My Battle With Grout

I clean the RV every Sunday. It definitely needs to be cleaned once a week. It's not that we are dirty people. But Josh tends to drag a lot of dirt into our place on his work pants and boots and it seems to spread quickly. Plus, I'm a little crazy. I like things clean and organized. It's not hard work (the RV is not a mansion) but it does take some time. Today it took a little longer then usual. About 4.5 hours longer then usual. The reason? Grout.

I never really noticed it before, but the tile in the kitchen and bathroom is a cream color separated by white grout. However, the grout is more of a light brown color now. Yuck! I decided to tackle this problem today. I started by texting my sister-in-law, Missy, to see if she had any suggestions. She did, but they involved vinegar and I didn't have any left. So I turned to the internet. I found a couple of websites with suggestions and I decided to go with the most simple one: baking soda, water, and a toothbrush. Seems easy right?!

Apparently you are supposed to combine the water and the baking soda and make a paste. Then you glob that onto the grout, get your toothbrush out, and scrub like crazy! I'm not gonna lie. It totally worked! However, it took a whole box of baking soda and 4.5 hours to do. I also rotated between my electric toothbrush (don't worry, I changed out the head when I was done) and an extra toothbrush that I had. I would have loved to do the whole thing with the electric toothbrush but it was not really built for staying on for hours at a time. When the electric toothbrush died I would put it back on the charger and then continue my scrubbing with a regular toothbrush. I ended up scrubbing so hard that I broke my regular toothbrush at the end. Eek!

The other pain about cleaning grout this way is that you are on the hard floor (either kneeling or sitting) for a long time and my back is killing me right now!

AND you can't just leave the whole floor covered in a baking soda paste because it'll dry, turn into a residue-ish substance, and it's a pain to clean up later. So you have to do the floor one area at a time: Scrub the grout with the baking soda paste and a toothbrush, wipe away with a paper towel, and then wipe it down with water to make sure you get all the baking soda up.

I'm sure there is an easier way but hopefully I won't have to do this again any time soon!

Cleaned (bottom of picture) vs not cleaned (top of picture).

Cup with the baking soda paste and my toothbrushes.

Here is the kitchen floor. Can you see a difference? White grout vs. dark brown grout? Please say you can!