The Easy Hack For Cleaning The Ring Around Your Tub

A bathtub ring doesn't just appear overnight; it's a buildup that occurs after several days (or weeks) of soap and oil floating to the top of your bathwater (via Knowledge Burrow). Even if you don't take baths often, gunk can still accumulate around the sides of your tub during a shower. It's important to clean your shower and bathtub regularly to avoid inviting bacteria and mold into your space. Plus, the longer you wait to clean the tub, the harder it becomes to remove all the filth. 

Unfortunately, cleaning and sanitizing the bathroom is Americans' most hated house chore, according to a survey by Lombardo Homes. Nobody loves to be on their hands and knees in the mucky, damp bathtub, scrubbing away at a stain that won't budge. Luckily, there are ways to clean smarter, not harder, and at no extra cost. Before you start in with the harsh chemical cleansers, make a cup of coffee for an extra boost of energy — but don't throw away those coffee grounds!

Do you throw out your coffee grounds every morning? You could be throwing away easy money; coffee grounds actually make an excellent multipurpose cleaner. Coffee typically registers between 4.85 and 5.10 on the pH scale, according to Healthline. Anything between a 0 and 7 on the scale is considered acidic, so coffee is a gentle acid. This means that coffee grounds can easily cut through grease and grime. In addition, their gritty texture works to scrub away the filth. This is an especially effective way to deal with greasy pots and pans covered in stuck-on food.

Coffee is also an excellent cleaner for bathtubs because tub walls tend to accumulate gunk, especially along the waterline. Standard cleaners like bleach have a hard time breaking through the thick ring of soap and oil, forcing you to scrub for a long time or switch to harsh, unhealthy chemicals. The grounds work as a natural two-in-one cleaner, melting through the stuck-on stuff and physically scrubbing with tiny grounds to give you a super bright and polished clean. 

Using spent coffee grounds to clean your bathtub is incredibly easy — the hardest part is remembering to save them in the morning! Bio Trust recommends mixing about a teaspoon of grounds with a squirt of dish soap and water to create a degreasing scrub, but you can also use the coffee grounds straight from the filter. Apply some of the mixture or straight grounds to a soft cleaning sponge or directly to your bathtub ring. Allow it to sit for a few minutes, then gently scrub in small, circular motions. Finish with a rinse and you'll be amazed at how easily the soap scum disappears from the sides of the tub!

If your bathtub is very old or has a lot of scratches along the bottom of the basin, you'll want to be extra thorough when you rinse the coffee mixture away. Cleaning with coffee isn't likely to stain your tub, but letting it sit in the cracks and crevices could raise your chances. For an extra bright white shine, follow up with a gentle bleach cleaner.