How often do you clean your shower curtain? Not the vinyl liner, but the outer fabric one? That loaded question, directed by a coworker to the group at large, drew mumbled responses to the effect of: I don't know, it's been awhile, and spread into discussions of how people cleaned the liner curtain, a subject on which we seemed to feel on more certain ground and could trade tips.

My coworker's question was prompted by a discussion with her mother-in-law, who said she should get shower curtain hooks that were easier to thread into the curtain. My coworker maintained that didn't really matter much, since she never took the fabric curtain down to wash it. That's when she found out her mother-in-law had been taking it down to wash it every time she visited. Oh.

I have been known to throw the fabric curtain in the wash, but honestly couldn't remember when it had last happened. It's on a shower that's only ever used by sporadic guests, so it doesn't get much actual use. (The shower door in the master bath is a separate ongoing cleaning battle.) So I took a look when I got home. Looked fine, still, I thought. Then I took a closer look and decided hmmm, maybe it was not so fine after all in one corner. So I did laundry -- and gave thanks that my mother-in-law doesn't make extended visits to discover my cleaning shortcomings for me.

How often do you clean your fabric shower curtain? And what cleaning sins have guests, well-meaning or otherwise, uncovered for you? The same coworker also now knows to clean the top of her refrigerator before her not-tall mother-in-law visits for inspection.