When Was the Last Time You Cleaned Your Toilet Plunger?

Quinn Martin/Shutterstock

What’s the filthiest thing in your bathroom? The toilet bowl? Nope. The area around your sink? try again. It’s not the floor, the toilet handle or anything like that. The direst thing in your bathroom is most likely the toilet plunger. You spend time cleaning your bathroom and cleaning your toilet, hopefully, so you should take a little time to clean the plunger while you’re at it.

Why You Need to Clean Your Toilet Plunger

Since toilet plungers can harbor plenty of nasty germs and bacteria including E.coli and salmonella, cleaning your toilet plunger is important. That dirty toilet plunger can spread those germs and bacteria to everything it comes in contact with.

You can unclog a toilet without a plunger in some cases, but it does make it a much easier process. For most people who have had to deal with this issue from time to time, the tendency is to just let the plunger dry and put it away once the clog is solved. But that’s not the best thing to do. Sure, it’ll dry off, but it’s not going to effectively clean the plunger, which has most likely come into contact with some things that are perfectly natural, but can be pretty gross. You wouldn’t let those substances sit in your toilet bowl or on the seat, so why let them live rent-free on your plunger?

How to Clean Your Toilet Plunger

There are several ways to clean a toilet plunger, but according to Benjamin Franklin, a plumbing company, the easiest way to clean your toilet plunger is to soak it directly in a disinfectant right in your toilet bowl!

For a more thorough cleaning of your toilet plunger, you’ll need is some liquid chlorine bleach.

Preparation: Wear protective gloves and move towels, rugs and anything else you don’t want to splash bleach on, out of the way.

Step 1

Pour about three cap fulls of liquid chlorine bleach directly into your toilet bowl.

Step 2

Insert the toilet plunger into the bleach/water and swirl it around.

Step 3

After a minute or two of swirling, flush the toilet and rinse the plunger in the fresh toilet water.

Step 4

The plunger is now clean. Let it dry completely in the tub or shower and then put it away.

To keep germs and bacteria at bay, repeat this process every time you use your toilet plunger.

Note: You can use 5-percent apple cider vinegar in place of the liquid chlorine bleach. Just pour a large quantity of vinegar (1 to 2 cups should do it) in the toilet and follow the same process as you would with bleach.