I thought my bathroom was clean until I bought a UV light for $12 and now I want to move out of my own home
I am a reasonably clean person. I wipe down the toilet, I scrub the sink, I mop the floor once a week. My bathroom does not smell. Guests have complimented it. I felt good about it. Past tense.
My sister bought a UV blacklight flashlight off some cheap site because she wanted to check a hotel room on a trip. She left it at my place afterward and I figured I would try it in my bathroom as a joke. I want to be very clear that I was not prepared for what happened next.
The toilet bowl outside the rim. The grout between the floor tiles. The underside of the toilet seat hinge where you cannot really see it. The wall behind the toilet going up about four feet. The base of the toilet where it meets the floor. The side of the cabinet next to the toilet. All of it lit up like a crime scene. Bright. Glowing.
Everywhere. I stood there in the dark with this little purple flashlight and genuinely could not process what I was looking at because the surfaces I had mopped and wiped the day before were apparently covered in biological material I had never once targeted with any cleaning product.
I did not know that flushing with the lid open sends a microscopic spray across the entire bathroom. I did not know that the grout specifically absorbs and holds contamination in a way that normal surface wiping does nothing about. I did not know that the hinge area of a toilet seat is basically an uncleaned surface in most households because nobody thinks to lift it and scrub underneath with a brush.
I spent three hours that night with an enzyme cleaner, a grout brush, an old toothbrush for the hinges, and a genuine sense of personal failure. The difference under the UV light before and after was staggering. I also moved my toothbrush to a cabinet with a door, which I will be doing for the rest of my life.
If you think your bathroom is clean, buy a UV light. They are around ten to fifteen dollars. Either you will be pleasantly confirmed or you will spend a weekend scrubbing things you never knew needed it. There is truly no downside except for your peace of mind, which was apparently a lie anyway.