How to Label Your Cleaning Sponges in Minutes

You guys, I have to tell you something super gross that happened to me the other day and I’m wondering if it’s ever happened to you. Do you label your cleaning sponges? The reason I’m asking is the other day I was so mad about the problems we were having with the website I was taking it out on my bathroom sink. You know the kind of scrubbing you do with one eye brow up? And a lot of heavy sighing? And how your arms feel a little achy when you’re finished because you’re trying to keep your cool on the outside but on the inside…YOU. ARE. SO. MAD. YOU. CAN’T. EVEN. STAND. IT.

Well, that was me…scrubbing the sink like nobody’s business.

Anyway, I had finished one sink in the vanity when I started smelling something kind of weird. Like rotten weird.

I walked around the bathroom with my nose in the air sniffing around but the further I got away from the sink, I no longer smelled anything. I just passed it off as allergies and continued to clean but sure enough, I started smelling it again.

Finally, I started sniffing around the sink. I picked up the sponge and oh my word! You guys, for real, it smelled like 2-day old shrimp tails and there I was scrubbing the bathroom sink like a woman on a mission. Apparently the kitchen sponge and the bathroom sponge had gotten mixed up somehow because we had in fact had shrimp recently.

Obviously, I panicked and started bleaching everything in sight but I couldn’t help but think about how this little mishap could have been so much worse had I been using the bathroom sponges to clean the kitchen sink! Yikes!

In the past, we color coded our cleaning supplies like cloths, sponges, brushes, etc… For example, if we saw a blue sponge or a blue cloth we knew immediately blue was for the bathrooms. But then some of our favorite stores stopped selling our specific colors which left it up to us to keep all the sponges separated. So, in an effort to make sure “Sponge-gate” doesn’t happen again we came up with a simple plan to help label our sponges. Here’s a look at how you can avoid the mishap I had and label your sponges too…

SUPPLIES:

Cloth Covered Sponges or Cleaning Cloths

Iron-On Letters

Flour Sack Towel

Iron

 

STEPS:

You’ll need a clean fabric or cloth covered sponge. I picked this one up at The Dollar Tree.

You’ll also need iron on letters. I bought these at Hobby Lobby.

Place/center the iron on letter on your sponge

Layer a flour sack towel over the letter and the sponge as per the instructions from our package. You’ll need a buffer between the iron and the letter/sponge. Do No Skip This Step!

Then using caution and care as iron will be hot, follow the instructions as per your iron-on package.

It’s very important to make sure you follow the instruction on the iron-on letter package and that the iron is at the proper temperature. DO NOT leave the iron on the letter/sponge for too long. This was my first attempt at this project and clearly the iron was too hot and I had left it on the letter and sponge way too long.

The second try went much better.

If you have multiple bathrooms you may want to use a number and letter combination like B1, B2 etc. or consider using smaller letters for a monogram so you know you’re using that particular sponge on that particular person’s bathroom. You could even K for kitchen, D for dusting, M for mirrors, G for glass. You get the idea!

This is the first time we’ve used this particular cloth covered sponges so it will be interesting to see how the iron-on letters hold up as our cleaning routine progresses.

We’ll definitely be using the side without the letter when cleaning just to make sure the letters last as long as possible. I’ll keep you posted. Here’s to small changes having a big impact in our homes and to our “helpers” not having to second guess which sponge to use on which task!

You can find out more on how we keep things tidy and organized by checking out these posts:

How to Make Your Own Budget Friendly Cleaning Caddy

Simple Cleaning Routines with Free Printables

How to Organize Your Clothes The Kon Marie Way

How to Keep Linen Closets Organized and Maintained

Pantry Organization Tips Made Easy

Are Refrigerator Baskets Right for Your Family?

See you guys back here tomorrow. I’ll share the toilet cleaning tool that changed our lives #truth. Until then, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo