Chepooka

Cleaning Green

I’m obsessed with BBCAmerica’s How Clean is Your House? I’m pretty sure it’s changed my life. I’ve never been a neat freak or especially fond of cleaning, but this show changed all of that for me.

The premise is, two sassy ladies from the UK go to various people’s really over-the-top filthy, disgusting, OMG gross! homes to show them how much dust, disease-causing bacteria, bugs, mites and nastiness they’re living in ... and how to clean it.

The part I love is as they teach these people (for the first time apparently) how to clean their counters and toilets, they only use products that are commonly found around the house to do the job—borax, “washing up liquid” (which I think is “UK” for dish soap), olive oil, toothpaste, vinegar, tea tree oil, baking soda, salt, lemons and so forth.

Since discovering this show which is a staple on my DVR (I like to watch it at lunch time since, minus commercials, it’s about 20 minutes long and doubles as an appetite suppressant), I’ve become a bit of a chemist around the home. I rarely buy manufactured cleansers anymore save laundry and dishwasher detergent. No windex, no furniture polish, no floor cleaner. I make it all myself. They work better than anything I’ve paid $5.39 for and the savings can go toward new shoes. Win, win really.

I now really enjoy cleaning. It’s fun to experiment to see what I can find around the house to clean various things. I’ve also invented (patent pending) what I call “cardio cleaning”—where I run around the house and keep my heart rate up for 30 minutes or more. Putting the laundry in, I do lunges. Wiping down counters, I keep my legs moving. I look like a big old dork, yes, but don’t judge me. My house is sparkly AND I’ve squeezed in my workout for the day. *smug*

My asthma has improved since the switch, and now when I breathe in harsh cleaning chemicals, I can really feel it deep in my lungs. People comment that my house always smells so nice and clean. Except Brian, who hates the smell of vinegar, but luckily I love it and he is always welcome to clean if it’s that bad. Apparently it’s not.

White vinegar is a staple, I buy 4 gallons at a time at Costco (under $4 for the lot) and the huge bag of bulk baking soda. I buy lots of spray bottles (the best ones are found in the garden center, big and cheap) to cut vinegar with water, adding a couple of drops of natural liquid soap for an all purpose cleaner (works great on my granite counter tops). Most recently I’ve been adding tea tree oil to change up the smell (also has antibacterial properties, that’s why people use it for zits!) I plan on experimenting with adding other essential oils as well - lemon, vanilla, lavendar - to cut the vinegar smell.

I’m always on the hunt for new recipes but here are my favorites:

Counters
1/2 White Vinegar
1/2 Water
Few drops of liquid soap

Carpet Fresh
Baking soda
A few drops of your favorite essential oil
Sprinkle and vacuum up (can do this on your throw pillows too, when’s the last time you smelled yours?)

Mildewy Gunk
Tea Tree Oil
Liquid Soap
Baking Soda
Elbow grease

Dirty Microwave
Bowl of water
Lemon Slices
Heat for 5 minutes
Wipe away, clean and good as new, smells like lemons

Windows
1/2 Vinegar
1/2 Water
Black and white newspaper to wipe (it works!)

Wood Laminate Flooring
1/3 Vinegar
1/3 Alcohol (not the good stuff haha,) - These floors aren’t supposed to stay wet for long, so this helps the vinegar mixture to dry faster.
1/3 Water

Drains
1 part vinegar
1 part baking soda
1 part salt (optional)
Let sit 15 minutes, flush with boiling water

Dark Wood Furniture
Wipe down with old coffee, brings back the color!
(for light furniture, I’ve heard that tea does wonders, or really really watered down coffee)

Furniture Polish
Warm water
Lemon
Olive oil

I’ll share more as I discover them; in the meantime—anybody have other/better ideas?

Posted by chepooka on 06/04 at 06:45 AM

Comments

Ok now those are some great tips! I am going to actually try that with the vinegar bc cleaning stuff is so damn expensive! Thanks T

Posted by on 06/04 at 11:23 AM

It’s amazing how much money you save, seriously.

PS Hi Leanne! :D

Posted by chepooka on 06/04 at 12:39 PM

I’ve been using these things for the past 6 months or more. My hubby also hates the vinegar smell, but wow, it is so much cheaper, and EASIER using this stuff.

For instance, our refrigerator handle - it’s white with a little texture to it. Hubby often has grubby hands. I have tried for YEARS to figure out how to clean it out of the little bitty grooves (AJAX, window cleaners, Mr Clean...) Guess what? Plain ol’ baking soda and water, and it was clean. Hardly any elbow grease required. Works beautifully on my glass stovetop too.

Tubs? I use vinegar. I used to love Scrubbing Bubbles. Would you believe vinegar seems to work just as well?

I think it’s great. My brother thinks it’s a little weird yet, but he was impressed at how fast vinegar removes water deposits from the water purifier.

Posted by on 06/09 at 05:31 AM

Reminded me another one - white toothpaste and an old toothbrush to clean the grooves in the refrigerator seal thingee? You know that rubbery stuff that collects crumbs?

Vinegar is MAGIC.

Posted by chepooka on 06/09 at 09:50 AM