<p>In exchange for an increased housing cost, my son has a private bathroom with no cleaning service from the University. Communal baths are cleaned by UT staff. We have purchased voluminous cleaning supplies and implements, with lots of latex gloves, but we fear that two boys are highly unlikely to keep their bathroom what we consider to be sanitary.</p>
<p>Is anyone familiar with any external or dormitory service available for cleaning the bathroom? Are there enterprising students who are attempting to provide solutions to this problem?</p>
<p>Thanks for any suggestions that parents or students can offer.</p>
<p>Frenchlaw,
I also was surprised by this. I don't expect my daughter and her roommate to do much in the way of cleaning either unless they see black mold or something. Roomie's mother bought some supplies, but she told me that roomie said she wasn't going to use them. For $9000 plus ... I expected more. Want to make a bet on who cleans their bathroom first?</p>
<p>I think its funny that for some reason you think communal bathrooms are better than private baths. I simply don't understand parent's urge to baby their kids into college. Its the real world, they need to start living in it. Unless your son/daughter enjoy living in their own filth, they will clean it inevitably. Our bathroom at San Jac never got too dirty, and we cleaned once a month or so, and not even that well.</p>
<p>I stayed in Duren this summer, and I was sort of surprised that there was no cleaning staff really. Anyway, when the students get there, the bathroom is in perfect shape, and neither my roommate nor I really cleaned the bathroom much and it always looked fine. Just give it a little once over before you leave and there are no worries. It is still incredibly nice to have a private bath. I'll have a community bath this fall and spring... woopie...</p>
<p>Im pretty sure I read somewhere that all private baths are cleaned by students. I knew that before I moved in. I dont think it would be possible since the cleaning staff would have to go through your room to get to the bathroom.</p>
<p>You wouldnt have to clean all the time unless you were rolling around in the mud or something....</p>
<p>Foxshox - it's pretty clear you've never had to clean a bathroom. We're not babying our kids, but based on some of these responses we are very realistic regarding the level of hygiene practiced by most college students.</p>
<p>Texasmama - it's reassuring to know that the girls may be almost as bad as the boys. I'll bet that the first bathroom cleanup will occur when my wife visits our son on Parents' Weekend.</p>
<p>AMom2 - I agree, and we bought all that stuff for our son and his roommate. But how much do you wanna bet that the seal is never broken on the bottle?</p>
<p>One thing that may help are the "Automatic Shower Cleaners" all you have to is push the button and close the shower door. It then sprays the shower with a sanitizer. Some bowl cleaners require no scrubbing just pour in wait 15 minutes or whenever and flush.</p>
<p>Keeping the bathroom clean was one of the reasons I convinced my son to go for the Honors Dorm. He didn't like the idea of walking down the hall to the bathroom, but he's ok with it now. He likes his roommate and his dorm. </p>
<p>I hope your son likes his roommate. He can endure even an unclean, unkept dorm room, if he has a roommate he gets along with.</p>
<p>to the mom's who can't stand the thought of their own children cleaning their own bathrooms....it's time to let go a little. it'll benefit them in the long run (discipline, responsibility, etc). you're doing them a disservice by spoiling them so much.</p>
<p>My daughter had a private bath at her school last year and managed just fine. It was not perfect but it was pretty acceptable. (she had 'done' communal bathrooms and room mates for 2 years at the State math/science magnet and had no desire to do it again - though now I think of it she spent the summer sleeping in a room with 5-12 people and sharing an outdoor shower with about 70 people a week).</p>
<p>I have my own bathroom at home, only accessible from my room. Ever since I moved to this house (back when I was 10 years old) I’ve had to clean it myself and I don’t really mind since it’s just me using it. My parents never made me clean it but it’s just nicer to take a shower and get ready in a clean bathroom. Can’t say the same for my room which always has papers everywhere, but that’s different. </p>
<p>Of course I’ll have a roommate to share my dorm bathroom with but I’m not too worried because I’m sure we’ll figure out some kind of cleaning schedule to share the work. She said she’s pretty adamant about keeping the bathroom clean too. All you need is Scrubbing Bubbles for the counter, Lysol/Clorox with bleach toilet bowl cleaner (with the bent bottle), a toilet brush, and something for the shower. That shouldn’t even be more than $15. Once or twice a month is good enough to keep it clean and it shouldn’t even take too long. If your daughter/son has guests over frequently, guests may have to use the bathroom and will see if it’s well kept. Another incentive to keep it clean!</p>
<p>Luckily the bathroom isn’t too big that your children who don’t clean can cause much damage. That being said, cleaning off a year of filth at move-out time is gonna be a pain, and if they don’t do it they will be charged. Perhaps threaten them that they’ll have to pay the damage/cleaning fees at the end of the year?</p>
<p>And a reason that the private/connecting baths are cleaned is because that would allow access into the rooms. Think about the security risk and lawsuits of accused theft.</p>