The Clean Toilet Challenge Begins!

[kimberlysteele]

Are you in for the Clean Toilet Challenge?

The Clean Toilet challenge is a magical experiment to see if keeping the toilet clean brings money luck and other forms of good fortune to the home or business where the toilet is located. Many cultures believe that an immaculate toilet improves your financial bottom line, and I have explained this belief in a blog post that is linked in comments.

If you’d like to be part of the Clean Toilet Challenge, starting sometime this week of June 22, begin keeping your toilet very clean and plan on cleaning it everyday until December 22. At the beginning of your clean toilet journey, make a mental snapshot of where you are financially, what the general state of your household is, and how lucky you feel. On December 22, take the same sort of mental snapshot. Since I keep a journal, I’m making a note of my bank account numbers today, though I have been keeping my toilet clean all month already, and I can say my finances have already improved considerably and I have been able to afford some luxuries I usually do without, such as eating at restaurants 4x a week when it’s usually more like 4x a month.

Every day after you use or clean your toilet, you can optionally say this little rhyme: "Toilet, toilet handling waste, thank you for your saving grace." I recommend cleaning the toilet with a spray bottle with half vinegar and half water for a safe, all natural, non-toxic clean.

At the end of the Clean Toilet Challenge, I’d like to compare notes with everyone here on Dreamwidth and at my TikTok account @whitewitchoftheprairie. Happy Solstice and see you at the other end of the Challenge.

Comments

toilet cleaning challenge

[(Anonymous)]

I did my first cleaning yesterday. One thing I've noticed is that one cleaning leads to another (dang, that tub could use a scrubbing couldn't it?).

This morning I ran some errands. I found a penny on the pavement (but then I'm always finding a picking up loose change.) Then going into RiteAid, I found I had a $6 rewards credit which I promptly used, turning a nearly $7 purchase into 83 cents. Not big bucks I'll grant you, but an interesting development all the same.

JLfromNH/Fuschia Choleric Armadillo

Re: toilet cleaning challenge

[kimberlysteele]

Interesting! Some auto dealer sent me a scratch-off lottery ticket as a gimmick and I won four bucks. Plus I'm getting so many new music students, I will soon be at saturation/waitlist as I was pre-Plandemic.

Re: toilet cleaning challenge

[(Anonymous)]

That's great news!

Re: toilet cleaning challenge

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you!

Re: toilet cleaning challenge

[miow]

I am so glad for you Kimberly!

Re: toilet cleaning challenge

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you. I am very grateful for the amount of work I have right now.

Re: toilet cleaning challenge

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, very glad to hear it!
Hoping you can ditch (pay off) that SBA loan soon.

- Cicada Grove

[(Anonymous)]

I started yesterday, and found a $7 check I’d overlooked—it was in with the junk mail, to be thrown out. Hmmm.

🎼From Natchez to Mobile
From Memphis to Saint Joe
Wherever the four winds blow
A toilet’s a neat thing
A clean and a sweet thing
That’ll lead you to some funds in the night 🎼

—Princess Cutekitten

[(Anonymous)]

I can hear that to the "Blues in the night" tune in my head, and it is hilarious.

[kimberlysteele]

This is amazing.

[causticus]

What do you use for disinfectant?

[kimberlysteele]

I add about a tablespoon of Florida water (basically rubbing alcohol with herbal extracts in it) and a few spritzes of my favorite eau de toilette or body spray to the vinegar-water mixture.

Princess Cutekitten

[(Anonymous)]

Plain old Pine-sol led me to the check. (Don’t use it if you have a cat.)

Cat owners, are you scrubbing the litter boxes too? If so, has the cat unearthed anything valuable in the last couple of days?

—Princess Cutekitten

Kitty's toilets

[kimberlysteele]

LOL, I just use the same vinegar-water spray if they miss and hit the side of the box. I wouldn't call it a proper scrubbing though.

[(Anonymous)]

I'll take you up on this. I got financially battered by the pandemic and am now aiming to make a recovery so this came along at just the right time. Check in with you at the solstice!

-Turquoise Harebrained Boar

[kimberlysteele]

Yay! The "pandemic" was largely responsible for the closure of my music studio in a commercial space. I was doing better than I had ever done since opening my business and saving money for the first time in my life. I lost my only employee and was financially gutted. My meager savings was vaporized and I ended up taking an SBA loan that I very much regret.

[(Anonymous)]

I am in for the challenge.

I typically do a comprehensive clean of the bathroom once a week. But I also do a quick clean of the toilet bowl daily. I just swish and scrub a bit with the toilet brush, sometimes with a spritz of cleaner. I despise a dirty toilet. My mindset is basically of doing a chore in a perfunctory manner.

I am curious to find out if doing a slightly more thorough daily clean of the toilet with an attitude of appreciation causes any changes.

I ordered a nice glass spray bottle and some Florida Water. On the 20th, while waiting for the packages to arrive, I started to clean each day with a mindset of dedication to the task and grattitude for the blessing of indoor plumbing.

Since then, I found out the annual church fundraisers would cover more money than I expected for my kid's camp. And family members have decided to give us some of the inheritance early for tax purposes. They've done this before, but they stopped a few years ago. The financial benefits could be coincidence, but the timing is provocative.

Heloise

[kimberlysteele]

Wow, that is very cool! Thanks for sharing it.

Florida Water

[(Anonymous)]

If you try to buy Florida Water from a store in Florida, this is what may happen.

Question: Excuse me, where could I find Florida Water?

Store 1: Bottled water is along the back wall. But I don't know if any of it is local.

Store 2: Ma'am, are you from The North?

Store 3: Do you mean, like, the ocean?

Heloise

Re: Florida Water

[methylethyl]

Every time someone here mentions Florida water... I do kind of think of Zephyrhills, which is the local bottled water town/brand.

Re: Florida Water

[kimberlysteele]

LOL! I have yet to find it in a store -- maybe I'm not looking in the right place.

[methylethyl]

Maybe I can be your control group ;) Other commitments prevent me including any dedications to the toilet goddess... but I've been cleaning my toilet daily anyway, as it's just a good idea. Feels nice, and as another commenter mentioned, once the toilet is all nice, then the sink and the tub start giving me the sad eyes, like "won't you clean us too? Please? So yeah, my bathroom is cleaner than usually all-around now, not just the toilet. Nice.

[(Anonymous)]

I looked up the patron saint of plumbing. It’s Saint Vincent Ferrer. Also patron of plumbers and other types of skilled tradesmen.

—Princess Cutekitten

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you for this!

[(Anonymous)]

P.S. I thought that picture Kimberly posted of a wild-eyed hairy guy was the Japanese toilet god? Do they also have a toilet goddess?

The hairy guy looked like he’d been searching frantically for a bathroom, finally found one, only to discover he did not have the right change.

—Princess Cutekitten

[kimberlysteele]

He does seem very formidable for a toilet deity. Ancient Japanese latrines were likely terrifying...

[(Anonymous)]

I'm in! And I am so glad that you are doing so well, Kimberly. Congratulations!

These past two weeks I've missed a day here and there, but honestly it takes no time at all to give our two toilets a once-over and flush. It's an easy hit of "accomplishment". Your cleaning recipe is a pleasure to use.

A couple days ago, my husband and I found $15.00 on one of the trails we walk regularly. There was no one to be seen, so we figured it was ours.

Valerie

[kimberlysteele]

How cool! I am going to share these stories on a TikTok video, they are so much fun.

[(Anonymous)]

I am in, I have already started really. I do not use much in the way of cleaning products as it is usually just overconsumption to do so, I am shampoo less, etc... Anyway, before I started on the daily brush of the toilet bowl, it seemed to have hard water marks by the water line, etc... But, just a daily scrub with the brush has made it cleaner than it has ever been. That just came off over days of daily brushing.

Atmospheric River

[kimberlysteele]

I have noticed that too! And since I am very sensitive, I have noticed that the toilet has a far better vibe and that it seemed to insist we needed a new sink fixture because ours has been semi-broken for over a year (sink drain did not go up and down, hot water handle loose and not able to be tightened). So this weekend I bought a new fixture and my husband installed it and the whole vibe of the bathroom is much, much improved.

[(Anonymous)]

I got a notice my car insurance price was lowered.

/-Princess Cutekitten

[kimberlysteele]

Whoa! Thank you for the report.

I'm in!

[miow]

Starting today.

Thanks for this working.

Re: I'm in!

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you!

I broke my toilet brush today

[(Anonymous)]

... needless to say, darted right out and got another one.

As others have commented, the radius of 'clean' is gradually expanding outward from the toilet. "Oh, why don't I wipe off the side of the bathtub too?" etc.

The toughest part is working 5 years' worth of lime off the inside of the bowl (using CLR periodically for that) but the toilet already looks much better-- and happier.

- Cicada Grove

Re: I broke my toilet brush today

[(Anonymous)]

There's a little pumice stone brush you can get, which is good for rubbing off the build-up inside the bowl. Just let the bowl soak for about ten or fifteen minutes in the cleaner you're using, then gently rub away the scale. Depending on how accretion you have, it will take at least three or four cleanings before you notice a difference. But then after that, it's just a matter of keeping up with the regular brushing to prevent a build-up from recurring.

A stitch in time really does save nine!

JLfromNH/Heliotrope Addlepated Centipede

WOW!!!

[(Anonymous)]

First thing this morning, before 8 am even, I got a call from the State Disability Office.

I'd had surgery in May and been off work for a month.
My doctor and I applied for state disability, the application was accepted, I was sent a check, and I thought the transaction was finished.

The nice Disability Office lady this morning (and she was very kind and nice) said 'no, you didn't send us the extension paperwork for the last week of your disability,' then she PROCEEDED TO TAKE THAT INFORMATION OVER THE PHONE (when is a bureaucracy ever that nice??) then she said 'We will be sending you a check for the last week of your disability, because we didn't pay you for that yet.'

!!!

Well, I'm most certainly onboard now!!

Centipede, thanks for the tip about the pumice.
I am reluctant to hit the bowl with abrasive stuff, so I've been using CLR (it's a chemical that dissolves lime and rust). It's made some progress so I will just repeat-use, similar to your suggestion above, until the last of the dirty stuff has come off.

- Cicada Grove

Re: WOW!!!

[(Anonymous)]

One thing that's helpful, if you've got bad scale buildup down in the bottom of the bowl, is to use a cup to scoop most of the water out of the bowl first, and then use something like CLR on it (I use a hydrochloric acid toilet cleaner I get from the hardware store), letting it sit a few minutes and then scrubbing. That way it's not getting so diluted by the water.

Re: WOW!!!

[(Anonymous)]

I was a little itchy about using the pumice stone at first too. But I'm trying to avoid using any harsh cleansers. The brand of toilet cleaner I'm using contains plant-based enzymes. So, the trick is to give the cleaner a chance to soften up the buildup first (usually about ten or fifteen minutes), then VERY gently rub at it with the stone. That's why it can take a few cleanings before you notice any results. But once it's done, then you just do daily regular cleanings to keep the buildup from reforming and the pumice stone can sit gathering dust in your bathroom cabinet. ;)

JLfromNH/Heliotrope Addlepated Centipede

Re: WOW!!!

[kimberlysteele]

That's wild! It's especially shocking that they called you and not the other way around. I'm also going to try pumice. My toilet looks pretty good but my stove has some stubborn areas that could benefit.