets me pull out the first wooden board from the center and set it aside. I then squeeze in and pull out the second board. I can then reach a small section of the mattress which sits along the rear corner of the RV (head of the bed as we sleep with our heads to the back of the RV) and put that also on the main piece. I can now push the main piece into the bench position on the cabinet on that side. I remove a small additional center mattress insert from between the two sides and put it and the two large pieces of wood under the mattress piece.
I then take the back piece from his side of the bed and put it on mine. I take the matching small back corner piece and put it on mine. This leaves his main mattress piece - the bench seat. Problem is that my side of the bed and its bench is about 3 inches shorter than his in length. So I can not put it on my side, I have to put the rear van end (head of the bed) on mine and with it on a catty corner angle make room to be able to later get to the front end of the cabinet under his mattress as that is where the water system is accessed. This has taken about a half hour.
The water from the fresh water tanks had been let out after our return home - that water can be allowed to run down the driveway as it is clean water, the water from the grey and black tanks cannot be allowed to run. So when we do this at home we have the dump system pump the water into a bucket which is then carried into the house and flushed down the toilet. (If you have been in an RV our has different dump system - instead of it all running out by gravity, ours has a macerator and pump and the contents are pumped out and ground up. Normally he would carry the bucket, this time I had to.
We set it all up on the driveway and I was holding the hose into the bucket while he pushed the button on the side of the driver’s seat to run the pump. He pushes it - nothing happens. Repeat - nothing happens. Repeat - nothing happens. Husband goes into panic mode. Maybe we didn’t put water in it when we pumped it out? He adds a gallon of antifreeze. He pushes the button - nothing happens. More panic. Then he thinks - maybe there is not enough water in it as the RV is on the driveway on an uphill angle and the water is sitting at the other end of the tank. He has me take out our levelers - this are rounded bottom plastic pieces with a thin end graduated to a thick end. One is put in front of the rear tires (or the front ones - in this case the rear ones) and then he slowly drives onto them until the RV is level. Chucks are put under the thin end which is now raised in the air - lifting the tires up off the group. We do this. I hate doing this as I am the one who has to slip the chucks under it and then has to remove the chucks from it - we were going to put strings on the chucks so I would not have to put my hands and arms under the RV to remove them, but of course have not gotten around to it. So the RV was sort of level (we can only raise it so much). I hold the hose in the bucket, he pushes the button. Nothing happens. Repeat. Finally remove the chucks and drive off the levelers.
When we last dumped the tanks the pump sounded funny, it seemed to go to quickly, and there was no need to give short pumps at the end. Maybe the macerator is broken and/or pump is broken? That’s a big expense.
New idea. Maybe something is stuck in the macerator? There is a handle to rotate it and clear it - under the RV. I have lain down before and looked at what was underneath as husband would get ill if he did so and I did have to find the cap to remove to let the clean the water out when we are done with using the tanks. I knew where the handle was. As a matter of fact during this past summer husband and I had a conversation about the handle as someone had figured out how to make a clean out from the macerator directly and let the tank contents out by gravity. The handle is on the driver’s side of the RV - the macerator is under the passenger side. We have had this discussion at least 3 times in the past. He tells me to turn the handle and insists it is on the passenger side. It is fall. The driveway is covered in leaves. I don’t want to lie down in the leaves. He gets a broom and sweeps them away as I humor him by lying down and looking on the wrong side for the handle. Then the leaves have to be cleared off the driveway on the correct side. Problem here is the driveway is wet from our attempts to dump - and I AM NOT GOING TO LIE IN THAT WATER. So I am lying on my wrong side. Next problem. I am short and have short arms so I can barely reach the handle and. I manage to grab it and push it and I think it engaged. I turn it. I cannot keep it pushed and turn it at the same time, but attempt it several times. Guess what - yes, when we try to dump again it still does not work. Husband figures that maybe the water in the macerator (there is always some which is why we are suppose to get anti-freeze in it to replace the water which will be pushed out by the pump) froze.
We realize that we cannot do anything with pump and macerator and - luckily for me - we both have the same idea to move on to the rest of the process. We have used about 2.5 hours doing this. He drives the RV back into its normal position on the driveway to do the rest - most - of the process which remains.
To be continued -
I have mentioned before that we have a very small RV (it is a conversion of a Chevy Express van so I do mean small). Those of you who live in the colder areas understand that in cold weather unprotected water pipes can freeze and cause damage. To prevent this in an RV (or a travel trailer or boat which has plumbing) one has to winterize the water system in the fall before it gets too cold. Too cold according to my husband is 2 nights in a row under 28F, without it getting into the 40Fs during the days. At this point water will be freezing in the water system of the RV.
Winterizing is a fairly straight forward process - all the water in the pipes and tanks has to be drained out and then a non-toxic anti-freeze (mostly alcohol - no, not the drinkable kind) has to be run through the system. It really should only take about an hour - but hey, this is us.
At the end of October when it was still in the 50Fs I suggested to husband that we do the winterizing since we were not going to use the RV due to his shoulder and arm pain. We normally due this early in November. He replied that we had plenty of time - I suggested that doing it in relatively warmer weather was better. He said to wait until he felt better. This is one of the few maintenance tasks that we do ourselves on the RV that I cannot do on my own. (Husband has been surprised this past month and a half that I can do the tasks we do together on my own.)
Well, last weekend the weather report was for a night below freezing and that the weather would not improve much this week - going into rain on Tuesday. So, now in panic we had to winterize the RV on Monday. Luckily husband had listened to me when I suggested buying the antifreeze last month and we had bought 3 one gallon bottles plus we had one full bottle and one at least half full bottle left over last year.
First thing we had to do was the result of our not having traveled in September or October. We anticipated at least one more trip when we went away on our last (one night) August trip. The black and grey water tanks (outgoing water) have to be dumped. While we dumped them before we left for home on our last trip, we also added some clean water into them as they cannot be without water (or antifreeze) in it. Generally on our last trip of the season we would not have added this water into the tanks. So we had to dump the tanks.
Well, we thought this was the first thing. Since we had planned to travel again and had been away for at most a total of 5 nights, we had left the bed made. So first I had to unmake and disassemble the bed. Why? The bed is on top of two cabinets (when not a bed it is similar to a restaurant booth - a seats on top of a cabinet on each side of the RV in the rear section and then wooden boards go between, the side seats slide together onto these boards and then the bench backs are laid down along the walls to form the bed) This all has to be reversed to unmake the bed.
So I strip the sheets and pillow cases and bag them in a laundry bag - throw in front of the RV. I then fold the blankets and the mattress covers and with the pillows to the same side of the bed (his side or my side) I bag them in extra large laundry bags and then put those in extra large plastic bags and seal them closed for the winter. I use twin sheets, blankets and mattress covers as it is easier to make up each half of the bed separately. The bags with the pillows etc. each go on one of the front seats. I then lift up the back of the bench on “my side”of the bed and put it on the main mattress piece and push the bottom end (where I am) to the side which lets me pull out the first wooden board from the center and set it aside. I then squeeze in and pull out the second board. I can then reach a small section of the mattress which sits along the rear corner of the RV (head of the bed as we sleep with our heads to the back of the RV) and put that also on the main piece. I can now push the main piece into the bench position on the cabinet on that side. I remove a small additional center mattress insert from between the two sides and put it and the two large pieces of wood under the mattress piece.
I then take the back piece from his side of the bed and put it on mine. I take the matching small back corner piece and put it on mine. This leaves his main mattress piece - the bench seat. Problem is that my side of the bed and its bench is about 3 inches shorter than his in length. So I can not put it on my side, I have to put the rear van end (head of the bed) on mine and with it on a catty corner angle make room to be able to later get to the front end of the cabinet under his mattress as that is where the water system is accessed. This has taken about a half hour.
The water from the fresh water tanks had been let out after our return home - that water can be allowed to run down the driveway as it is clean water, the water from the grey and black tanks cannot be allowed to run. So when we do this at home we have the dump system pump the water into a bucket which is then carried into the house and flushed down the toilet. (If you have been in an RV our has different dump system - instead of it all running out by gravity, ours has a macerator and pump and the contents are pumped out and ground up. Normally he would carry the bucket, this time I had to.
We set it all up on the driveway and I was holding the hose into the bucket while he pushed the button on the side of the driver’s seat to run the pump. He pushes it - nothing happens. Repeat - nothing happens. Repeat - nothing happens. Husband goes into panic mode. Maybe we didn’t put water in it when we pumped it out? He adds a gallon of antifreeze. He pushes the button - nothing happens. More panic. Then he thinks - maybe there is not enough water in it as the RV is on the driveway on an uphill angle and the water is sitting at the other end of the tank. He has me take out our levelers - this are rounded bottom plastic pieces with a thin end graduated to a thick end. One is put in front of the rear tires (or the front ones - in this case the rear ones) and then he slowly drives onto them until the RV is level. Chucks are put under the thin end which is now raised in the air - lifting the tires up off the group. We do this. I hate doing this as I am the one who has to slip the chucks under it and then has to remove the chucks from it - we were going to put strings on the chucks so I would not have to put my hands and arms under the RV to remove them, but of course have not gotten around to it. So the RV was sort of level (we can only raise it so much). I hold the hose in the bucket, he pushes the button. Nothing happens. Repeat. Finally remove the chucks and drive off the levelers.
When we last dumped the tanks the pump sounded funny, it seemed to go to quickly, and there was no need to give short pumps at the end. Maybe the macerator is broken and/or pump is broken? That’s a big expense.
New idea. Maybe something is stuck in the macerator? There is a handle to rotate it and clear it - under the RV. I have lain down before and looked at what was underneath as husband would get ill if he did so and I did have to find the cap to remove to let the clean the water out when we are done with using the tanks. I knew where the handle was. As a matter of fact during this past summer husband and I had a conversation about the handle as someone had figured out how to make a clean out from the macerator directly and let the tank contents out by gravity. The handle is on the driver’s side of the RV - the macerator is under the passenger side. We have had this discussion at least 3 times in the past. He tells me to turn the handle and insists it is on the passenger side. It is fall. The driveway is covered in leaves. I don’t want to lie down in the leaves. He gets a broom and sweeps them away as I humor him by lying down and looking on the wrong side for the handle. Then the leaves have to be cleared off the driveway on the correct side. Problem here is the driveway is wet from our attempts to dump - and I AM NOT GOING TO LIE IN THAT WATER. So I am lying on my wrong side. Next problem. I am short and have short arms so I can barely reach the handle and. I manage to grab it and push it and I think it engaged. I turn it. I cannot keep it pushed and turn it at the same time, but attempt it several times. Guess what - yes, when we try to dump again it still does not work. Husband figures that maybe the water in the macerator (there is always some which is why we are suppose to get anti-freeze in it to replace the water which will be pushed out by the pump) froze.
We realize that we cannot do anything with pump and macerator and - luckily for me - we both have the same idea to move on to the rest of the process. We have used about 2.5 hours doing this. He drives the RV back into its normal position on the driveway to do the rest - most - of the process which remains.
To be continued -
Thursday, June 7, 2018
TINY BATHROOMS - I MEAN REALLY TINY!
Okay, let’s get back to the idea of trying to get organized. We have a full bathroom upstairs and and a half bath downstairs. For those from other places, this means that our bathroom upstairs has a commode, sink, and bathtub/shower, while our downstairs bathroom has only a commode and sink. They are small. The downstairs bathroom is just less than 4 feet by 4 feet. The upstairs one is about 6 feet by 5 feet - the 5 feet being the cross measurement of the bathtub. I am not sure that in some of the new houses being built the “toilet room” in the bathrooms are not larger than our bathrooms themselves.
When we moved in the downstairs bathroom had a decent sink and fairly new small vanity. At some point the floor had been retiled as it ceramic tile and based on what I know of tile at different points in my life, I would say it had put in within 10 years of when we bought. The walls in both bathrooms have plastic tile - something I have never otherwise seen and I presume is older. The vanity had a drawer below the door section.
The upstairs sink and vanity were not that nice - and much older looking. At some point we decided to replace them. We then found out that our bathroom sinks are below the smallest standard size. Back then we had a choice of two, now I am not sure that this size is still made. We looked and looked and managed to find a duplicate of the downstairs vanity - with a drawer at the bottom. No other vanities in this size had any drawer and there were maybe 3 of them to choose from. Understand I don’t mean that we went to a store and the store had 3 of them. We went to ALL the stores and found 3 total. We replaced the upstairs sink and vanity, putting in the new setup ourselves. When we moved in there was no electric outlet in either bathroom - yes, I just said that there was no outlet in either bathroom when we moved in. We are not sure how the families before us dried their hair and the men must have shaved with blades, not an electric shaver. We are not sure this would be allowed under the current electric code where we live.
When I read organizing books there is an assumption that there are lots of drawers, a large cabinet and a counter top. We have no counter in either bathroom. We also cannot put an “over john” in the upstairs bathroom. (This is a set of shelves intended to stand around the commode and put shelves over it.) Why? Well, the window is over the commode and it would be blocked by the over john unit. What we did end up doing is making a 2 shelved wheeled cart that just squeezes in opposite the sink and next to the bathtub. It can be wheeled out when one is taking a shower or cleaning the bathroom and then wheeled back in. The bottom is used for storage and the top for counter space. Spare towels and related are kept in a small closet in the hall outside of the bathroom. We also put up a wooden ladder shaped hanging, that we made, on the wall adjacent to the commode - this is for magazines, but they get a bit icky where it is located, so very little is placed there.
The drawer in upstairs bathroom is husband’s. He has to put his razor and related items somewhere and the drawer is where they are. Since he gets dizzy when he bends over, it is not the best place, but it is what we have. In the cabinet I have a plastic shoe box without a lid. This holds our first aid stuff for upstairs. It can be pulled out to be taken to where it is needed. We have spare toilet paper and mouthwash in the cabinet, as well as a spray bottle of shower cleaner. That fills it. In the “medicine cabinet” over the sink, husband has his teeth related items on the top shelf in what is sold as drawer divider box. He can take the entire divider box out, put it on the cart to use it, and then put it back. Small bathroom related items - including over the counter pain killers - are on the other two shelves. We do not keep any prescription medication upstairs. Why? I have to count it out once a week into boxes (so if one of us says “hey, did I take my pills?” we can easily check if it was taken) and I do this in the kitchen, so the prescription medications are kept in the kitchen. I keep my teeth related items in the hall closet - it just leads to much less arguing.
We do have this closet just outside our bathroom and bedroom. It had shelves so it is used as a linen closet for the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom. We put a wire shelving unit on the inside of the door and I try to keep the items there in sections by what they are for to be able to find them - such as all of the “Band aid” type items are on the same door shelf. Cleaning items for the bathroom are on the bottom door shelf. A roll of paper towels is also kept in this closet for upstairs use.
The hand towels in use hang on a towel bar on the door - we went to change this when we moved in, but it is set into a cut into the tile around the tub/shower and could not be changed. The started shower towels hang on the door of the shower. I also have 2 “utility” towels in the bathroom. These are towels to wipe up spills and messes.
I keep the box of tissues on the top of the commode. Also there and on the window sill are pump hand soap and pump hand sanitizer . For fun and decoration there are some small “rubber” duckies in a line across the window sill. There is a holder for small paper cups on the wall between the sink area and the tub.
When it is time to clean the bathroom, I wheel the cart out of it. I do have to lie across the (closed) commode seat to be able to reach behind it to clean it and the floor. To clean the tiny space between the sink/cabinet and the tub, I have to kneel in the tub to be able to reach the floor there to clean it.
The day after we moved in we had an electrician in to put in an electric outlet. The choices were limited. It could be on the wall that is behind one, when one is standing at the sink - not convenient. or we could move the lighting fixture and put the outlet where the light had been. The light was moved to the eave angle of the ceiling and an outlet put in. I can sort of reach the outlet, but not really.
The upstairs does have ceramic tile on the wall and on the tub surround so they must have been replaced as they are not plastic, although they look older than the ones in the downstairs bathroom.
Ah yes - I wanted to mention that we always seem to manage to drip some water off the back corner of the sink onto the floor (on the commode side) and I have started folding a paper towel in quarters and putting it this corner of the floor to absorb any water that drips.
The downstairs sink has a bit more flat surface around it and I have the pump soap and pump hand sanitizer on the back corners of the sink. I cut a paper towel in half and then cut it to match the curve of the sink and keep the pieces under the two pumps to keep the sink top clean - I change them when I clean the bathroom.
I also have to lie down on the commode to clean behind it. There is a perhaps 1 inch to 1.5 inch space between the vanity and the side wall - it is next to impossible to clean. A damp paper towel folded and shoved in and moved with a yard stick is about the best that can be done. The cleaners are kept in the vanity. The drawer here holds some magazines (BBC History magazine to be specific.) The hand towels and some utility towels (no other towels needed for here) are also kept in the vanity. I hang a set of hand towels on a towel bar. The owner before us also had 2 large rings for towels and I hang a utility towel in one of them for wiping up. There is a cup holder attached to the wall with a metal cup in it. We use this bathroom when cleaning up from doing crafts and the cup holds paint brushes that need to dry.
For an electric outlet in this bathroom we installed (ourselves) a combination piece which has one outlet and the light switch in what would be the second outlet area. It has not been working right lately (only when I am using it of course) and we have bought a new matching unit to replace the old one.
The medicine cabinet has more of the same over the counter medicines. (We keep older bottles of them when we buy new and split the new between the upstairs and downstairs bottles, putting the new expiration dates on the older bottles as we never use them up before they go bad and do not want to buy 2 bottles.) We get our prescription medications in 90 day supplies and I keep the bottles in this cabinet. Since it is not a shower bathroom, it does not get steamy so we can do this. I count the pills into smaller bottles (again ones from earlier prescriptions that match what is in them) of a month’s worth when I use up the month’s worth in them. These smaller bottles are kept in the kitchen cabinet. There is first aid stuff in this cabinet also - not as much as upstairs, just so we don’t have to always run upstairs for stuff.
Again the tissue box is kept on the back of the commode. A basket with “for show”guest soaps is also on the back of the commode. Over the commode (which is a wall here, not a window) we have a shelving piece with odd shape small shelves for husband’s small glass animals collection.
This room seems to have originally had a window. Above the plastic tile is wood paneling and there is a ceiling exhaust fan that does not seem to be original. There was a room added to the back of the house that sits behind this room and we assume that there was a window and was covered by the paneling when it was blocked off by the addition of the back room and the exhaust fan was installed at that time.
So that is our bathrooms. Each of them is probably smaller than a closet in the world of organizing books. Do you have a bathroom like our ours or do you have a nice big one.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
If you have small room you have to figure out how to make them work for you. When we started we were not sure what to do. Over the years we have managed to make them work for us. They are far from perfect or convenient, but they work. (And, as small as they are, they are bigger and more convenient than our RV bathroom - if you can call it that.)
I would love to hear from you about your bathroom and what you do to organize it.
Both bathrooms are at the back of the house.
When we moved in the downstairs bathroom had a decent sink and fairly new small vanity. At some point the floor had been retiled as it ceramic tile and based on what I know of tile at different points in my life, I would say it had put in within 10 years of when we bought. The walls in both bathrooms have plastic tile - something I have never otherwise seen and I presume is older. The vanity had a drawer below the door section.
The upstairs sink and vanity were not that nice - and much older looking. At some point we decided to replace them. We then found out that our bathroom sinks are below the smallest standard size. Back then we had a choice of two, now I am not sure that this size is still made. We looked and looked and managed to find a duplicate of the downstairs vanity - with a drawer at the bottom. No other vanities in this size had any drawer and there were maybe 3 of them to choose from. Understand I don’t mean that we went to a store and the store had 3 of them. We went to ALL the stores and found 3 total. We replaced the upstairs sink and vanity, putting in the new setup ourselves. When we moved in there was no electric outlet in either bathroom - yes, I just said that there was no outlet in either bathroom when we moved in. We are not sure how the families before us dried their hair and the men must have shaved with blades, not an electric shaver. We are not sure this would be allowed under the current electric code where we live.
When I read organizing books there is an assumption that there are lots of drawers, a large cabinet and a counter top. We have no counter in either bathroom. We also cannot put an “over john” in the upstairs bathroom. (This is a set of shelves intended to stand around the commode and put shelves over it.) Why? Well, the window is over the commode and it would be blocked by the over john unit. What we did end up doing is making a 2 shelved wheeled cart that just squeezes in opposite the sink and next to the bathtub. It can be wheeled out when one is taking a shower or cleaning the bathroom and then wheeled back in. The bottom is used for storage and the top for counter space. Spare towels and related are kept in a small closet in the hall outside of the bathroom. We also put up a wooden ladder shaped hanging, that we made, on the wall adjacent to the commode - this is for magazines, but they get a bit icky where it is located, so very little is placed there.
The drawer in upstairs bathroom is husband’s. He has to put his razor and related items somewhere and the drawer is where they are. Since he gets dizzy when he bends over, it is not the best place, but it is what we have. In the cabinet I have a plastic shoe box without a lid. This holds our first aid stuff for upstairs. It can be pulled out to be taken to where it is needed. We have spare toilet paper and mouthwash in the cabinet, as well as a spray bottle of shower cleaner. That fills it. In the “medicine cabinet” over the sink, husband has his teeth related items on the top shelf in what is sold as drawer divider box. He can take the entire divider box out, put it on the cart to use it, and then put it back. Small bathroom related items - including over the counter pain killers - are on the other two shelves. We do not keep any prescription medication upstairs. Why? I have to count it out once a week into boxes (so if one of us says “hey, did I take my pills?” we can easily check if it was taken) and I do this in the kitchen, so the prescription medications are kept in the kitchen. I keep my teeth related items in the hall closet - it just leads to much less arguing.
We do have this closet just outside our bathroom and bedroom. It had shelves so it is used as a linen closet for the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom. We put a wire shelving unit on the inside of the door and I try to keep the items there in sections by what they are for to be able to find them - such as all of the “Band aid” type items are on the same door shelf. Cleaning items for the bathroom are on the bottom door shelf. A roll of paper towels is also kept in this closet for upstairs use.
The hand towels in use hang on a towel bar on the door - we went to change this when we moved in, but it is set into a cut into the tile around the tub/shower and could not be changed. The started shower towels hang on the door of the shower. I also have 2 “utility” towels in the bathroom. These are towels to wipe up spills and messes.
I keep the box of tissues on the top of the commode. Also there and on the window sill are pump hand soap and pump hand sanitizer . For fun and decoration there are some small “rubber” duckies in a line across the window sill. There is a holder for small paper cups on the wall between the sink area and the tub.
When it is time to clean the bathroom, I wheel the cart out of it. I do have to lie across the (closed) commode seat to be able to reach behind it to clean it and the floor. To clean the tiny space between the sink/cabinet and the tub, I have to kneel in the tub to be able to reach the floor there to clean it.
The day after we moved in we had an electrician in to put in an electric outlet. The choices were limited. It could be on the wall that is behind one, when one is standing at the sink - not convenient. or we could move the lighting fixture and put the outlet where the light had been. The light was moved to the eave angle of the ceiling and an outlet put in. I can sort of reach the outlet, but not really.
The upstairs does have ceramic tile on the wall and on the tub surround so they must have been replaced as they are not plastic, although they look older than the ones in the downstairs bathroom.
Ah yes - I wanted to mention that we always seem to manage to drip some water off the back corner of the sink onto the floor (on the commode side) and I have started folding a paper towel in quarters and putting it this corner of the floor to absorb any water that drips.
The downstairs sink has a bit more flat surface around it and I have the pump soap and pump hand sanitizer on the back corners of the sink. I cut a paper towel in half and then cut it to match the curve of the sink and keep the pieces under the two pumps to keep the sink top clean - I change them when I clean the bathroom.
I also have to lie down on the commode to clean behind it. There is a perhaps 1 inch to 1.5 inch space between the vanity and the side wall - it is next to impossible to clean. A damp paper towel folded and shoved in and moved with a yard stick is about the best that can be done. The cleaners are kept in the vanity. The drawer here holds some magazines (BBC History magazine to be specific.) The hand towels and some utility towels (no other towels needed for here) are also kept in the vanity. I hang a set of hand towels on a towel bar. The owner before us also had 2 large rings for towels and I hang a utility towel in one of them for wiping up. There is a cup holder attached to the wall with a metal cup in it. We use this bathroom when cleaning up from doing crafts and the cup holds paint brushes that need to dry.
For an electric outlet in this bathroom we installed (ourselves) a combination piece which has one outlet and the light switch in what would be the second outlet area. It has not been working right lately (only when I am using it of course) and we have bought a new matching unit to replace the old one.
The medicine cabinet has more of the same over the counter medicines. (We keep older bottles of them when we buy new and split the new between the upstairs and downstairs bottles, putting the new expiration dates on the older bottles as we never use them up before they go bad and do not want to buy 2 bottles.) We get our prescription medications in 90 day supplies and I keep the bottles in this cabinet. Since it is not a shower bathroom, it does not get steamy so we can do this. I count the pills into smaller bottles (again ones from earlier prescriptions that match what is in them) of a month’s worth when I use up the month’s worth in them. These smaller bottles are kept in the kitchen cabinet. There is first aid stuff in this cabinet also - not as much as upstairs, just so we don’t have to always run upstairs for stuff.
Again the tissue box is kept on the back of the commode. A basket with “for show”guest soaps is also on the back of the commode. Over the commode (which is a wall here, not a window) we have a shelving piece with odd shape small shelves for husband’s small glass animals collection.
This room seems to have originally had a window. Above the plastic tile is wood paneling and there is a ceiling exhaust fan that does not seem to be original. There was a room added to the back of the house that sits behind this room and we assume that there was a window and was covered by the paneling when it was blocked off by the addition of the back room and the exhaust fan was installed at that time.
So that is our bathrooms. Each of them is probably smaller than a closet in the world of organizing books. Do you have a bathroom like our ours or do you have a nice big one.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
If you have small room you have to figure out how to make them work for you. When we started we were not sure what to do. Over the years we have managed to make them work for us. They are far from perfect or convenient, but they work. (And, as small as they are, they are bigger and more convenient than our RV bathroom - if you can call it that.)
I would love to hear from you about your bathroom and what you do to organize it.
Both bathrooms are at the back of the house.
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