Bathrooms

Did you ever notice that the commercials that advertise bathroom cleaning products (or almost any cleaning product I suppose) are shown being used in a perfectly clean room? I hate that. I think that the reason that the bathroom (and specifically the shower for some) is the worst thing to clean is simply because they get super nasty! Let's face it, any bathroom I have ever been in is harder to clean than just a quick swipe and calling it a day.
So in tackling this nemesis I propose that everyone share their favorite bathroom cleaning product. What works in real bathrooms? - not just the kind of bathroom where one little spill is on the counter or where the toilet is already perfectly clean and you just swirl something around to make it look like you are cleaning.
So lets hear your tips and tricks for cleaning the bathroom along with your favorite cleaning products to use.

What I was doing wrong

Sometimes we make life harder for ourselves. When our lives involve lots of cleaning, this isn't hard. Sometimes it's in the name of fun for the kids, sometimes it's out of lack of willpower, but often it's out of our control. I've recently discovered that I've been making my life harder for no good reason at all! Since I've been married I've experienced every dishwasher situation from a fabulous cleaning machine to no dishwasher at all. Our house previous to this one had the most horrible dishwasher ever. We rented there for 3 years and used the dishwasher solely as a sanitizer. The dishes had to be SPOTLESS to go in, and then you had to be certain to run the disposal before you started it. Ever since this experience, I've been very leery about trusting any dishwasher. We've been in this house almost 3 years, and even though the dishwasher was upgraded and brand new, I've washed every dish before it went in. Finally, my friend Becca challenged me to just throw everything in- as is! I started doing it and it worked! Even dinner party dishes that sat over night! I lightly rinsed off the big chunks and threw them in with whatever was crusted on. I used the heavy setting and voila, sparkling clean dishes! The only problem I've had is with the silverware- they're on the door and don't get blasted as thoroughly. What a time saver it is not to wash my dishes before the dishwasher does! So now I'm looking for other things I may be overdoing. Not to cut corners, just to clean smarter.