MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

21 September 2010

Speaking of cleaning... what's the deal with contoured toilet rugs? (Mild but embarrassing TMI) [More:] As mentioned in a lower thread, I am a terrible housekeeper. I have to admit that I am unfamiliar with the proper use of those contour rugs that go around toilets.

Let me just say right now that I apologize for asking this question, but I just don't know where to turn. And please don't think poorly about my dear, beloved partner/fiance; we have just developed a decent sense of denial w/r/t males and bathrooms. You know how it goes -- you never notice something in your own home until it's too late. I am so embarrassed.

I had always thought that rugs were gross, because they got stinky from being... you know, sprinkled by a guy. One could wash them, of course, but how often? And how often would they just give up the ghost and be icky? (It doesn't help that the only ones I've seen have been grody thick-shag ones.)

But now I am wondering if perhaps they are meant to, erm, ABSORB a little of that. Because our bathroom has no fan, and it seems a little more stale, and of course we need to clean more often but always forget. So... ew.

What is the best way of dealing with a bathroom like this? Rug/no rug? Swipe it with a bleachy thing -- how often? Something else?

I am so glad that I live inside the protective box of the Internet.
If I had a washing machine in my house, I'd wash all my bathmats at least once a month. Because I don't, I just do it whenever they look filthy.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 21 September | 15:15
I always assumed they were meant to keep your feet off the cold floor in the middle of the night.
posted by JanetLand 21 September | 15:23
My parents use them. They have two for the upstairs bathroom, and pretty often stick one in the washing machine while the other replaces it.
posted by TheophileEscargot 21 September | 15:40
What JanetLand said.

Throw it in the washer, but keep them out of the dryer. Throw it over your shower curtain rod; it'll take awhile but it will dry. If you're still worried about smell/freshness, that's why Febreze was invented.
posted by desjardins 21 September | 15:43
I think the rugs around the toilet are gross, for that exact reason. I wash around the toilet whenever I mop the rest of the floors, which is once a month or so.

I don't like the matching bath mats either. You can't dry them in the dryer because of the rubberized bottom and I feel like they hide dirt for so long that I'm not prompted to wash them often enough. I use the kind that are just a small rectangular slightly-extra-thick towel, like they have at hotels. I buy them in white because then they can be bleached.
posted by misskaz 21 September | 16:05
I quit using the contour rugs ... huh, I never have used a contour rug, but my mum did! I use a smaller all cotton mat (no rubber backing) in front of the toilet to keep feet warm. And that mat and the larger mat in front of the sink get tossed in the washer when they start looking dirty. They're both all cotton and white so they get dosed with some bleach as well. And they get tossed in the dryer. And once they're warm and clean, Oliver (one of my cats) loves to writhe all over them shedding grey fur as he goes, negating my cleaning of the mats. Cats are bastards in fur suits.
posted by deborah 21 September | 16:09
Rug free here. Nice new tile with grey grout!
posted by Obscure Reference 21 September | 16:22
this is why the mister is a firm advocate of the sit-to-pee camp of males, at least while in the comforts of his own domicile. he's a bit of a neatnik as it is, and he claims it's nearly impossible not to, err... miss, whilst standing. I've met other guys of this persuasion, and my impression of all of them were that they were moderately more, er, housebroken than their standing brethren.

not being an owner of the equipment in question, I can't comment on this from experience. What I *can* say is that he's a lot tidier to live with in a shared-bathroom environment than the vast majority of my erstwhile male housemates, so there is that.

I was always of the impression that those toilet rugs were merely to keep one's feet from freezing or whatever. We don't have one.

Also, apropos of not much, Boulder is one of the few places on Planet Earth where I've noticed that wall-to-wall carpeting is frequently found in bathrooms, even (depressingly often) in rental units.

w. t. f.
posted by lonefrontranger 21 September | 16:53
I like warm feet, but our bathroom rugs go into the wash every couple of weeks, because I like warm clean feet even more.
posted by bearwife 21 September | 17:21
But now I am wondering if perhaps they are meant to, erm, ABSORB a little of that.

I am no housekeeper, but my mother is the most dedicated housekeeper ever. We had one of those rugs for the first 6 or 7 years of my life, but she got rid of it one day. When I asked her where the rug went, she told me there would be no more toilet rugs because my brother had bad aim.

So I think I can say that they are not meant to absorb. At least not to my housekeeping mother's mind.
posted by mudpuppie 21 September | 18:14
Wash once a week, new one every few months.

Good grief people.
posted by gomichild 21 September | 18:53
every few months, gomi? Yeah, that's why I don't have one at all.
posted by gaspode 21 September | 19:18
Minor derail: Bad aim is only part of the problem. Equally problematic is splashback.
posted by Ardiril 21 September | 19:21
Also, apropos of not much, Boulder is one of the few places on Planet Earth where I've noticed that wall-to-wall carpeting is frequently found in bathrooms, even (depressingly often) in rental units.

w. t. f.


I agree, that's crazy! A bathroom is one place where there should never, ever be carpet. Hello, a toilet is destined to overflow, you are just asking for trouble to have carpet in there.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 21 September | 19:22
Yeah I usually buy super cheap ones though - this current one cost a dollar.
posted by gomichild 21 September | 19:27
I wash mine once a week. Before BlueEyes moved in, I washed it less than that, being the only one using my bathroom. (My kids have one that is just a rectangular carpet piece - it hangs over the tub when not in use, so one of the cats doesn't pee on it. sigh. What did someone say about cats being bastards in fur suits? Agreed). And while I must say that I haven't noticed any ..um..issues since BlueEyes' arrival, I still wash it as often.

I toss mine in the dryer, on low heat, and they come out just fine, rubber backing and all.
posted by redvixen 21 September | 20:27
gChrome question || Really discouraged...

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN