The bathroom can be one of the messiest and most difficult to clean rooms in the home. Seniors face special challenges in keeping this room clean, as there’s many tight corners and surfaces that can accumulate mess. However, with the right tools and strategies this task becomes significantly easier. Whether you’re aging-in-place or a caregiver, the bathroom cleaning strategies for seniors below can help keep your space cleaner.
Tools for Cleaning Bathroom
Having the right tools for the job will make cleaning the bathroom significantly easier. We’ve separated these tools into a few categories, based on cleaning needs and/or limitations someone may be dealing with.
Mobility Restrictions
Cleaning Trolley
A cleaning trolley allows you to keep cleaning tools nearby and on wheels, limiting the amount of movement required to clean a room.
Cleaning Basket
A basket is also a great option for those with mobility limitations. A cart is better for those with upper body limitations, as a basket may be difficult to carry.
Rolling Stool
Rolling stools allow someone to move around a space without having to walk and bend. Great for those with lower body restrictions.
Tools for Convenient Cleaning
XL Scrub Brush
An extendable scrub brush is essential for getting high and low areas. It allows seniors with limited range of motion to access hard-to-reach points.
Steam Mop/Swiffer
A steam mop makes cleaning tile floors significantly easier and faster. Rather than mopping and drying, it can be one simple step.
Magic Eraser
Magic erasers make tile and tubs much easier to clean. They scrub and soak at the same time, allowing many messes to be taken care of in one simple wipe.
Bathroom Cleaning Strategies for Seniors
Now that you have the right tools to clean the bathroom, let’s talk about strategies that can make it quick and easy to take care of common messes. We’ll go area by area, and talk about which of the above tools can help you most.
Sink/Counter Area
The magic eraser is a great tool for this area. Start by wiping down with a wet rag to clean up surface-level messes, then go over the area again with the magic eraser to get grime and other messes that are more set-in.
You could also use your scrub brush for this area, however that shouldn’t be needed except for messes that are extremely stuck onto the hard surfaces of the sink or counter.
Flooring
Flooring is the easiest area to clean, as long as you have the right tools. This may be difficult for those with mobility limitations, which is why we’ve suggested the rolling stool and steam mop above.
Using those two in combination should allow you to reach different areas of the floor and fully clean them, even if you’re not able to bend or reach very far.
Toilet
The toilet can be a difficult area for seniors, especially those with mobility limitations. Using the extendable scrub brush we suggested above should allow you to reach fully into the toilet without having to bend too far, saving some wear-and-tear on the back and lower body.
The magic eraser is also a good tool for certain areas of the toilet, such as the upper bowl and toilet seat regions. If you do use the magic eraser, I would recommend wearing gloves to protect hands from any messes you come into contact with. The toilet contains many germs that you don’t want to come into direct contact with.
Shower/Bathtub
The shower is also a difficult area for some seniors. If you have a seat that you typically use in the shower, sitting on that while you clean is a good way to keep a stable base.
The scrub brush and magic eraser will both come in handy for this area, but should be paired with whatever cleaning materials you have handy. Multi-surface cleaners are great for this area, just make sure it’s something that works well on tile surfaces.
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