Do you ever get really nasty toys in the bath? They’ve been in there a while and they start to get moldy and gross like these boats? See those healthy little black patches of mold? I know. I’m probably creating an entirely new species in our bathtub.
Here’s my painless cleaning tip for bath toys. Or any toys for that matter.
Once, twice, however long it takes to get them totally sanitized and fabulous before you hand them back to your munchkins.
This is my time saving tip for you. Once I realized sending toys through the dishwasher was a possibility, whole new worlds opened up for me.
I used my new Frigidaire dishwasher to clean these boats, and they came out like magic. Clean, sanitized little boats from heaven. Charming is delighted.
I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator, Range/Microwave, Washer/Dryer set, and a Dishwasher to facilitate my review.
Allison
Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!
This is a BRILLIANT idea!!! I was just noticing some of my daughter's toys need a good cleaning. This will be much easier than scrubbing them in the sink.
I've known about running sponges through the dishwasher to sanitize but hadn't thought of toys. Great idea! We generally fill the tub up part way and throw in some bleach, swish the toys around, let 'em sit and then rinse. That or if I'm anxious to get rid of a particular toy anyway, out it goes!
Just an FYI – mold does not die with just the dishwasher. Wash with vinegar to kill the mold or it will just keep coming back. You can do this by prewashing with vinegar and hot water or simply adding vinegar to the soap in your dishwasher.
I didn't know about the vinegar tip for bath toys. Good idea. In the past (when I cleaned my kids' toys – 2 kids ago) I would spray with lysol and then stick them out in the sun to disinfect.
I've done this before with old toys of of mine I found at my parents house, most notably my Land Before Time hand puppets from pizza hut. They weren't moldy, but they were pretty dirty.
thanks for the tips. i'm guessing i'd need to do the vinegar thing, as our rubber duckies have moldy guts. DIS-GUSTING!
Fabulous idea. I tried doing it in the microwave once, bad news!
I'd just pour a 1/4 c of bleach in the tub w/ water and then stir the toys around. It would clean your bath at the same time!! Mold is so gross!! ****HINT I run my rubber flip flops through the wash w/ my clothes and they come out nice and sparkling!! Love it!