Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Dreaded Shower Curtain Liner

I had one of those moments last week, as I was turning on the water for the shower, where I saw the tub for the first time in a long while. And looked closer. Grabbed my glasses, and practically smashed my face to the floor to get an even closer look. It was filthy!!!! Grime, slime, and muck lined the lower walls, and the corners (which is what grabbed my attention in the first place) were just plain scary.

No time to clean the shower right at that moment, but it had me paying attention to other things...like the shower curtain liner. Knowing the state of the tub, I dreaded taking a careful look at the liner. Yep. As predicted, it was a horrific mess.

Have any of you run into this problem? Please don't answer that question if the answer is 'no.' I have a hard time figuring out the best way to clean the liner, and have tried all sorts of things before with no luck. Too bad they don't come with a manual full of cleaning instructions. (If they do, now would not be the time to tell me!)

Our liner has magnets or weights in the bottom corners to keep it closed even when the water is hot and steamy. The problem, as I see it, is that the weights don't allow the curtain to air out, and they cause the curtain to trap gunk up against the walls of the tub. This also means the bottom of the liner gets gross easily. Mine was bad enough I was ready to toss it and just buy a new one, but my practical side got the better of me. I mean, I don't just toss my jeans in the garbage when they get grungy and need a good wash. Therefore, the shower curtain liner deserved a chance, too.



I cleaned the tub really well, and I thought maybe I could sponge most of the gunk off of the liner, too. But that didn't work well at all. I contemplated risking throwing it in the washer, but decided we don't have enough money to replace a washer if I ruined it. So I did the next best thing I could think of - filled the tub with hot water and a mix of non-chlorine bleach and Mrs. Meyer's All Purpose Cleaner. Couldn't tell you the ratio, as I initially measured, but then just poured...and poured....and poured. I let the liner and our bath mat soak in this solution for 1.5 hours. As I pulled them out to dry, I could see that this had done the trick for the curtain liner, and helped (but wasn't as effective) the bath mat. The best part is that this method didn't require hours of scrubbing needlessly. The scum just came off as the liner soaked. Hooray!

Do you have any methods for cleaning your shower curtain liner? And do you clean it regularly?

~Ms. S

1 comment:

  1. Hi Ms. S, I just discovered your blog. You can indeed wash a shower curtain in the washer. I too usually throw it in when I have the OMG what is in this shower moment. It works quite well. It will get off general shower muck. If you have mold or mildew add a little beach(only non-chlorine type if the curtain is not plastic) Hope that helps :-)

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