Cleaner combos

[MindfulMama]

OK, so I know bicarb & vinegar are wonder products that will clean my entire house (if only they came with fairies that did the work too )

Teatree will provide antibacterial, lavender or vanilla will provide a yummy smell ...

But what quantities of each do I use? I want something to clean the wooden floor, something in a spray bottle for general cleaning, and something for tough jobs like the bathroom/toilet/stove. Should probably think about something to clean windows too, but that would be a waste as it's unlikely to happen

TIA

[hanabi]

I just use dish detergent to clean windows. A squeegie and a microfibre cloth do wonders.

I use plain dish detergent and hot water on my floors too, or sometimes about a half cup of vinegar instead. It doesn't get rid of the build up though so every once in a while I wash floors with a hot water and a half cup of cloudy ammonia - which brings them up nicely.

Bathroom and toilet just get the vinegar treatment here - with the occasional wipe with cloudy ammonia if I think they're getting disgusting.

Tea tree oil requires no more than a teaspoon to a bucket of water or bath or washing machine. It can irritate skin so take care. Vanilla or lavender requires only a few drops. Also try a citrus oil - like orange oil or grapefruit/tangerine/lime. They are all wonderful!

The stove top just gets wiped with dishwater here - and the oven gets a bit of gumption from time to time. I have started using Enjo gloves for these kinds of cleaning jobs and find they work as well as other natural cleaners. (Imagine cleaning your oven only with water!!)

[Neek]

I'd love to know what to use at the bottom of the shower, in the grout of the tiles. I used to use a nasty chemical cleaner, just because it worked, but now DS sits in the shower with us I'm terrified to use anything harsh in there, but I hate looking at the gunk on the tiles!!

[sudevi]

yeah, what do you use in between tiles, I have no idea? I only have 3 cleaners, some natural form of jiff, a New Zealand brand which isn't as good as Jiff unfortunately, and an eco dishwashing liquid which is also for windows, mirrors, and Eucalyptus oil is my definite favourite, it also seems to leave a nice dry finish after wetting a surface and the smell is great aswell, I think they use it in India (which isn't a very clean place though!) But Eucalyptus oil, it's the best, and good for germs I guess as it's pretty strong stuff.

[starbuckozzie]

I've been making my own cleaners for the past few years. Am extremely time short at the mo (international move in 3 weeks) so can't type them out for you but a couple of books I've found useful:

Clean & Green by Annie Berthold-Bond
Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan


Ingredients are mainly castile soaps, essential oils, carb soda, vinegar, borax, hot water.


From memory, the very best wooden floor cleaner: use two buckets. Put a squirt of castile soap in hot water in the first. Put 1/2 cup vinegar with some peppermint oil into hot water in the second and use this to rinse. Dry with a towel. Produces beautiful floors but I haven't done this for a while as I currently have a cleaner who has about 5 words of English and I haven't found a way to explain it to her!

I can probably post more recipes after we move....

Karen.

[Craig&Kel]

1 cup of bicarb soda
1 tablespoon of detergent (dishwashing is fine)

I mix these together, you might like to use a bit more detergent to make it pasty. Then I put it on everything, then spray with vinegar, and scrub away.

I have found this to be excellent for our stove, it is one of those ceran ceramic ones. This stuff brings it up like a mirror, sooo clean.

I read somewhere that wooden foors come up nice if you put a strained pot of tea in with the water and ammonia, but I haven't tried it.

A good book for cleaning recipes Readers Digest Back To Basics.
Also any book by Jacki French, she has a multitude of green ideas.

[Jakaluma]

wouldn't bicarb work between tiles?

I use enjo - by itself mostly, but with bicarb if extra dirty

[Amanda.R]

Bicarb and vinegar are good between the tiles, but I find if I keep a spray bottle full of vinegar in the shower and spray all the grout after each shower it stops the build up. I clean my wooden floors with a steam mop, sometimes sprinkle a bit of eucalyptus on the floor first if i want it to smell fresh. Steam mops use very little water, disinfect the floor without other cleaners, but they use electricity to heat up, although I used to boil the kettle several times to clean with a normal mop any way.

[spiralgirl]

clove oil spray works on mold in between tiles - but doesnt go "bright white" because its not bleaching out the colour

wooden floors - one old cloth nappy wet with water and vinegar and polish with an old dry cloth nappy - stand on the nappies and "wax on wax off" motion with your feet ( with bubba on your back maybe!)

[moo]

You will never beat the enjo mop on a wooden floor imo.

As for the bottom of the shower, prevention is the key! Dry it off with a chamois (enjo has one) after use and you won't get the mould. hth (in the meantime you might need to go the clove oil or something yukky to remove it all first!)