(Sure not the most glamorous pic of me but it’s me about to tackle cleaning in the empty house)
One of my last posts talked about our moving adventures. Well, I am happy to say we are all moved out of the old house. Of course that doesn’t mean we are all moved in and in fact the house seems to be a chaos of never ending boxes but it’s coming a long! I wanted to do a few moving posts since that is been the realm of my existence for the last few weeks.
One thing I don’t think I thought about while planning this move would be about how much an empty house would need cleaning once we got all of our items out of it. Well, it needed quite a bit. It was those 10 years of dust bunnies that were hiding in the oddest places, the crayon marks on the wall where we put the couch to ensure no one would see those crayon marks and the mystery items where I wondered what on earth the kids had spilled in that spot. I rarely buy commercial cleaners, I usually make them myself and wanted to share a few of those with you here along with the ones I do buy.
- Citric Acid
You can find this in the spice section of your store, just take the citric acid and add a few teaspoons to a spray bottle of warm water. If you have some shower scum built up what I do is take a cut lemon, pour a little bit of this on top of the cut lemon to make a coarse cleaning surface and then scrub the shower/tub/tiles with the lemon and citric acid. It’s super citric scrubbing power! - Dishsoap in Spray Bottle
I read this somewhere in a magazine and it really works. Just take about a teaspoon of dish soap and fill a spray bottle with that and warm water and it cleans anything, even windows and mirrors! - Dishwasher Detergent Powder
I actually learned this from watching that show How Clean is Your House on the BBC. Take a tablespoon of powder dishwasher detergent (generic is fine) and add it to a large bowl of warm water. Use this to clean screens, fingerprints off of walls and other tough spots to clean. - Vinegar
It’s nature’s wonder cleaner, I mean you could really use it for anything! Built up soap scum, tarnish, mirrors etc. Keep a spray bottle of this around, it will conquer a lot! I found a great list of what it could do made by the New Home Maker here http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/vinegar
- Green Works Natural and Dilutable Cleaner in a spray bottle
So about a year ago, Smart and Final had clearanced my favorite dilutable cleaner out and I thought they were just discontinuing it at their store so I bought like 10 bottles because they were under a buck. Well I went to go find it again and went to the website and am having trouble finding it. Hopefully I can find it again because I really love this. I use it on my floors and pour capful into a spray bottle with warm water. It is the perfect cleaner because it doesn’t have fumes (like that nasty ammonia smell) or harsh chemicals. A bottle of this will last a long time!
- Mr Clean Magic Eraser (AKA the miracle worker)
You will never go wrong with these. If you have used them, then you know how much they help when kids are around. From finger prints to crayons, this thing cleans like no body’s business! I love these when there are tricky spots that normal cleaners and sponges can’t get! It also saves your muscles because something that would normally be a tough job is easy peasy with these! I’ll be honest, I have bought the generic versions to save a couple bucks and those work just as well! I think my favorite is the Target Up and Up brand!
- Steam Cleaner
I love having a steam cleaner where I can steam tough sticky spots like when I am cleaning the fridge or grout. I used to have a Shark hand held cleaner and loved it but it stopped working. So I went a more frugal route and bought the Dirt Devil on Amazon.com and do love it so far! My only complaint is that if you have a large job, it does take a break to re-heat up of about 30 seconds steam, 30 seconds heat up. It does come with a nozzle for hard to reach jobs.What do you use to clean your house?
Leave a Reply