Cleaning Red Mold In The Shower – My Everest

Roxaaaanee, you don’t have to live with the red mold, those days are over, you don’t have to stay that dirty anymore. So, yes, yesterday I spent the day cleaning red mold in the shower and I’ve got some before and after pictures to motivate you to clean up! I did this after my workout, so I basically did two workouts yesterday – a lot of squatting and testing my grip strength. And now I’m doing math. Still got it!

Cleaning that red mold from the shower was my Everest and I climbed it like it was nothing. As if I’m one of the millions of people lining up like ants to go to the top of a mountain, where they cannot breathe without support. Yay, let’s go to Mars next, it seems flourishing. Are there any ticks?

Before you judge me, that is not my bathroom and I know it’s not perfect, but it’s good enough for me. I gave a room with this bathroom in my house to my dad, who occasionally stays here, so he can go to the beach and because he likes to do things in the garden. And it’s more convenient for him when he has his things here.

So, I said to myself last year, when the house was ready – I’m not going to clean this bathroom. I don’t care what happens in there, I don’t want to see it.

Well, the lesson is – don’t trust (most) men with a bathroom.

Although to be honest, I don’t think it was actually my dad’s fault. He’s here only a few times a year and I guess the water doesn’t drain as fast as it should and that probably builds the mold in the bathroom. When you don’t clean it regularly, well, that’s what happens.

Now, when I saw it a few days ago, I thought: “I don’t really like red in this bathroom”.

So, challenge accepted.

I’m Eastern European and if there’s one thing I know, it’s how to clean.

At least, these are the words me and my Polish friend used when we were poor students in Germany to motivate each other.

I’m not afraid of bleach. I drink bleach for breakfast. But spoiler, bleach didn’t do anything to the red mold. Here are the things that happened yesterday.

Side note: if you try this – keep the windows open, as you don’t want to breathe all of these in.

1. Round: Rub and Soak in Bleach

Did NADA. No change at all. The red mold said: “I drink bleach for breakfast.”.

I guess it’s also Eastern European.

2. Round: Bath Spray and Vinegar

So, the day before I started climbing red mold Everest, my cousin told me she’s always making a cleaning solution she saw on tick tok. It was something with liquid soap, water and vinegar and I guess I messed it up, because it got too soapy.

However, for this expert mission, I upped the vinegar and tried it to clean the moldy shower. With some rubbing, it did clean some of the mold.

3. Round: Rubbing With Baking Soda

Now this is how I usually clean my bathroom and it works amazingly well.

The tiles need to be a little bit wet, then sprinkle the baking soda generously all over and start rubbing with a scrub brush or any other type of cleaning brush. You should start seeing things getting cleaner already.

This is usually enough for the bathroom I always use and clean every week. It gets rid of everything.

Here it helped, but to my surprise and the disappointment of my fingers that were already getting arthritis, it didn’t get rid of all the dirt and mold. Especially the yellow shade on the tiles.

4. Round: Baking Soda and Peroxide

The reason I studied biochemistry was because I loved chemistry when I was in school. COH, H2O, NO – all my things. But, I have no idea what the chemical reaction is here. However, this method did the job and cleaned everything (almost) perfectly. There was one stain I couldn’t figure out. But I guess when we repeat it, it will go away. I hope so.

So here’s what you do:

• take an old container that you won’t feel sad about (I used an old plastic container for mascarpone, yum baking soda peroxide mascarpone)
• mix baking soda and peroxide in there to make a paste (I used about 2:1 baking soda to peroxide)
• rub it in with a brush – I used an old toothbrush and the other brush to spread the paste this time
• let sit for 10 minutes
• scrub while washing off

This did the job, although there was one stain I couldn’t get rid of. Good enough for my, at this point, crooked fingers.

And last but very important:

Use a shower squeegee

I had no idea this wiper was called this, but it works well at removing the moisture after you’ve cleaned or showered. This will prevent water from staying in the shower for a long time, thus preventing the red mold.

Just grab it and scrape the water toward the shower drain until the tiles look almost dry to the naked eye.

You can do this after every shower – it takes 1 minute for me and makes cleaning later so much easier.

Feel Amazing

And now, here I am, sitting and watching this bathroom like a proud mom.

Honestly, I’ve never liked cleaning, but I do enjoy it lately. It keeps me active and it keeps my house and my head clean. Like what? I can’t spend 20-30 minutes a day to do it? Walking into a clean room and having things a bit more organized and clean – it’s such an upgrade.

I highly recommend it. If you’re feeling stuck and confused and all over the place, you might just need to clean up. So put on some music and clean one room. You’ll see how good you feel about this accomplishment.

More Random Things

• A Month Of Travel Through Germany, Austria and Italy
• How To Eat Clean When You’re Broke
• 7 Best TED Talks To Listen To