Spring Cleaning!

I'll be honest, I never understood why it was "Spring" cleaning and not some other kind of cleaning. Why spring? Now I know. Spring is when the sun finally comes out, and you get to realize how much dirt accumulated on your house during the winter. There's trash in my backyard, leaves and mud is everywhere, and my windows are truly filthy.

So spring cleaning. :)

I've been reading about safe, non-toxic cleaners. We were using a cleaning company that uses only safe cleaners, but their prices went up, so I went with a traditional cleaning company and asked if they'd please use safe cleaners. They don't have any, so I am buying/making them.

So I bought a book called "Clean House, Clean Planet" that lists various recipes and commercial products, and they rate their effectiveness. Some tips I learned:

1) Bon Ami, the product my great-grandmother used to clean her stove, is still available, and is a safe cleaner.

2) The best home-made window cleaner is not vinegar and water, but club soda. Kid you not. I just put club soda in a spray bottle and added some blue food dye so I could tell what it was. Minimal streakage, too. For me, the true test of a window cleaner is how it cleans the aquariums, and they look great now.

3) Most wood furniture does not need furniture polish, since it's already finished. The recipe they provide for dusting is 2 t olive oil, 1/4 c white vinegar, 12 oz of water, and 20 drops of lemon oil to mask the vinegar. I also added a drop of yellow food dye. They have another recipe for furniture that actually needs oiling that has more oil and less of the other two. Like the above recipe, you can clean without gloves, and safe enough that you could drink some.

4) Put traps on the bathtub and sinks to catch hair. Most pipe clogs are from hair, and drain cleaner is extremely toxic and will ruin the pipes. Lowes has the mesh traps for a couple dollars for a set of 3.

Cleaning house this weekend, and cleaning outdoors next weekend!