Soap scum is a combination of soap, bacteria, dead skin, and body oils that builds up builds up on showers and bathtubs.

This waxy film can often be difficult to remove, if you don't have the right products.

Throughout my cleaning career, I have cleaned a lot of showers and tubs -- many times without great success. But over time, I've found what I consider to be the best products and methods for soap scum removal.

Trying to choose a good cleaner can be a hassle because the store shelves are full of so many different cleaners, and a lot of them basically do the same thing.

Personally, I clean about 200 homes in a year's time -- not including my own home. So I use a lot of cleaning products.

I have tried a variety of different cleaning products, but I usually stick to the ones that I think are the best. 

These household cleaners work the best, in my opinion:

Got an email from a visitor to this site the other day:

I'm hoping you could give us some insight here. Our son used a permanent purple hair dye, and very badly stained our vinyl tub surround [it's BRAND new] that is only 6 months old. We no longer have the manufacturers info on the tub, so ANY help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for having the site. -- M.W.

Since I seem to be on a mission to document every possible way that Magic Erasers can be used to solve unique problems around the house (see below), I thought I'd share.

Perhaps others can use this info, should you happen to get a bad stain in a bathroom tub surround.

I awoke this morning to find this...

What is it?
It's a bloody blue massacre featuring one busted shower gel bottle -- its entire contents puddled on the shower floor -- and one nifty little "bottle holder" that failed miserably.

And to think, I had such high hopes for this cool, new-fangled way to store & use shower gel (and shampoo) on a daily basis.

Notice the tall, black thing stuck on the wall -- above the little ledge?...

This is all you need to repair a leaking toilet... if the leak is due to a bad seal on the flapper.

Ours was.

You'll recall that we had 2 toilets that were leaking profusely, even though we thought they were only small leaks at first. To give you some idea... our monthly water bill nearly quadrupled during this time!

Here's how we fixed our leaky toilets...

Looks like we're having minor toilet troubles... again!

Our house (and everything in it) is only 5 years old. We have 3 toilets, and I've already been through the "changing of the toilet seat" routine with them all.

Now, 2 of them have been constantly dripping water in the toilet tank.

Here's what I've learned...

I've written about some of the clever ways to fold things like shirts, napkins, and sheets.

I've also shown you some fun ways to fold towels into creative shapes and animals.

Now, it's time for the most practical folding technique that everyone can use on a daily basis: how to fold towels & keep them looking great!