question to users of Flylady/Motivated Moms/S.H.E. systems on frequency of one task

[IsaFrench]

have been looking a bit everywhere without finding an answer to my question ...

- how often (every how many months or weeks ?) do systems for cleaning houses

tell you to unscrew the toilet flap/seat

in order to clean inside the hinges and the nuts and bolts ?

many thanks in advance.

[bignerpie]

I use the Motivated Moms system, and I've never seen this particular task. But every time I clean my toilet, I think about how gross it must be under there.

[mkksmom]

I don't recall seeing it in Flylady, but I didn't follow very closely. I usually just try to spray my vinegar spray down there during my regular cleaning and hope for the best.

[IsaFrench]

thanks for your replies

the reason I asked is that I think that if I spray some cleaner on the toilet every day, I think it doesn't go so bad so quickly

.... as when I recently went away and I don't think the toilet was cleaned once in 7 days

& I had to unscrew the whole thing on my return because of the smell & was surprised to see crusty stuff

(but I cannot remember how many weeks or months before going away I had unscrewed it to clean under ....)

am probably going to have a sort of test and try to unscrew it again exactly a months after I did it last

(when I will have sprayed the toilet most days- I didn't today but we were away most of the day- )

to see how it compares visually with the last time I unscrewed it ....

why am i so concerned about that ????

is it just because I want to track the smell ?

(I don't want to try to cover it with blue water and/or other bleach stuff one can drop in the tank ...)

[Auntie Sapphire]

The only time I've cleaned inside the hinges etc. is when someone had explosive diarrhea which was, um, not contained to the bowl.

[IsaFrench]

i gave up on the "one month wait" and did it a few days ago

there was already some crusted up stuff,but not as much

enough for the smell I suppose

does it mean that someone in our household has something the matter in their urine so that it needs to get cleaned there as well ?

(I don't want to do it twice a month really ....)

[clutterwarrior]

There shouldn't be enough build up to make a smell, unless there was a gross amount of urine or whatever in the hinge area, which is very unlikely unless someone never cleaned their toilet.   If there was a minute amount of crusted up stuff there, that would not be enough to produce an odour.

I find it difficult to clean that area and have never heard of actually unscrewing it, so what I've always done is spray disinfectant into that nook and cranny then use a cotton bud to clean it out the best I can! 

[Caneel]

I have never unscrewed and cleaned under those hinges and never noticed an oder but I do soak the heck out of the hinges and the entire area with my vinegar/water spray, let it sit for a while and then wipe well with a rag.

[IsaFrench]

maybe I should set up a camera in the toilet to work out who is peeing on the hinges then ?????

less than a month, and it's dark yellow and crusty = when I read that others don't do it, then I wonder, how come it attracts so much build up in my toilet ???

(and am glad I no longer have a house in the US with 3 toilets to clean every day LOL ... at the time I counted 7 sinks that I had to keep up with, here I only have two sinks and one toilet, it's quicker !!!)

[pradiata]

Well, when you have a boy in the house who is mastering the art of stand-up-peeing... um, yes, things can get pretty gross real fast.  I have to admit I've never unscrewed the lid and actually cleaned under the hinges, but I spray the heck out of the hinge area (I like the green all-purpose spray at Trader Joe's - it's alcohol based and has cedar in it).  After that I douse the whole area in a urine-neutralizing enzyme cleaner (like BioKleen Bac Out, Kids n' Pets, or sometimes the cat urine neutralizer).  This definitely kills the odor and I feel like it's pretty clean, but after this thread I can tell I'm going to need to get under those hinges regularly from now on.  :)