My bathroom stinks all. of. the. time.
We are 6 people, 4 of which are boys, 3 of which are boys with bad aim, all sharing one bathroom.
Every. single. day a very small person pees directly in front of the toilet and onto the tile/grout. And every single day I clean it up. But the smell remains. It permanently smells like a public restroom. Sad face.
Sometimes I just sprinkle baking soda all around the base of the toilet and walk away.
And I fantasize about a company finally filling this highly specific need in my life.
Potty Litter!
With Crystals!
Fresh scent!
Super odor absorbing!
Multiple boy formula!
Something I could just sprinkle and be done with. With tight clumping for easier scooping.
Sigh. A girl can dream.
I’m glad that God parents me with more grace than I sometimes parent my floor peeing boys, that He never looks down and sigh’s, “Ugh! I just scrubbed that sin! Come ON guys. Get it togeeether.”
What sin of your son’s is the thorn in your heel that you struggle being graceful about?
Um, and also…how do you keep your bathroom from being stinky? For Serious.
-Jessica from Bohemian Bowmans (originally published on the MOB Society 8/19/11)
For odors have you tried a bleach like Clorox clean up? For the odors alone I’m hesitant to stay with an all natural cleaner.
This may or may not help you, but when I had that lovely pee aroma that I just couldn’t get rid of, I discovered that besides the floor, the poor aim somehow manages to make it into that tight little space at the back of the toilet between the tank and the bowl. If I get a cleaning wipe or cloth and fold it in half tightly and “saw” it back and forth (sometimes repeating many times after refolding or replacing the wipe or cloth) as far back as possible into that space, the smell thankfully goes away. Until the next time
I KNOW! They’re in such a rush and shaking when they go…for heavens’ and all of our sake and sanity, SLOW DOWN! Fortunately our bathrooms don’t smell too badly…we use a “Green cleaner” – I HAVE to use a chemical on the toilet, but it’s a “naturally occurring” chemical, so not as bad, I just can’t clean vinegar and water only down there! Maybe try some thieves oil? You can ask Jodi @ GranolaMom4God about that….otherwise, I threaten they’ll be cleaning the toilet if they pee on the floor – haven’t followed through on that one yet though…oops!
Lauren´s last [type] ..Let’s Hear It For The Boys! AKA The Swimmers
You can also try Norwex Mattress Cleaner. Sounds crazy but works in my boys bathroom. Just spray around the toilet and the smell is gone!!!
Wendi´s last [type] ..Lego Time
I mix lemon juice and baking soda into a paste and smear it everywhere; walls, side of toilet, everywhere! Let it set for an hour then spray with vinegar to wipe up.
It is messy, hard to get up but does the trick. It is a whole morning thing but since the pastor lives with me we have a lot if drop by company and alot of company in general, so it is worth it to keep away the smell.
I’m pottty training my 2nd son and my first had just started to stand. So I feel your pain. We use pinesol cleaner diluted with water. And I’m in the bathroom with then most times. Maybe going in with them would help them have more focus. My husband is also showing that we leave it better than we found it. So when they do drop… And they do. They wipe it up. See if that helps. We are expecting a 3rd boy. I can’t imagine ask my toliet duty I will be doing
Send them outside!
I have 4 boys and only have the problem with the youngest one who is 5. The others I always told them to aim to hit the water and don’t rush. I think boys are so busy and do things quickly that peeing gets in the way of their other activities. Vinegar eliminates odors.
Even men don’t do a great job since they always leave the seat up. Sigh. I think because we as women are home more often so we see it more quickly. Also you could make the boys clean the toilet. I can sympathise. 
White vinegar…and why hasn’t one of us try those kitty litter crystals? hmmm
I have that problem too! But I learned a while ago that if I make them clean it, they are less likely to do it!. So they use clorox wipes all around the toilet. There are times when they get in a rush or don’t pay attention to where they’re aiming, but most of the time now it stays pretty clean. They know it’s their job and they don’t want to clean up pee any more than I do!
I was going to say them cleaning it up would help a lot,even if they don’t get it as clean as you do in, our house it would be their job (even daily if needed). We don’t use bleach products, but a rag with some kind of natural cleaner would work too.
Stephanie,
That is exactly what I was going to suggest. When they get tired of cleaning up their own messes, they’ll think twice about making them. Natural consequences often do wonders in child training.
I couldn’t take it any more either and finally added a bathroom wipe down to the kids evening chores. Now each night one of those 3 aim challenged boys (including my four year old) goes in the bathroom and wipes the whole thing down. I taught each one of them how to do it, paying special attention to all the misfire areas of the toilet. This also helped with globs of toothpaste in my sink. Somehow that little issue has resolved itself, but the pee thing lingers. At least I’m not the one who has to clean it up though. As far as smell goes – I would try the white vinegar and scrubbing with a toothbrush. Good Luck!
The best that I have found so far is to spray with vinegar and follow up with Bissell (enzyme action) Stain and Stink. I found it in the pet section but it works!! AND it has a pleasant clean smell. (I have heard Walmart carries their own brand of something like this.) Sometimes when I don’t have time for a vinegar spray first (or really don’t want vinegar smell)- so I just spray the Bissell. It works this way – just have to reclean sooner usually.
I actually had a talk with my son when he was five-ish. I explained that every time he doesn’t take the time to ‘get it in the water’ someone has to clean up the pee-pee mess. I also explained how this is not fair to mommy and it’s pretty disgusting. Then I moved on to how when he grows up and marries a girl that he loves, would he want her to have to clean up his pee-pee mess and how that wouldn’t be very nice. He understood. I had the same talk with the same examples maybe two weeks after this. He seems to get it. He tries really hard to get it in the water and does a pretty good job. He also tells me when there’s been an accident and he’s tried to clean it up, but needs help with it. Just an idea for those of you at your wits end.
Someday, your son’s wife will thank you for your talk!
Hilary´s last [type] ..Four healthy reasons to enjoy hot peppers
Mom of 3 boys, ages 4, 4, and 2-all potty trained but proficient in peeing everywhere. For us, we use a screwdriver to pop up those covers that protect the toilet seat screws. I’m always amazed how much pee gets under those! I’ve been told the other thing you can do is unscrew your toilet from the floor, clean realllllly good underneath it, screw it back down and then use clear caulking to form a seal between the floor and toilet base. We’ve yet to go there but the smell has me near
We have 2 boys and I sweetly talked my husband into pulling the toilet up so we could replace the pee soaked wax ring underneath the toilet and clean the grout and all the nastiness that had collected there under the toilet where no amount of cleaning could ever reach. When we re-seated the toilet we put clear silicone caulk all around the bottom of the toilet and sealed it to the tile. This only works with hard floors and not carpet, but it makes cleaning much more effective. Now I am just wondering what it looks like under the base boards behind the toilet…
Every time I find out a friend is having a boy, sealing the toilets is my first piece of advice!
Haha. You are talking my language. But, for reals, as soon as my oldest was standing up to pee, I started requiring him to wipe up any pee that he didn’t get IN the toilet. Hey, it still happens, but at least he remembers about half of the time. As for smell, vinegar and baking soda.
Vanessa Pruitt´s last [type] ..Listening with Grace
PINESOL!!! Seriously, it’s a life saver! I keep a spray bottle in the bathroom an dilute it with just a little water and spray all over the floor and into the cracks around the toilet. Good luck!!
I keep threatening my hubby and son that they are going to have to clean the toilets -urgh! I found a toilet mat when they are young was a great help as it catches/absorbs the misses and you can easily wash it and put it back again. Helps avoid “direct hits” that penetrate the tiles/floor etc. Good luck!
When my boys were little and had that problem, I always kept cleaning wipes on hand, I am noticing now that there are a lot of “homemade wipe” recipes out there on the web. That way I could wipe the base of the toilet and floor each and every time I was in there, to prevent smell build up! Thankfully this is a problem that goes away as they get older!
Maybe we’re a weird family, but…we potty trained our boys (a lllloooonnnngggg time ago) to sit down instead of standing. They, of course, all stand now, but it sure helped with the process.
Tammy´s last [type] ..Summer Grab Bag by Marie H. Designs
Have you ever heard of Essential Oils? One of the scents like Lavender or Tea Tree Oil might help resolve your problem…
tori´s last [type] ..Coursera
I keep a pack of wet wipes on the sink and wipe up whenever I see it on the floor… I’m just glad to know that I’m not the only one!!!
Buffy´s last [type] .."I don’t know how"
Our boys sit. My 5 year old had made the comment “my pee didnt obey me” after he missed one day. So we told him to always sit down. Our 2 year old was potty trained last week and we taught him to sit only. I rarely have to clean messes and there is no more stink in the bathroom.
I have 3 boys and a husband and none of the seem to smell what I smell. I make the boys clean the bathroom and they all swear the toilet smells fine. But it REAKS!!!!!! Planning on trying as many of these methods as I need to until I find one that works. Hoping that the older they get the less it will stink because the better they will aim (a girl can dream, right?)
I have just one messy boy, but a paste of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda works really really well
I’ve had fairly good luck with this recipe. http://frugalfun4boys.com/2010/09/02/homemade-cleaner-that-neutralizes-boy-bathroom-stink/
Erin´s last [type] ..A Sunday Morning Adventure
I’ve used the spray for cleaning pet odors from carpet. I have 3 boys too and while it’s not perfect, it does help
I have 5 boys and Nature’s Miracle (the stuff used for pets) is the only thing that’s worked for us!
Ha! We had to remove the tile and replace it with stained/sealed concrete! We also had to remove the pocket-door and wall that separated the toilet/tub area from the sink…they must have stood by the tub and peed ACROSS the toilet and onto the wall that was covered with pee-soaked wallpaper! No wonder the smell never went away!! I suggest putting plexiglass on the walls surrounding the toilet! That way you can just wipe it clean!!
My son will turn around and try to talk to me while peeing. It’s so nasty. I’m the only girl in this house and I agree the bathroom smells like an outhouse.
Yep. I am completely on the same page. Here’s a trick that I picked up on pinterest, and it really works!! Mix baking soda with lemon juice to make a paste which you spread EVERYWHERE that the pee goes. Leave for about ten minutes, spray with white vinegar, wait for the fizzing to stop, and wipe up with a clean rag. A little time consuming but doing it once a week really, really helps.
Kay Thompson´s last [type] ..A Brokenhearted Mommy
I have the same trouble. I get soooo tired of stepping in the drips when I go in to use the bathroom. I found that no matter how clean the toilet and area around it was, the smell was still there much of the time. I started laying out strips of toilet paper to find the drops and show the boys where it needed to be cleaner. That little demonstration outed the real problem with the smell–the pee was seeping UNder the toilet where it meets the floor. Extra peroxide squirted around there and soaked up helps (check your flooring for colorfastness); A fresh bead of caulking might help it not go under there to begin with. It won’t keep it off the floor, but at least the smell won’t be hiding out of reach.
RefreshMom´s last [type] ..25 Stories of Advent–December 25–The Rest of the Story
I had this problem also, no matter how many times the bathroom was cleaned, it still smelled. I finally got rid of the smell using essential oil scented distilled white vinegar to clean ALL crevices of the toilet, soaking the seat in the tub with bleach water, and scrubbing the floor, walls, and baseboards (after spraying with the vinegar mentioned above). Whenever there is a lingering smell the first culprit I found was the area where the toilet seat is screwed on (urine seems to collect there). I hope this helps. Caulking as some mentioned is a very good idea.
I don’t notice it so much on the floor (6 boys in this house – going on 8!!) but they pee on the seat! and of course I don’t notice it until I sit and slide – eww! makes me kinda like the seats at the train station, with the plastic cover that rotates around with the push of a button (I DO NOT sit on those! I always wonder, does it just go around like a carousel or is it out with the old in with the new? Not taking chances there!)
Use a sanitizing steam mop to clean the floor. We have wooden floors in our bath and i think they hold smells more than tiles. I loooove our Haan steam mop. The hot steam kills the bacteria that cause odors. I just love to know that im not just masking the odor, and all you need is water.
I’m probably going to catch a lot of flack for this, but here goes. Teach them to sit while peeing. I know. It’s un-manly. But I made a deal with my boys, if you don’t sit, you’ll be cleaning the toilet area daily. So they have learned to sit in our home and at others homes out of respect. But, elsewhere they are free to pee
standing up!
Kelley,
I love that! My husband even pees sitting down sometimes. I think doing it at other people’s homes out of respect is a must! Otherwise we’ll have to carry disinfectant wipes with us everywhere we go
For neutralizing the odor between cleanings, Kids N Pets Stain and Odor Remover (found at Wal-Mart) works wonderfully!! I just squirt it around the base of the toilet, let it sit, and mop it up after 10-15 minutes (if I remember).
Y’all, two words…Nature’s Miracle. No joke – I found a jug of it in the garage. It’s what you use to clean up puppy spills and despite being five years old, it still works! I can’t bleach the floor in our powder room because of colored grout, and this is the ONLY thing that gets the smell out. It has an enzyme that breaks the urine down into non-smelly molecules or something. It always makes it smell worse immediately after application, so don’t spray the floor right before guests come over! The night before at least…you can buy it online or at pet stores!
I second the vote for Nature’s Miracle! It makes it smell worse before it gets better, so don’t use it right before guests come over, but it has enzymes which break down the urine. It’s not bacteria that smells, it’s the uric acid – this turns it alkaline and the smell dissappears. We bought it for puppy training, and kept it for the boys…
Noooo! This is exactly what I thought this post would be about when I jumped over from Bohemian Bowmans. I’m nearly full-term with our first boy. At least we’re a few years out from the pee-everywhere issue… I’ll soak up some tips while I’m here.
Beth´s last [type] ..On Art, Perfectionism, & Not Giving Up
Hilarious….I’ve been saying this for years (3 boys+). Finally I built a new bathroom with tile and though they still have an aim problem – at least I can steam clean it and there is no residual smell. The old bathroom (perpetually smelly despite the fact that every time I entered the room I SCRUBBED around the toilet with cleaner) just got ripped out to expand the adjoining room into an office. Surprisingly the subfloor wasn’t urine soaked and the smell is gone. That’s probably a drastic way to deal with it but in our second bathroom I’ll be putting impervious tile under and all around the toilet area (ok entire floor) so that I can steam clean it. Before this I had pondered making an outhouse for the boys only……
Thank you so much for this post! I have been really struggling with this lately! I have a husband and a 4 year old and they were given a neat freak for a wife and mother! I have often wondered who thought it was a good idea to train boys to stand and pee since accuracy obviously is not a strength in most. Thank you for a new perspective of grace and for a little levity in the subject!
I have a son with special needs and always have the pee on the floor problem. Found a great solution this year–the Flippee Toilet Shield! Attaches with strong suction cups and just flip up when peeing and then flips down when not in use. Great customer service. I think the cost was about $20. Not associated with company, etc……