Archive for the ‘Green Cleaning Tips’ Category
Great Ways to Clean Delicate Finishes in the Kitchen
April 11th, 2009
If you are lucky enough to have a stunning modern kitchen, you will need to know how to clean it. Many commercial cleaners are available but natural solutions do an amazing job and should be your only consideration for these projects.
Stainless steel is all the rage in kitchen design—and it looks lovely! To keep it that way, here’s what to do. Fill a sink with warm water and about a ¼ cup of white vinegar. Immerse a clean cloth in the solution and wipe away all marks and dirt. Vinegar cuts grease, so all fingerprints will be gone. Give it a quick buff dry. For the ultimate shine, blot a clean cloth in some vegetable oil and polish the appliance in the direction of the grain. Be sure to use the oil sparingly to reduce stickiness. The results are amazing—you will be blown away!
To clean a stain out of the sink, try tossing salt and lemon juice over it and wiping clean in a circular motion. This combo practically erases marks right out of any sink—think coffee, tea, etc.
To clean granite, a gorgeous addition to any kitchen, you must be extremely careful to take good care of the surface. To start, we crouch to eye level to see where the dirt is because granite can always “look” clean. Following this, focus on the areas with blotchy stains (old spills, dried-on jam, etc). We suggest using an eco-friendly marble and granite cleaner or even dishwashing liquid and hot water (you can mix a few drops into a spray bottle full of water, or simply fill the sink up—your choice). This is gentle enough to treat the stone without harming it and no harsh chemicals are used, either.
It’s a win-win situation! You can have a beautiful kitchen and maintain it easily, inexpensively, and without harming the environment or yourself.
Melissa
What Does a Clean House Smell Like?
April 11th, 2009
Many people believe (or have been conditioned to believe) that a clean house should smell like Mr. Clean, Windex, or bleach. This is not true! In fact, after my endeavors into the cleaning business, I learned early on that “naturally clean” smells like—well, not much at all.
You can choose to clean your house with four or five basic items, such as salt, lemon, vinegar, baking soda, and oils (lemon oil, olive oil, etc). If you choose to clean using these basics, your house will be immaculate, but you won’t smell the masking scents of commercial cleaners.
Now, I must admit that I am a sucker for any eco-friendly product with pretty packaging and equally pretty scents, so when I clean, that is what I prefer to use. However, these are not the kind of scents that are damaging to our bodies or the environment. More companies are moving towards aromatherapy or “mulling” scents. In fact, I know there are some brands of eco-friendly cleaning solutions that will create a delicious bakery-like scent in the home.
If you care to be a bit more experimental and are open to using products with scents, there are a ton of choices available to you in grocery stores, hardware stores, and drugstores.
Make sure you look for a number of reputable seals and symbols that can help out, such as the Green Seal and the Environmental Choice Program. That will let you know your products are truly eco-friendly and you can feel safe using them at home.
Melissa
Cleaning Stains Off Porcelain
April 11th, 2009
I am an avid tea drinker and have a couple of tea pots in my rotation. I have a beautiful black ceramic one as well as a white one, but the white one, of course, gets stained each time I boil a pot of my favorite morning drink, English breakfast tea. I usually scramble out the door to get started with my day, so I rarely have time to rinse the pot or even dump the cup out. (I know I should rinse it, seeing that I do run a cleaning company, but that’s for another discussion)!
I have fallen in love with this trick (which you can also use at kids birthday parties—it’s magical)! You need a lemon and a few shakes of salt. Simply run the lemon over the stained area, sprinkle the salt over the lemon and agitate with a clean and dry cloth. Add more lemon or salt if necessary. Rinse the porcelain and voilà, your porcelain piece will look brand spankin’ new!
Melissa
Quick tip - removing sticker labels
April 10th, 2009
If you have ever purchased something with that pesky little sticker price tag on it, you will love this trick. Someone named Rosemary told me about this (thanks!) and it works quite well. She suggests to take a dab of olive oil, rub it over the sticker, let it sit for a bit (the ultimate cleaning trick) and then wiping it off. The oil takes care of the gooey adhesive and you are left with a beautifully clean and sticker free new toy!
Magic Eraser - we know another magician!
April 10th, 2009
Magic Erasers are indeed magic. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with how well they remove scuffs, soap scum, and otherwise difficult stains from clients’ homes. Many people have worried about what Magic Erasers contain and just how that ‘magic’ actually comes to be. I have yet to find any conclusive information about the true harmful effects of using a Magic Eraser. I do know that when I used it to clean a wall a while back, the product wreaked havoc on my beautifully manicured hands, which was sad. On the plus side, the wall looked great!
Being a fan of all things eco-friendly (and cost-efficient) I have looked for alternatives. To my amazement, baking soda has swooped in and saved the day in this case (what else is new)! I won’t get in to the boring chemistry behind it all, but baking soda provides enough abrasion (think of those toothpaste commercials where the micro beads remove stains) to remove stains from surfaces, and this applies to scuff marks high and low.
We had a client with scuffs all over her bedroom closet walls, and she was thrilled with the results! The technique involved baking soda and a wet cloth (vinegar or water), and a dry cloth for removing the residue from the wall. We applied a sprinkle of baking soda on the damp cloth, rubbed the cloth over the scuff mark, and almost effortlessly the marks were gone. Later in the week, a client’s gorgeous walnut wood floors had black scuff marks all over them from a construction crew, and we used baking soda and water with a damp cloth to gently wipe away most of the scuff marks. Always remember to wipe it after the treatment with a clean cloth, because baking soda does leave a residue!
So, save your money - or invest it in Arm & Hammer stock, your choice!
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