Use these everyday items to refresh the subway tile in your kitchen or bathroom to keep your beloved space looking like new.
It’s easy to get distracted by the latest, newest, and greatest cleaning solutions in the market. They’re all beautiful, with repackaged promises of efficiency and peak cleanliness. Even our commitment to the products we were raised with leave us purchasing on auto-pilot (I see you Clorox, Comet, and Fabuloso.)
As someone who wants to practice simplicity, appreciate the basics, and be intentional about the products I use, I often look for traditional, natural, or simple ways to get things done. I’ve purchased reusable bottles for various purposes and I look for the ingredients I need to solve a household problem. Today’s problem: refreshing my shower subway tile.
Get your reusable spray bottle. Here are three ingredients to pull from your household staples to refresh your subway tile:
1. White Vinegar
White vinegar is an acidic, also known as distilled vinegar. It’s a type of vinegar made from the fermentation of distilled grain alcohol. Its colorless appearance comes with a strong aroma, so prepare to work with the scent and be careful with the surfaces you apply vinegar on due to its approximate 5% acid makeup.
Working with vinegar has its benefits over using bleach in this situation. Not only will it be more effective in restoring the whiteness in your grout and tiles and removing soap scum, hard water stains, and mineral buildup, you’ll also find these overall benefits:
- Safer for you to handle: Vinegar is non-toxic and non-corrosive.
- Good for the environment: When it goes down the drain, there’s less of an impact in comparison to bleach. Also, while the smell of vinegar may not be one of the best, it’s definitely better than inhaling the chemical fumes of bleach.
- Cost-friendly: When it comes to cost savings, you can’t go wrong with the cost of vinegar. You’ll find the use of vinegar will stretch in several ways around the house where bleach cannot.
Step 1. Grab your reusable spray bottle, and pour an ounce of vinegar into the bottle.
2. Dish Soap
Grab your dish soap off the counter to mix in with your vinegar-based cleaning solution for your subway tile. The surfactants in the dish soap helps break down grime on your tiles just as much as it does for your dishes. Surfactants are a common ingredient in dish soaps that bring oil and water together in order for it to be easier to lift dirt and oil from surfaces in order to wash them away.
Step 2: Add a couple of drops of dish soap to the bottle with your vinegar in it.
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A Black-owned, Women-owned solution: Try Pur Home’s Lavendar-Basil Dish Soap
3. Water
Water makes up most products we use and consume, and this natural cleaning solution will be no different. Add water to your reusable spray bottle with the vinegar and dish soap to finish making your subway tile cleaning solution.
Step 3: Just add water to your solution, and prepare to spray!
How to apply
In the same way we like to “season” our surfaces with cleaning powders, consider this an opportune time to do the same (and it will actually be helpful!). Spray your cleaning solution across your tiles and let it do the work for a few minutes.
After a few minutes pass, wipe your tiles down with a wet rag and follow with a dry towel or rag for a clean finish. (Keeping the tile dry after cleaning will help prevent moisture buildup.)
Step 4: Spray the solution and let it set for a few minutes. Wipe off the solution with a wet rag and dry off your tiles to complete.
For the grout: Use Baking Soda
If you need to give that grout between the tiles a little more love due to discoloration or dirt, head back to the kitchen to grab some baking soda to add to some vinegar and hot water. Apply the hot water, baking soda, and vinegar mixture to the brush and scrub down your grout to clean unsightly grime and dirt. Rinse the surface down, and maintain your freshly cleaned grout with a spray of vinegar and water to minimize buildup.
How often should you clean your shower?
If it’s your daily shower or in a high-activity place like your kitchen, keep this routine up once a week. If it’s a guest shower or you’re a light kitchen user, keep it up bi-weekly or as needed.
One more thing…
That automatic extended spin scrubber. Buy it. Immediately. All of these ingredients are great, but this spin scrubber in combination with these natural ingredients brought my subway tiles back to brand new.
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