Yay! My sister is here from Virginia. Wootity woot! I love the holidays mostly for the family time–and a little bit for the presents. (I might be lying about the “little”.) She and her husband flew in a few days ago and it has been non-stop driving around to the parents’ house and back to my house. So, this post I meant to do forever ago has been in my queue for a while.
If you’re anything like me, when you know someone will be staying in your house, you go a little crazy with cleaning. Now, my house is generally very picked up and clean. But, with a dog and two kitties, the floors become hairy and dirty quickly. Blech. I try to keep up with it. Try. It is nearly impossible.
When someone comes, it is such a welcome event because I’m forced to do a ceiling to floor cleaning adventure. This one included heating grates, walls and windows. It took two days to do it all. It also took a dust mask. My allergies had been acting up because of the kitties–and I didn’t want them to get worse. Dust mask! Oh.my.word. it gets hot under it.
Because I’m a hippie freak, I like all of my cleaning products to be natural, homemade and easy. So here we go!
Wood Floor Cleaner:
1/2 cup vinegar
1 gallon water
A few drops of essential oils. My preference for oils is Purification (or any clean-the-air type), lavender, Peace and Calming (for ambiance), and Thieves (for removing icky stuff).
Put it all in a bucket and start mopping.
All-purpose cleaner:
2 tbs. vinegar
1 tsp. borax
Pure-Castile soap
A little hot water
A few drops of essential oils–preferably Thieves.
Shake it up in a spray bottle and go!
Furniture polish:
1/4 cup vinegar
A few drops of essential oils–any will work.
A few drops of grapeseed oil
(Can also do oil, vinegar and vodka if you’re feeling frisky.)
Window and Wall Cleaner:
1/2 tsp. pure-Castile soap
3 tbs. vinegar
2 cups water
Stir into a bucket and use rags for cleaning. (We have a “rag bag” above the dryer.)
Bonus cleaner!
Soft Scrub:
Baking soda
Pure-Castile soap
So, those are my go-to cleaners. And here’s my go-to look for cleaning. A creepy dark selfie with terrified eyes.
And here’s what the animals do while I clean:
What are your favorite all-natural cleaners? I’d love to expand mine in case any items aren’t in the cupboard. (I always have vodka though.) 😛
Our local place, the Mustard Seed, has TONS of green cleaning products that don’t require time to make. I trust them when I’m feeling lazy. I spotlight them in a previous post. Check them out, for sure!
December 24, 2014 at 7:16 pm
I just started using laundry magnets (Magnetic Laundry System)
to do my laundry ( I add a little borax and 1/2 cup vinegar to each load). Clothes come out cleaner and much softer without all that chemical cleaning gook.
December 30, 2014 at 8:45 am
That’s neat! I’ve been thinking about laundry a lot lately since reading about dryer sheets chemicals causing lower IQs in developing minds. It’s the phthalates. That’s a trickier one to resolve. Have you found a good replacement for dryer sheets? We tried dryer balls and rolled up foil balls, but I think it’s 75% as effective. I’m going to check out the laundry magnets thing for sure!
December 30, 2014 at 8:52 am
Whoa. Those are expensive.
Long-term investment. Going on a birthday wishlist!