The truth is it isn't, but it's a thing that has to be done or things get bad fast. There are parts of cleaning I like, I like giving away of stuff I don't need or want anymore and someone else could use or wants. I like to fill up the compost and recycling can as much as possible. I like the feeling of a clean house, not just physically but also emotionally, spiritually and vibrationally clean. so I try to focus on that, I try to keep focused that it is healing for me and my people to have a nice clean home, our home should be a soft place to land.. In the depths of winter depression it's hard to remember that, though. None the less I try.
I clean with a super inexpensive and STINKY ICKY DANGEROUS product free way. I want the least harmful but most effective form of cleaning products I can get. For real. These are the products I make to clean with. This isn't how to get rid of stuff or sorting or how to store stuff in your tidy 50,000 dollar panty. This is practical and the basics. How to clean that grubby area.
First, a shopping list, not long or expensive:
1) Distilled white vinegar, what I
call cleaning vinegar, cheap
white vinegar. Don't get the stuff branded "Cleaning vinegar" It costs more for that name. Just get the cheapest white vinegar available.
2) Borax, 20 Mule Team is the brand available here but honestly all
brands are the same as long as it’s borax.
3) Washing soda
4) Baking soda
5) Salt: cheap kitchen salt.
6) Dish soap. I use the kind I make, but whatever you like
will work well for these purposes.
7) Newspaper, the free ones you get anywhere are what I'm talking about.
8) Cheap vodka, not just for drinking while you clean! It cleans too!
9) Citrus peels, and or pine needle infused vinegar (directions are below)
11) Rags - old cotton t-shirts work well as cotton is very absorbent and you are using something us you already have and not buying anything more. Paper towels are fine, too.
You'll need water, rags and newspaper and music and a friend to text, too. AND SNACKS! You'll need good snacks and fine drinks!
START! You can do this. You deserve to have a nice place. I know it's hard. You are capable. Should I mention here not to where your favorite outfit? You will be covered in grime very quickly. However Virgoian you think you'll be you won't be. Wear clothing you are willing to reuse as rags.
I set a timer for 20 minutes of cleaning and a ten minute break. During the break I text an encouraging friend. I've found that the intermittent breaks help with not being a ball of exhaustion barely able to get out of bed the next day. Which is what I tend to do, I'll work on cleaning super power house for one day and then be so tired I can barely move the next, that's how I set up the twenty minutes on ten off thing. MUSIC. Have what ever music gives you high energy on.
Where to start; Start from the top of a room or area, usually the doorway coming in to the kitchen, wipe the door frames down with your old t-shirt cut into squares, soaked and wrung dry-ish in a mix of a half-gallon of hot tap water, a half-cup of distilled white vinegar, a teaspoon of salt and a drop or two of dish soap (really just a drop or two. More then that and you'll have to rinse or new dirt will have a soap glue to stick too. Trust me. I've messed up that way.) Wipe down the whole door, all the dirt and dust and yuck will fall to the floor, wipe the walls, wring out your rag and change the cleaning water out often, mop the floor with a new batch of this same solution. Your cleaning water will probably be very dirty now, so make new cleaning water as you need it.
For kitchen cleaning, again, start at the top, with the vinegar-water-soap-
salt mixture, cleaning the woodwork, doors, cupboards and any dirty spots
near light switches. This solution will clean almost everything. Fill a spray
bottle with the vinegar, water, soap and salt mix.
I also have a serious fondness for pine cleaning power and scent while cleaning, so a day or two before cleaning day I infuse about a half-cup of pine needles in a half-gallon of vinegar for two days or so. If you want the cleaning power of orange instead, infuse the peel of a couple of oranges or lemons.
In a spray bottle, mix a cup of the infused vinegar, a cup of water, a tablespoon of salt and a couple of drops soap. Shake well, it might become cloudy but that doesn’t affect the power of the cleaning solution. Test this on a spot no one will see. I make ZERO guarantees about how this will effect your surfaces.
For some more delicate surfaces, test. I don’t
have delicate in my home, because well, I can't be sussed. I have wood counter tops, but I hear granite is picky and scratches easily, so test
Add 1⁄2 cup vodka (or rubbing alcohol)
11⁄2 cups water
1⁄2 tsp dish soap
mix in a sprayer and use as you would any spray cleaner. This one is great for the windows and fridge.
I’ve had a ton of trouble getting mineral stains out of porcelain like the
toilet and sinks, I wipe the sink down with vinegar to cut the unseen dirt then I
mix about
a cup of salt
Tablespoon of liquid soap
Tablespoon of Borax, and use that mix as a scrubbing paste.
When I do the toilet, I shut the water to the toilet off, flush the toilet and slowly pour in a gallon or so of vinegar and let it sit overnight. If your mineral stains are very bad you might do this regularly once a month or so. With hard water, like our water here, those stains are inevitable. I figure toilets are just stained and my guests aren’t there to judge me.
Grout cleaner that works and doesn't smell like an oil field!
Mix
1⁄2 cup baking soda
2 Tablespoons washing soda
2 Tablespoons borax
3 Tablespoons dish soap.
Wipe grout with vinegar, it cuts soap scum and other yuckiness, then wipe grout cleaner on and leave for about 15 minutes. Wipe off and rinse with fresh water. There should be no problem but just in case, test this on an inconspicuous area first.
I have wood floors and for that I use “Murphy’s Oil Soap.” Cheap, smells like home and works wonders. But for tile areas like bathrooms and entrance areas I use tile cleaner, which is the same basic mix, vinegar, water a couple of drops of liquid soap. Just skip the salt, in theory it could scratch the tile, but I like salt for the spirit cleaning so I use it. Spring cleaning isn't just about getting the fresh air in, it's about getting the old stale air and negative vibes from a long winter out.
If you really get into making your own cleaning products you could make laundry detergent
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax
1⁄2 cup baking soda
a grated bar of lye soap.
Mix and use about 1/4 cup per large wash in hot water.
For appliances, glass and mirrors use simple vinegar and water, a fifty-fifty mix in a spray bottle is all you need. Remember, elbow grease makes the best cleaner. Drying windows after cleaning with newspaper keeps the streaks away.
The most important thing, well the two most important things are, people love you no matter how messy your house is, a little every day is way easier than once a year and (okay, three things) Why only clean for company? You are an important
enough person to clean for.
Leave the weeds outside to be. A weed is a plant grown out of line. Please, don’t use round-up.
